This episode covers all things hangover: why they happen, how to prevent them, and what to do if you have one.
Sarah: Welcome back to the last call podcast. Today is our hangover episode! So today we are doing a deep dive into all things hangover. So the anatomy of a hangover - basically breaking down what it is, talking about how to prevent one, and then how you can help if you do find yourself with a hangover the night after drinking. So, Mariss, do you want to kick it off for us today?
Marissa: Yes, and we thought this would be a very fitting topic as people are coming back from spring break. To oversimplify, a hangover is just a case of ethanol poisoning, which in turn disrupts a number of metabolic processes throughout the body. So just like we all absorb alcohol differently, we can experience hangovers differently. So some common symptoms, or so I've heard, are: headache fatigue, muscle aches and weakness, being thirsty, getting dizzy, sometimes even depression and anxiety….Definitely some sensitivity to light and sound and also some memory and concentration problems.
Sarah: Also, if you're wondering if hangovers get worse as you get older... they do.
Marissa: I wouldn't know…So what's kind of interesting about hangovers is that they're really subjective - meaning that they're different from person to person. So that makes pinpointing the science of a hangover kind of tricky. It's hard to have an objective measure of what defines a hangover, and data is oftentimes self-reported.
But what we do know is that a combination of dehydration, low blood sugar, and an imbalance of electrolytes and other chemicals in the brain and body are the common denominators.
So let's just start at the top of the body with our heads. So, alcohol is a diuretic, which means it increases the production of urine. Alcohol consumption, combined with frequent urination causes the body to become dehydrated.
To nerd out for a second, the blood vessels in the brain go from expanding while we're drinking to constricting when we're recovering from alcohol consumption, and that causes people to experience pressure and a pounding headache.
Sarah: Something interesting about that is like, in talking with students sometimes they'll say, “you know, once they break this seal that's good.” Because then they feel like they're peeing alcohol more quickly, but to be honest, it doesn't matter how many times you're peeing in an hour. Your liver can only process one standard drink per hour.
So, in your mind, don't equate having to go to the bathroom more with getting rid of alcohol more quickly because those two do not jive.
Marissa: Also in the brain, you might have a little bit of a brain fog. Maybe feeling a little bit irritable. That's also due to brain inflammation and distress.
So there's our heads. So, let's move down a little bit to our stomachs. Alcohol increases stomach acid and inflammation, and irritates the lining of the stomach. Some people try to combat this by having a case of the drunk munchies.
So some research suggests that alcohol can stimulate nerve cells in the hypothalamus, which actually increases appetite, almost tricking your brain into feeling intense hunger. Then fast forwarding a little bit to the morning after…So, we're getting a little messy, but diarrhea can be a side effect of diuretics. But alcohol also slows down the absorption of liquids in your bowels. Beer tends to have more carbs than other sources of alcohol and some people have a problem breaking this down. I think the scientific term for this is the “beer shits.”
Sarah: Hahaha – that’s what it’s called!
Marissa: In textbooks that's what it's called. But you throw in sugary mixers and then the pizza your body was telling you that you needed at 2am... That can be a dicey situation. And then on the opposite end of that spectrum, for some people, alcohol can cause constipation. So no matter how you're looking at it, it's a literal crapshoot.
So, now that we've covered the actual body, let's talk a little bit about sleep. So, alcohol prevents you from reaching the deeper stages of sleep and that can make sense why sleep has an impact on a hangover. Maybe you feel tired the next day - because you're having to pee every few hours, or potentially throw up if you've had too much to drink.
Sarah: What's interesting about that Mariss, I had people say to me, “well, when I drink, I can fall sleep a lot more quickly than, you know, when I don't drink.” That might be the case but similar to cannabis, you're not getting good quality sleep when you're drinking. Therefore, when you wake up, it doesn't matter if you went to bed at midnight and woke up at noon, you didn't get good quality sleep. So you're still going to feel tired.
Marissa: Exactly. Falling asleep quickly does not equate to like a good night's sleep. Something else just to, you know, be aware of and Sarah's going to talk about this more in a moment, but mixing alcohol with any other substance - so cannabis, nicotine cigarettes, stimulants like cocaine, Adderall, any other drugs... That's only going to exacerbate the symptoms. There's not really take one to help balance out the other.
Tell me a little bit Sarah. Like, how does someone prevent getting a hangover?
Sarah: Absolutely, so there's a bunch of different things you can do, and some of it comes down to cutting down or cutting back, which we've talked about quite a bit, I feel like the last year. But I think one of the most important things to remember is that you really should be dealing with what's going on in your life before you start drinking.
So, you know, having a night out as a stress reliever is usually never going to equate to a good night. So, we've talked about HALT before. You never want to drink if you're hungry, angry, lonely or tired. That's because people end up consuming a lot more than they usually would, if they were in a great mood.
So, it's really important that you have a couple of different ways to deal with stress or things that are going on in your life that you can turn to, versus, you know, going out. And that's how you're coping with your stress.
Marissa: But also going out to celebrate might feel like it starts with a good vibe, but when you're trying to keep that momentum going also drinking to celebrate, you can unintentionally drink more than you intended as well.
Sarah: Yeah, absolutely and you know, how many celebrations can you have? Like you’re celebrating that your cat turned 1 by going out to a bar crawl?
Marissa: We're going on a bar crawl to celebrate my cat's birthday.
Sarah: So, going along with that, Mariss, you know, back to the HALT, make sure that you eat before you drink - and I don't mean a couple crackers as you're pounding your 1st drink of the night. Eat a substantial meal with carbohydrates, good fat, protein... And this will keep you from absorbing alcohol more quickly. And hopefully, in turn will help you keep your blood alcohol content at a sustainable level.
Going with that, make sure you spaced out your drinks slowly. We kind of talked about at the beginning; your liver can only process one standard drink per hour still no matter how great of a drinker that you think you are. Spacing out your drinks will ensure that your liver has enough time to process each drink that you're consuming. Now, going along with that, it's important to keep track of how much you're drinking so that you're aware. But also measure out your drink so, you know, again, master bartenders usually end up way over pouring. Even if you think your eyeballing, the perfect shot can't guarantee that it that it is one shot.
What else is really interesting about this, we talked about how your blood alcohol content can continue to rise even after you fall asleep if you drink, and if you've consumed a lot. But you can also wake up the next day and still have considerable amount of alcohol in your system that can lead to a DWI.
So, the only way to prevent that is to know how many drinks you had, how long it's been since you've had your last drink, and the only way to reasonably measure that unless you have a breathalyzer - which not many people do - is know how many standard drinks you've had how long it's been, and even that, you know, isn't a guarantee because you could have consumed more than you thought. Anything to add to that, Mariss?
Marissa: Yeah, so think about it this way: if you went to bed with, let's just say, like a .14. That's going to take you 7 hours for you to get back down to 0 for your BAC. So, you go to bed at 2 in the morning with a .14, and you have class at 8 am. You're still going to be impaired when you're in class that day, even though you might feel like you're, you know, okay. Or, say you had to drive to class- that could still be a DUI if you're driving with a .03. Then throw in, the zero tolerance law, if you're under 21 driving with that. Sometimes play that tape forward all the way with what your numbers look like.
Sarah: Yeah, and it's important to know that a lot of those measurements are based on a 150 pound man, with a standard drink. So, you know how many people are exactly that measurement, of that sex and, you know are consuming perfectly measured out standard drinks - not everyone.
Marissa: Right and like your numbers too - that might just be what your BAC is, but if 3 drinks puts you over the limit, where you don't feel like you're in control anymore….How you feel and what your BAC are don't always equal the same thing.
Sarah: Yeah, absolutely, no, that's really true. So continuing on, it's important to try to avoid sugar and super sugary drinks so, alcohol and sugar both causes inflammation. So, mixing the two, or even having one and then the other kind of like, you talked about Mariss with the cravings, you know, after you finish drinking and then you're like, yeah. It's a great idea for me to pound back 2 bags of King size skittles - not a recipe for a good time.
Also, it's really important to make sure that you're continuously drinking water, so drink water before you're drinking, while you're drinking, and then after you're drinking. So, I'm not saying, you know, we've talked about this before, pounding a whole gallons of water after you're done drinking for the night is not going to prevent a hangover and it's also not going to sober you up. It's good to get, reasonable amounts of water, but you don't have to chug a whole gallon and tell yourself that that's going to prevent you from having a hang over the next day.
Marissa: So if you're in a position where you're uncomfortable doing that, get extra ice in your drink, chew on the ice in between no one's going to question how much like, ice is in your cup.
So, just, you know, keep that in mind if you're out at the bar or something to ask for extra ice in your drink because that's water too.
Sarah: Yeah, absolutely. That makes a lot of sense Mariss. Also, we've talked about hydrating after you're done drinking for the night, but it's also okay to replace some of those electrolytes that you've lost through drinking with Gatorade or PowerAde because those can help replace some electrolytes that you have gotten rid of after drinking alcohol.
And then like you talked about Marissa, it's important not to mix your substances. So we always like to say, stick to one or the other because anything that you're adding on top of alcohol has the potential to amplify the effects, which would lead to amplified hangovers.
Marissa: So, what would someone do perhaps if that ship has sailed, and they might be nursing hanging over? How can we speed up the process of getting better?
Sarah: Yeah, absolutely and I'm sure, you know, a lot of people are thinking “hair of the dog.” So, for those who don't know what that means is you're starting your day off, the night after night of heavy drinking, with another alcoholic drink, because it's going to quote/unquote, help, decrease your symptoms of a hangover. So, while that might sound appetizing, this is never a good idea. What you're doing is just kicking the can down the road. If you have to start your day with an additional drink after a night of heavy drinking then I think it's a good time to really think about your use and maybe come chat with someone about it and think about maybe cutting back.
Marissa: Also, the hair or the dog is total garbage anyway. Medical practitioners in the 1500s - have you ever heard of this?
Sarah: No
Marissa: Where it comes from is medical practitioners in the 1500’s thought that you could cure rabies by drinking a potion of the hair of the dog that bit you. So, I think that this is folk lore turned into “get rid of the hangover by drinking the next morning!” But like, that was also going from, like, uh, don't do that. If you have rabies, you need to get to the ER. Don't be like, finding some dog hair or like raccoon fur, that's not how it works... Similar with alcohol.
Sarah: Love it. So yeah, hair of the dog does not actually work.
Definitely something else you can do to that may help with that town on ibuprofen can help with headaches. They could come from some of that blood vessel and brain irritation that we've talked about potentially help with some of the dehydration. But it's important to be careful with that, because in high rates of consumption that has been linked to liver issues. So always, you know, in moderation.
Something else you can do is eat some bland food. So if you've gotten sick before stick the night before, or if you have a sensitive stomach after a night of heavy drinking. Things like crackers, toast, sometimes antacids can help if your stomach is not feeling the best.
And then kind of like we've talked about, what's really important is that you're rehydrating yourself because a lot of the hangover symptoms are caused by dehydration of your body. So, things like water, Gatorade Pedialyte - any drinks that have electrolytes. They're replacing some of the ones that you've lost during a night of drinking, and can be very helpful.
It's important that if you gone really hard, for example, like a longer larger scale drinking event, you want to make sure that you're giving your liver time to recover. So, while you might feel okay after drinking heavily, your liver can only detox so much. So it's really important to give yourself time for it to take a break, taking a couple of days off from drinking after you've consumed a lot…Never hurt.
And then the last thing you can do, if you’re not super hung over is to get a little bit of exercise. So obviously, if you're super hung over, you can't get out of bed. You've been, you know, puking all morning… Not something that you're gonna want to do a cross fit workout…just getting some cardio in maybe some stretching just to kind of get your circulation moving and your body going can be helpful to get you out of that hang over fog.
Marissa: Even getting some fresh air - even if moving is the last thing on your list, just getting out and breathing some fresh air… No, it's not going to decrease your BAC at all but, psychologically you might feel a little bit better.
So, thanks for covering some ways that people can kind of remedy a hangover once uh, once that ship has sailed, and also covering some things we can do to maybe prevent a hangover in the first place.
And, you know, maybe we should have started the episode with this, but the easiest way to prevent the hang over is not to drink. But again, if you are going to drink, having a little moderation, having some water in between, having something to eat… Those are easy things that you can do to kind of mitigate some of the negative consequences of over consuming alcohol.
Sarah: Yeah, hangovers only come if you have over consumed. So obviously if you want to prevent one, and you really hate hangovers and you don't like that feeling, don't drink.
Marissa: Yeah, so thank you for joining us, and next week and actually for the month of April we are going to be covering cannabis related topics. So stay tuned for those upcoming episodes and thanks for joining us.
Sarah: See, you next week bye.