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Drinking alcohol causes the pituitary gland in the brain to block the formation of vasopressin — an antidiuretic hormone. Without it, the kidneys send water directly to the bladder, causing frequent trips to the bathroom after urinating for the first time after drinking.

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Studies have shown consuming about 8.5 ounces (250 milliliters) of an alcoholic drink causes the body to expel 27 to 34 ounces (800 to 1,000 milliliters) of water — 4 times as much liquid lost as gained. The diuretic effect decreases as the alcohol in the bloodstream does, but the after effects play a large part to a hangover.

The morning after heavy drinking, the body sends an acute message to replenish its water. Headaches result from dehydration while the body’s organs try to make up for their water loss by stealing water from the brain, causing the brain to decrease in size and pull on the membranes that connect the brain to the skull, resulting in pain.

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The frequent urination also expels salts and potassium that are necessary for proper nerve and muscle function. When their levels get too low, headaches, fatigue and nausea typically result.

Alcohol also breaks down the body’s store of glycogen in the liver, turning the chemical into glucose and sending it out of the body in the urine. Lack of this key energy source plays in part for the weakness, fatigue and lack of coordination the next morning. The diuretic effect also expels vital electrolytes such as potassium and magnesium, necessary for proper cell function.

Various Alcohols Cause Different Sorts of Hangovers

Toxins
Some types of alcoholic drinks have a higher concentration of toxins — congeners, by-products of fermentation in some alcohol.

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Red wine and dark liquors such as brandy, whiskey and tequila contain the largest amounts of these toxins. White wine and clear liquors have less congeners, causing less frequent and severe hangovers. A study showed that 33% of those who drank an amount of bourbon relative to their body weight testified to severe hangover, compared to 3% who drank the same amount of vodka.

Severe hangovers can result from combining different alcoholic beverages because they contain different congeners. The carbonation in beer speeds up the absorption of alcohol, so following beer with liquor gives the body even less time to process the toxins.

Biology of a Hangover

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Acetaldehyde
Acetaldehyde is created when the alcohol in the liver is broken down by an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase. The acetaldehyde is then attacked by another enzyme, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, and another substance called glutathione, which contains high quantities of cysteine. Together, they form the nontoxic acetate — similar to vinegar — leaving the acetaldehyde only a short time to do its damage if only a few drinks are knocked back.

The liver’s store of glutathione quickly runs out when larger amounts of alcohol are consumed, causing the acetaldehyde to build up in the body as the liver creates more glutathione, leaving the toxin in the body for long periods of time.

Although body weight is a factor, part of the reason women should not keep up with men drink for drink is because women have less acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and glutathione, making their hangovers worse because it takes longer for the body to break down the alcohol.

Glutamine Rebound
Some of the most common hangover symptoms can be further credited to glutamine rebound.

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After a night of drinking, you won’t sleep as well as normal because the body is rebounding from alcohol’s effect on the system. Alcohol inhibits glutamine, one of the body’s natural stimulants. Once you stop drinking, the body tries to make up for lost time by producing more glutamine than it needs.

The increase in glutamine stimulates the brain while trying to sleep, preventing you from reaching the deepest and most healing levels, playing a large part to the fatigue felt with a hangover. Severe glutamine rebound during a hangover can also cause tremors, anxiety, restlessness and increased blood pressure.

Alcohol is absorbed directly through the stomach which irritates the cells that line it. Alcohol also promotes secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, causing the nerves to send a message to the brain that the stomach’s contents are hurting the body and must be driven out through vomiting. Vomiting can lessen hangover symptoms because it rids the body of alcohol in the stomach, reducing the number of toxins the body has to deal with. The stomach’s irritation may also play a factor to diarrhea and lack of appetite.

Hangover Cures — Fact or Fiction

Hair of the Dog
More of the ‘hair of the dog that bit you’ — drinking more alcohol the next morning — only delays the inevitable. The liver is still processing the toxins left over from alcohol metabolism, so drinking more alcohol can make the symptoms appear to lessen at first, but will only make the situation worse once the liver breaks the alcohol down with even more toxins to deal with.

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Burnt Toast
The key behind this fictional cure is the carbon in the charred bread. Carbon can act like a filter in the body. While it’s true that activated charcoal — a treated form of carbon — is used to treat some types of poisonings, it’s not used to treat alcohol poisoning, which is a far cry from a normal hangover.

The filtering effect of charcoal is factor to the supposed success of over the counter remedies such as Chaser and Sob’r-K HangoverStopper — which claim carbon as their main ingredient — taken prior to drinking. Manufacturers claim that the activated charcoal in the pills attracts congeners.

The carbon / charcoal on burnt toast is not the same as activated charcoal, nor the equivalent of taking an over the counter hangover remedy.

Black Coffee
Coffee contains a lot of caffeine — a stimulant that helps fight fatigue — but when it wears off, you may be even more tired than before. It can help alleviate a headache because caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, which reduces the size of blood vessels. It counters the effect of the alcohol which makes them swell, but caffeine is also a diuretic like alcohol and can make you even more dehydrated than before, thereby increasing the severity of the hangover.

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Fried and Fatty Foods
Eating fried or fatty foods the morning after may only irritate your stomach further, but eating them before drinking can actually be helpful. Eating prior to drinking alcohol helps prevent a hangover, but particularly fatty foods stick to the stomach lining longer, thereby slowing down the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream. While it might make it take longer to feel the alcohol’s effects, it also gives your body more time to process the byproducts and increase your chances of feeling good in the morning.

One Mediterranean folklore method is to take a spoonful of olive oil before drinking alcohol.

Actually consuming lighter food like a fruit smoothie will provide energy and alleviate some symptoms by replenishing the electrolytes the body lost from dehydration.

Eggs
Eating eggs the morning after provides energy, but they also contain large amounts of cysteine, the substance that breaks down the hangover-causing toxin acetaldehyde in the liver’s depleted glutathione.

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Bananas
Eating bananas the next morning provides lost electrolytes and also replenishes the potassium lost to alcohol’s diuretic effect. Other potassium-rich foods such as kiwi fruit or sports drinks also work well.

Water
Drinking water combats dehydration and helps dilute the leftover by-products in the stomach. Adding salt and sugar to water helps replace the sodium and glycogen lost the night before — non-caffeinated, non-carbonated sports drinks will also attain the same result.

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Drinking a glass of water for every alcoholic beverage works as a prevention method to slow down drinking, providing more time for the body to deal with the alcohol. Your body can only process about 3/4 of an ounce of alcohol per hour. Also drinking a few glasses of water before going to bed helps fight dehydration after the body finishes breaking down the alcohol.

Fruit Juice
The fructose — fruit sugar — in fruit juice works to naturally increase the body’s energy. Studies have proven that it also increases the rate at which the body gets rid of toxins including those produced from drinking alcohol. It’s also high in vitamins and nutrients that were depleted the night before from the alcohol’s diuretic effect. Vitamin supplements high in vitamins B and C also work well.

Painkillers

Some painkillers are more effective at fighting a hangover than others. Excedrin may work for your headache because it combines acetaminophen for the pain and caffeine to reduce the size of the pounding blood vessels, but prolonged combination of alcohol and acetaminophen causes liver damage, and the caffeine is a diuretic.

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Aspirin is a non-caffeinated pain reliever and is also in a class of anti-inflammatory drugs known as prostaglandin inhibitors. Ibuprofen also acts as an inhibitor of prostaglandin synthesis. High levels of prostaglandin have been associated with increased hangover severity.

Participants in a study who took a prostaglandin inhibitor before bed reported less of a headache and less nausea and thirst than those who drank the same amount of alcohol but didn’t take the prostaglandin inhibitor before bed. But if you have a sensitive stomach, taking aspirin after drinking can make your stomach hurt even worse.

Over the Counter Remedies
Hangover cures like Chaser, Sob’r-K Hangover Stopper, RU-21, Berocca and Rebound vary greatly both in price and ingredients, so their effectiveness varies accordingly. They’re classified as dietary supplements, meaning they contain vitamins and minerals, don’t require a prescription, and typically taken in pill form.

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Hangover Review performed a study on 52 over the counter hangover cures and claimed the only medically provable supplements are Sob’r-K Hangover Stopper, Chaser and Uncle Rummie’s Hangover Helper because they contain effective levels of activated charcoal to reduce the number of impurities the body has to process.

Hangover Review rated Sob’r-K Hangover Stopper the smartest choice because it’s inexpensive compared to the others, uses the highest-grade carbon and is patented. The manufacturer of RU-21 says that it’s not an anti-hangover pill but a supplement for detoxification, but its main ingredients — dextrose, L-Glutamine and vitamin C — can be found in high amounts in everyday foods. Rebound has the same ingredients as RU-21 plus a few other vitamins, basically being a multivitamin. Berocca is much the same — merely a multivitamin that claims to increase energy naturally through vitamins.

The main factor that many of these ‘miracle cures’ may work could be the amount of water you drink when taking them. Many require taking 1 or 2 pills with 1 or 2 glasses of water before drinking alcohol, and more pills with full glasses of water over the course of the evening, before bed, and when waking up. The hydration alone vastly improves the chances of not having a hangover, and the vitamins in the pills simply give it a little boost.

Time
The only total cure for a hangover is time. No matter what you do, the body still has to clean up all the toxic byproducts left over from drinking alcohol, but some remedies can help speed up the process.

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Hangover Remedy Summary
Researchers have found the following regimen helps to minimize the symptoms of a hangover.

Before Drinking
Eating a full meal slows down the absorption of alcohol, giving the body more time to process the toxins, and fatty foods and carbohydrates help to increase the effect. Food in the stomach also decreases stomach irritation, reducing the probability of vomiting.

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Drinking a glass of water ensures the body is hydrated before the diuretic effect takes hold.

Taking multivitamins helps to prepare the body for the depletion of vitamins caused by frequent urination.

While Drinking
Drink in moderation — 1 drink per hour for the body to process each drink.

Drink a glass of water after every alcoholic beverage to help keep you hydrated, allowing your body more time to process the alcohol, dilute the toxins and reduce irritation of the stomach. A sports drink like Gatorade or Propel will also replenish electrolytes, salts and sugars lost in the urine.

Stick with one drink. Each new type of alcohol you put into your system makes the body work that much harder and puts that many more toxins in your body, leading to a more severe hangover.

Photo Hans van Reenen

Major types of alcohol and their effects:
Beer has the lowest percentage of alcohol — 4 to 6% — but it’s also carbonated which speeds up the absorption and can lead to toxin build-up.

Wine has a higher percentage of alcohol — 7 to 15 % — but it’s not usually carbonated. White wine is safer than red or blush because it has fewer congeners. In general, the cheaper the wine, the higher the congener content and the worse the hangover.

Liquor has the highest alcohol content — 40 to 95% — thereby increasing the probability of a hangover. Clear liquors like vodka, rum and gin are better than dark or sweet liquors like bourbon, scotch or tequila because they have fewer congeners. Cheaper liquor will generally result in a worse hangover than more expensive liquor.

After Drinking
Take two aspirin before bed with a full glass of water — the prostaglandin inhibitors in the aspirin can decrease hangover severity.

Take 2 more aspirin in the morning with a full glass of water to minimize headaches and decrease inflammation from leftover prostaglandin. Take another multivitamin to particularly replenish vitamins B and C to help get rid of the rest of the toxins.

Eat breakfast that includes eggs (for the cysteine), a banana (for the potassium), and fruit juice (for the fructose) or a sports drink (for the electrolytes, sugars and salts) to speed recovery. Remember that caffeinated coffee, tea and soda will further dehydrate you.

Sources: How Stuff Works, Journal Watch and Hangover Review

Tags:cure cures hangover hangovers myth myths remedies remedy

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