Your Ultimate Guide To Hangover Cures, Red Wine Headache Cures, Why We Get Drunk, And Hangover Prevention
Hangovers are the worst. You have a throbbing headache, nausea, your mouth is dry, stomach and muscles hurt, and the sunlight is “hitting you dead in the eye like it’s mad that you gave half today to last night” (in the words of rapper Slug from Atmostphere in the song “Sunshine.”
So how do you cure a hangover?
How do you get rid of a red wine headache?
As a professional alcoholic (ahem, I mean Winemaker) I have more than my share of hangovers under my belt. What’s more, it is in my blood: I come from a long line of alcoholics, and have turned our passion into my professional. You might even call me a drinking and hangover expert. So today, I am going to break down the science and art of how we get drunk, and how to prevent a hangover when drinking.
Dislaimer: Everything in this presentation is informational only, and I make no medical claims or claims as to the validity of any of this information.
How Do We Get Drunk?
We’ve all been there. Just minding our business, doing paperwork, and blam! We’re drunk. Okay, maybe we had a few drinks at lunch. But not enough to be drunk!
There are many factors leading to how drunk we get. We’ll start with the basic concept: Alcohol, that wonderful thing, is the key to all of this of course. There are many “alcohols” including ethanol, methanol, and others. But the key one to human drunkenness is ethanol: it is the core molecule in beer, wine, whiskey and tequila that gets us drunk. When we consume ethanol (in the form of beer, wine, liquor or other alcoholic beverages) it becomes absorbed into our bloodstream and “gets us drunk.”
Okay, but why does an ethanol molecule in my bloodstream get me dancing on tables?
Ethanol enters the bloodstream through your stomach and small intestine, and there it passes through cell membranes and enters the heart & brain. In the brain is where it gets really interesting: ethanol triggers the release of feel-good dopamine, giving you that first rise of euphoria when you drink. Ethanol will also bind with glutamate, a neurotransmitter that normally excites neurons. Ethanol blocks glutamate, making the brain slower to respond to stimuli (which is why you feel sluggish and start moving drunkenly. Ethanol also binds to gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), activating GABA receptors, making you feel calm and sleepy [source: Inglis-Arkell]. Now, your initial euphoria is combined with a sluggish movement and thinking, and a calm and sleepy note. Lastly, alcohol in your bloodstream causes vessels to widen and can result in skin flushing, a temporary feeling of warmth, a rapid decrease in body temperature, and a drop in blood pressure. This cluster of effects is why it is often said that alcohol is both a stimulant and depressant: the body is triggered to be euphoric, sluggish, and sleepy all at once.
The body then metabolizes and excretes the ethanol. This processing is done primarily by enzymes in the liver, and is also excreted by the kidneys as urine and breathed out of the lungs as alcohol fumes (that’s why your breath stinks). In cases of excess consumption, you might even begin to sweat alcohol as the body races to get rid of the excess, toxic alcohol fast!Still not fast enough? That’s when your body triggers vomiting and you get rid of any unprocessed alcohol in a hurry [sources: Brown University Heath Education, Inglis-Arkell].
Excess consumption, about 15 “standard drinks,” can wreak such havoc that breathing and heart rate become severely impaired to the point of alcohol poisoning and death. Even well below that amount, a person can die from alcohol depending on a variety of conditions (weight, food consumed, other factors) [sources: Health Promotion Agency, Loyola Marymount University].
So what’s the “right” amount to drink to avoid a hangover?
There is no perfect amount to drink. Alcohol and humans have something of a love-hate relationship. We have consumed it for thousands of years, some say we have even co-evolved with it. Moderate consumption has demonstrated health effects from thousands of studies, but excess consumption has similarly been shown to have severe detrimental effects in thousands of studies.
The “right amount” from a health point of view varies from study to study, but probably lies somewhere 1 and 3 drinks. You will get drunk and be healthier drinking less if you weigh less, have not eaten while drinking, or are older [source: Beck].
What is “one drink?”
A standard drink for medical and legal purposes is standardized by governments, and it is probably less than you think. That fishbowl sized glass of wine that you drink after work? Not one drink.
In the USA, one standard drink contains 14 grams of pure ethanol. Here are some examples:
12 ounces of regular beer at 5% alcohol
5 ounces of wine at 12% alcohol
1.5 ounces of distilled spirits at 40% alcohol
How Does The Body Process Alcohol?
Alcohol eventually is processed by the body in a process that converts it from ethanol to acetaldehyde and eventually acetic acid (vinegar), leading to the common joke that alcoholics are “pickled.” These processes are called the alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase reactions, and they happen over time. The details of these processes are beyond the scope of this article, but are fun to learn about if you are a science type.
The body can process roughly “one drink” an hour (varying widely based on many factors). beyond that level the alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase reactions cannot keep up and the ethanol and/or acetaldehyde become more toxic to your system (i.e. making you drunk). Ethanol buildup creates many of the euphoric feelings of drunkenness, whereas acetaldehyde buildup creates many of the more unpleasant effects of alcohol consumption. Other toxins “congeners” also contribute.
What is the deal with the “Alcohol glow”?
According to the NIH, “one version of the ADH enzyme, called ADH1B*2, is common in people of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean descent but rare in people of European and African descent.” This version is more efficient in processing ethanol into acetaldehyde. The high levels of acetaldehyde, create unpleasant effects such as facial flushing, nausea, and a rapid heart beat. Variation also exists between males and females in quantity and type of AHD and ALDH enzymes, and person to person depending on a variety of factors. (source: https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa72/aa72.htm)
Okay But Why Do I Get Hungover?
First, we must define a hangover: symptoms include fatigue, headache, nausea, dizziness, thirst and sensitivity to light or sound.
Second, we must identify the cause(s) of a hangover: (it’s complicated…): basically, it mostly boils down to toxic levels of ethanol and acetaldehyde creating toxicity in your body, but secondary toxins such as congeners (methanol, etc), as well as dehydration (caused by alcohol itself as well as components such as tannins and other solutes as well as the diuretic effect), irritation of the gastrointestinal tract, a drop in blood sugar concentrations, disturbed sleep patterns, withdrawl from the alcohol, can all contribute.
Okay, So What Are My Hangover Cures?
Cultural theories and myths abound, but science mostly says: drink less, drink with food, drink water while drinking, drink clear alcohol.
Drinking less is an obvious answer, but if you have already done your drinking, what now? Drink LOTS of water. Water will keep you from getting dehydrated, which is one of the other causes of hangovers, and will also slow the absorption of alcohol, allowing your body more time to process the alcohol already in your system. To maximize your body’s absorption of the water, add electrolytes or vitamins.
Why do we crave greasy food when we’re drunk? The body wants food in it for a variety of reasons. The food will slow the absorption of alcohol, making it easier for the body to process it and avoid a hangover. Also, the fats & oils line the stomach, slowing alcohol absorption. Lastly, the nutrients in the food help replace those depleted by alcohol.
One good trick is to take b vitamins (from pills or nutritional yeast), which are cofactors in the enzymatic reactions of processing alcohol. Your body becomes depleted of them during drinking, so replacing them helps your body recover.
Sugar can also help. That sharp headache from hangovers is often the brain telling you that it lacks fuel. Sugary drinks can quickly replace this sugar, remedying the low blood sugar the often accompanies hangovers, and helping with that headache.
Coffee and pain relievers mute the symptoms of a hangover and are often used, but will not treat the underlying causes. Take particular caution with pain relievers, as they can combine with ethanol still in your system and be toxic to your kidneys and liver.
What about “hair of the dog?” Methanol is one cause of hangovers. Ethanol (alcohol) acts as a competitive inhibitor by more effectively binding and saturating the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme in the liver, thus blocking the binding of methanol. Instead of forming formaldehyde, methanol is then safely excreted from the body. So, a drink in the morning may help short term, but will not help long term.
We know that fatty foods will slow down alcohol absorption quite significantly, as they effectively form a lining that alcohol cannot easily pass through [alcohol is not soluble in fat]. Additionally, the mere mass of food in the stomach will slow the processing of the alcohol. Take home message: food can slow absorption of alcohol and decrease your peak BAC, but ultimately your body must still process the alcohol
The Take Home Message
Drinking can be a lot of fun, and make some great memories that we don’t remember. But when drinking, it is best to remember a few key guidelines:
Drink in moderation
Drink lots of water when you drink
Take vitamins, electrolytes, and particularly b-vitamins when you drink
Eat lots of food before, during, and after drinking
Drink something sweet and caffeinated in the morning to ease symptoms
If you forget to do these things while drinking, do them in the morning to ease the symptoms
Best of luck out there people!