Well it’s that time of year again, Christmas and New Years, with that comes the typical living to excess that most of us indulge in. However, this decadent lifestyle has its drawbacks, namely hangovers!
The best way to beat a hangover is to not indulge in the first place but we all know that sometimes that just does not happen. So assuming that self control was not a strong point of your evening let’s look at a few reasons why you feel like crap after a big night on the booze.
The first is sleep deprivation, unfortunately there isn’t much you can do about this one, other than sleeping it off but becareful with this one because if you have had a big night out then sleep during the next day you can throw out your natural sleep rhythms, so if you can, try to hold off until the next night before you sleep to keep your normal sleep cycle. This way your big night is much less likely to ruin your whole week until you get back into sync again.
Dehydration is another big culprit for the dreaded hangover. If you pre-plan this one you can work around it though. It’s pretty simple just go one drink for one glass of water and make this a non negotiable. You will be frequenting the bathroom but you will pull up way better off the next day. However, sometimes all plans go out the window and you end up smashing down RedBull vodkas back to back all night, what then? Well you are in for a battle but it’s not the end!
Alcohol consumption causes the suppression of a hormone called vasopressin, basically this hormone triggers your body to reabsorb liquids processed by the kidneys, without it your body just sends everything to the bladder as urine and is why alcohol acts as a diuretic and can cause dehydration. The other side effect of this is that your system flushes out trace minerals known as electrolytes, these are needed to allow your body to be able to absorb water and maintain hydration.
With reduced levels of electrolytes in your system, it is far more difficult to absorb water and why sometimes it seems that no matter how much you drink you can never quench your thirst. To combat this you need to replace the electrolytes, now you can buy a fancy sports drink but at the end of the day they are essentially just salt and sugar mixed with water.
So, to combat the dreaded dehydration try and drink a litre of water before you go to sleep (provided you have not passed out in a gutter somewhere), then when you wake drink an electrolyte drink. I like a quarter teaspoon of coloured salt (Celtic or Himalayan) with 30ml of lime juice in a glass of water. Coconut water is also good natural electrolyte drink or you can opt for the commercial sports drinks.
Another function of this excessive urination is the depletion of many other essential vitamins and minerals so it might be a good idea to have a high quality multi vitamin (which you should be taking daily any way) before you go to sleep and when you wake also.
Alcohol is a great disinfectant, it kills pretty much everything including your gut flora. These little guys are responsible for all sorts of things in your body from helping to break down and absorb nutrients from foods to producing hormones and protecting you from pathogens that can make you sick. So after a big night on the drink they take a huge hit to their ranks leaving you more susceptible to depression, illness and poor digestion. So it’s great idea to replace these guys by taking a high quality probiotic (which you should be doing daily any way).
Alcohol is a poison, you body uses alcohol as an energy source, similarly to how is uses carbohydrates, fats and proteins. In fact alcohol is the little talked about fourth macronutrient. The problem is that ethanol when processed by the body makes some pretty nasty metabolites (metabolic by-products) these can cause damage to cells and DNA so your body needs to get rid of them and reduce the risk of harm. All this happens in the liver so by supporting liver function you may speed this up and reduce the impact on the body. Taking a liver support supplement before bed could assist in this, thus reducing the impact of the hangover the next day.
Alcohol causes acidity, the metabolisation of alcohol increases the acid levels within the body. Though, contrary to popular belief, this wont effect the overall PH of the body (because the body is smart and looks after itself). What does happen though is the body will release other stored nutrients, amino acids or mineral to counteract the increased acidity. This can be detrimental to muscle strength and function as well as other systems in the body. To prevent this, it can be a good idea to consume a alkalizing drink, like a greens drink. This has the added advantage of containing many different phytochemicals, though many of which we don’t fully understand their function in the body they do seem to have a positive effect on health.
At the end of the day though all of these are bandaid fixes to lessen the negative impact of living a life to excess. The only real way to cure a hangover is to avoid it to begin with and that just comes down to choice. Even if you do chose to drink then limiting your consumption is always the better option. I personally have found that drinking top shelf alcohol seems deliver less of a hangover the next day, this may be because of a lack of preservatives and other chemicals but it may also be because the excessive cost involved in drinking these could be a sub conscious self regulating function.
I do have a few other tricks up my sleeve like replacing other depleted brain chemicals and hormone precursors but I can’t give away all my trade secrets for free in my blog. If you want to get more out of your body, performance and life in general including having direct access to all my trade secrets then contact me today to find out how you can be a part of the Actionsport Performance team.
Train hard and be safe.
Your strength coach
Cam