Hangovers: How To Prevent And Cure Them

Have a hangover after a night of binge drinking? Here are some ways to cure your hangover and some tips to prevent another one.

If you are human, more than likely you have woken up with one. The first thing you notice as your eyes start to focus on the ceiling fan overhead is that your mouth feels as if somebody zapped out all of the moisture from it and then proceeded to stuff it with cotton balls. As you lift your head from your pillow to get yourself a cold glass of water, your head begins to throb. At that point, the nausea hits and all you want to do is grab the comforter, pull it over your head and go back to sleep. You are now one of the millions of people who has suffered from a hangover due to a night of binge drinking. For the most part, it does not really matter what you binged on the night before. Beer, liquor, champagne and wine have all been known to give hangovers. The question is, now that you have the hangover, how do you cure it and how can you prevent it from every happening again? If you ask anybody, they will have their own guaranteed miracle cure, so here are some of the more popular ones.

Cures

* Drink plenty of liquids but steer clear of any beverage that is caffeinated like coffee or soda. Like alcohol, drinks with caffeine are considered diuretics which will aggravate your already present dehydration. Instead, drink a few glasses of ice cold water or a sports drink like Gatorade. Also, many friends will insist that drinking more alcohol the morning after will cure your hangover. Do not listen to them. This will serve only to make your hangover even worse later in the day.

* Have a healthy breakfast that is high in potassium. A perfect remedy is to make a banana shake with real bananas and yogurt.

* If you are not allergic to it, two aspirin will help with the headache and nausea.

* Some people who have had multiple hangovers highly recommend taking some Vitamin B tablets to help ease the symptoms of the hangover.

* If at all possible, try to get more rest. This will help you sleep the worst of the hangover off.

Prevention

If you know you will be hitting the bars and clubs that night, have a full dinner. Do not go out drinking with an empty stomach, or you are setting yourself up for a drunken night to be immediately followed by a hangover morning. The food you eat before drinking alcohol will help to soak up some of that alcohol that you will be pouring into your body. If you have nothing in your stomach, the alcohol will go straight into your system getting you drunker faster. One other way to prevent a horrendous hangover the following day is to continually drink liquids throughout the evening, and by liquids I do not mean more liquor. Have a couple of glasses of ice cold water or juice throughout the night to keep your body hydrated. Alcohol will quickly strip your body of hydration, since you will find urination to be much more frequent, so keep the non-alcoholic liquids coming in.

© Demand Media 2011