CNN
—
Raise a glass to celebrate the birth of the new year It’s an ancient ritual, and for many, a dreaded morning aftermath—and so is a hangover.
What seemed like fun at the time now leaves your hands shaking, your head pounding, and your heart racing, not to mention other unpleasant symptoms like dizziness, nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, and extreme thirst.
why are you suffering Because that booze that just came out of your mouth is now wreaking havoc on your body, causing dehydration, stomach upset, and inflammation. These diseases peak around the time all the alcohol leaves your body.
There’s no scientifically proven cure for a hangover, but experts say you can prevent it — or at least minimize the pain you feel after it. how the Lord.
Forget late-night snacks after a night of drinking — it’s too late, experts say. Instead, eat before your first drink and continue to eat as the night progresses.
“Food in the stomach slows gastric emptying and can reduce hangover symptoms,” says Dr.Robert Swift, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University’s Warren Alpert School of Medicine in Providence, Rhode Island.
Why does food help? That’s because alcohol is metabolized not through the stomach but through the gut just below the stomach, Swift said.
“For example, if someone injects alcohol on an empty stomach, all the pure alcohol doesn’t get diluted by the stomach, but rather goes into the gut very quickly,” said Swift, who has studied alcohol abuse since the 1990s.
“However, if there is food in the stomach, there are gastric juices and enzymes that mix the food and alcohol, and only a small amount of food goes into the gut,” he said. “Now the alcohol is diluted in the stomach, And the amount of alcohol absorbed at any one time is very small. ”
The same principle applies to water and other nonalcoholic beverages, Swift said. “If alcohol is mixed with a liquid, it gets diluted, so when it gets into your gut, It’s not that annoying. You are less likely to have an inflamed gut or an inflamed stomach lining. ”
Drinking less water between drinks has another benefit, says former research director John Brick Center for Alcohol Research, Department of Education and Training, Rutgers University, NJ.
“The main causes of hangovers are dehydration and fluid loss, as well as loss of vitamins and minerals,” said Brick, who authored “The Physician’s Handbook of Hangovers” and published science on the effects of alcohol and other drugs on biological behavior paper.
Drinking as little as 3½ alcoholic beverages can result in the loss of as much as a quart of water in a few hours, adds Brick. “That’s a lot of water that has to be replenished.”
Alcohol-induced dehydration affects women more, and even if she drinks less than men, she’s more prone to hangovers, Swift said. That’s because men have a higher percentage of body water than women of the same height and weight, so the same amount of alcohol is diluted more in men, he said.
“The woman’s blood alcohol level will be higher because her body has less water to dilute it,” he said. “Women are more susceptible to the harmful effects of alcohol (and they) Drunk more easily and develop alcoholic liver disease earlier than men. ”
The alcohol we drink is called ethanol or ethanol and is a by-product of the fermentation of carbohydrates and starches, usually some kind of grain, grape or berry. There are other less palatable by-products, such as ethanol — which is found in the gas we put in our cars — and methanol, or methanol — a toxic substance used as a solvent, pesticide, and alternative fuel source. Also known as wood alcohol, methanol made by smugglers blinded or killed thousands during Prohibition.
And that’s not all – the list of by-products or chemicals that manufacturers add to add flavor and taste reads like an industrial warehouse supply list: ethyl formate, ethyl acetate, n-propanol, isobutanol, n-butanol Alcohol, Isoamyl Alcohol and Isoamyl Alcohol. While these so-called congeners are added in small amounts in a non-toxic manner, some people are overly sensitive to their effects.
Overall, dark beers and spirits tend to have more congeners That could make it easier to cause a hangover, experts say. A 2010 study looked at the intensity of hangovers in people who drank dark bourbon and sake vodka.
“The congener in bourbon … had a significant increase in hangover intensity, which is not surprising since bourbon has about 37 times the congener than vodka,” Brick said.
Chemical preservatives called sulfites are known to cause allergic reactions in sensitive people and are also a natural by-product of fermentation small amount. However, many beer and wine manufacturers add sulfites to their products to extend shelf life. (Sulphites are also added to soda, cereals, sweeteners, canned and ultra-processed foods, medications, and more.)
sweet and white wines There tends to be more sulfites than red wine, but red wine has more tannins, which are bitter or astringent compounds found in grape skins and seeds. Like sulfites, tannins can trigger allergic reactions in sensitive people.
result, limit Drinking light beer, sake, and white wine may help stave off a hangover.
In the end, though, experts say, there’s only one way to truly prevent or cure a hangover: Don’t drink.
“There is no easy cure because there are so many complex factors that produce the multiple symptoms of a hangover,” Swift said. “That’s why the only real cure for a hangover is to not drink alcohol, or to drink only a small amount so as not to trigger the hangover.”