Everyone has a good old fashioned “one too many” every once in a while, there’s no shame in it. The weather has been great, and going out has felt like a better idea than it does most of the year lately, but tomorrow you’ve got to go back to work.
In the morning come the harrowing regrets and headaches you waste a few hours in the morning shaking off. How the hangover got here doesn’t matter anymore, but what we can do about it.
Fuel Up Early
Don’t skip breakfast, and make it a good one. We’re talking a bacon (or whatever meat/fat substitute you go for if you’re a vegetarian, avocado maybe, eggs, and a little bit of carbs. Caffeine never hurts, but the thing people tend not to remember are the supplements. Get some 5-HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan), it’s a naturally occuring amino acid with seratonin boosts that you’re due to that one extra drink. Pair all that up with some good old vitamin-C, preferably in supplement form, but a bunch of orange juice can work too.
Low blood sugar will no doubt contribute to your current condition, so if you don’t have the time for or access to a big breakfast, get something relatively sugary. Grab a chocolate protein bar or two, maybe even sneak a candy bar in, just make sure it’s high in sugar if you aren’t going to have time for anything else. Don’t forget the coffee.
Go With The Old Mediterranean Trick
Another surprising and not so well known trick is lemon juice before drinking will help you in the morning. You’ll be thanking your past self in the morning, since it’s got an alkalizing property that will help balance the accidity you’ve copiously introduced to your system. While you’re at it, take a teaspoon of olive juice. It’ll help line your stomach with the stuff, making it take much longer for the alcohol to be absorbed into your body.
Hair of the Dog
I’m sure you didn’t see this coming, but here comes the part where I tell you to drink more and somehow it will help you. Before you roll your eyes at your computer(or phone) screen, hear me out. Also known as “hair of the dog,” many people swear by this common hangover remedy, since there is some surprising sort of scientific backing to this well known myth. Believe it or not, alcohol changes the way methanol is processed in the body. Once you’re drinking, mthanol is converted into formaldehyde, which is the stuff making you feel particularly sick during your hang over.
However, introducing more alchohol into your system can stop this conversion and prevent the formation of formaldehyde altogether. Instead, methanol is excreted from the body like everything else. Don’t do this often, as you can see how the effect can hijack the body straight into hardcore alchoholism, so use this responsibly.
Just go Back to Sleep
Essentially, alcohol consumption completely depletes your ability to get restful sleep, through the process of introducing it to your system promotes sleep. Lack of sleep just compounds on your hangover, as your brain has less time to peacefully oxidate, leaving you with that pounding headache and raveonous demand for more water through out the day.
Listen, the best anti-hangover advice I can give you would be to simply drink less, but that’s an unfair expectation I say, it’s beautiful out and I want to drink while out there. I expect no less of you, as long as you’re being responsible and keeping these tips in mind next time you’re staring at the bottle when your friends say passively, “want another one?” as your gaze becomes steely and you say to yourself “Yeah, I’m going to keep going.”
