The 20's Survival Guide

How to Manage Hangovers, Energy, and Sleep: Teens vs. Twenties

• Emily Astley • Season 1 • Episode 48

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Remember when you could party all night, sleep for two hours, and still make it to your 9 AM lecture? Yeah… not so much anymore.

But we’re not done going out, we just have to be a little smarter about it.

This episode’s all about how to keep the fun going without wrecking yourself. We are discussing how to use naps, hydration, drink choices, and hangover fixes (that actually work), to your advantage.

Getting older doesn’t mean slowing down. It just means playing it smarter.


Enjoy!

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Speaker 1:

welcome back to another episode of the 20s survival guide. This is your host, emily astley. Today we're going to be talking about sleep, hangovers and energy levels and how different they are in your 20s compared to your teens. I can't be the only one who at university, could just go out till like four in the morning and then I had a lecture at nine nine am and probably had about like four hours of sleep, got up made, made it to the lecture, went to the library the whole day and literally was feeling on top of the world and all I needed was a coffee and it sorted me right out. But honestly, the thought of doing that right now I can't think of anything worse. Like I don't think my body would survive something like that and I think how the hell did my body survive that before? Once you enter your 20s, things start to get a bit more difficult and the thought of having two hours of sleep and going out the next night is literally like nothing short of death. It sounds like the worst thing ever. And maybe that's just me and maybe I'm already entering my retirement ages, because maybe some of you guys are like no, that's so normal, I do that every weekend, cool, but the point is is we're going to really be talking about the difference in your 20s and what really happens with your energy levels and why you really feel hangovers way more than you did in your teens. So, without further ado, let's get into the episode. We're going to talk about three main things essentially. One of them is how this shift of your 20s, from your teenagehood years, starts to creep up on you and you don't really know exactly when. It is like there's not a specific day where you're like this hangover just hits different. We're going to be talking about the reality check when did you notice that your energy level started to tank? And then we're also going to talk about science, because there is actual scientific evidence that you just struggle with hangovers and energy levels so much more, even when you just hit your 20s, which is still so young, guys, we are so young, but your energy levels just start to change and there is such science to back that.

Speaker 1:

First topic is your teenage years. You have such unlimited levels of energy when you're in your teens the amount of festivals if you guys went to reading festival because that's something that I did when I finished my gcses and guys went to reading festival, because that's something that I did when I finished my GCSEs and I went to reading festival and, honestly, like that was a prime example of just no sleep, like nothing healthy in my life. But every day I was just running on adrenaline and just running on the fact that my body just kept going. And I think that that's because in your teens you have higher levels of growth hormones and melatonin production, which actually makes me really sad to think that, like I don't have that much anymore. But that means that you can recover faster. So recovering faster means you can get up the next morning and go again to that lecture and you can go again out the next night and nothing matters Like nothing matters in the world. Life is good.

Speaker 1:

Also, your circadian rhythm is actually delayed when you are in your teens. This means that you go to bed later. This means that you don't you don't really suffer as much in the morning and you just you can stay up late, whereas when you're older, staying up late just seems to be slightly more difficult. You also have a faster metabolism. In your teens that means faster metabolism of alcohol. So that means that you know you can get through exhaustion and alcohol much easier than you do in your 20s, because alcohol lingers more in your body for longer when you're in your 20s.

Speaker 1:

And this is just sounding like a very depressing conversation already. But we're gonna get to the good part, guys, don't worry. I just need to explain what's happening so you are fully informed. So yeah, when you're in your teen years, you can drink alcohol, you can be blackout drunk, you can have the best memories, you can have the best anxieties, but then you can definitely perform the next day and be feeling like on top of the world. That is a feeling that, if you're still in your teen years, please treasure. Your liver just processes alcohol more faster when you're younger, which, like I guess, is a hard fact that we have to come to terms with, but that means it's just easier. And another thing I did some research on is that your brain elasticity allows teens to bounce back faster from disruption, better than adults, meaning you have more brain elasticity, and when you're older your brain loses that elasticity.

Speaker 1:

I thought it would be there forever. I still think it's there, but clearly it's not there so much because I'm already hung over today from yesterday. So here we go. Pure evidence too many tequila shots. I think people say that tequila is like the least calorific and not as dangerous compared to other alcohols, because it means that you don't get as many hangovers and, honestly, like calories and all that. That's super fun, whatever. But I honestly just don't believe it because the amount of margaritas I have on a night out, it's become my go-to and it definitely makes me feel hungover in the morning. So I don't believe that. I don't believe that Someone can challenge me Absolutely. I'd love to hear more reasoning behind that, but I just don't think that there is an alcohol that's going to make you feel less drunk in the morning. It's alcohol. At the end of the day, it's got its toxins. We're all going to be feeling like that, especially when we're in our twenties.

Speaker 1:

Now we're talking about the real harsh reality of these 20s, why it's different to your teen years. When you're in your teenage years, you've got a great metabolism, you're looking good, you're feeling good, you can have as much junk food after a night out, and it's like soaking up the alcohol. When you're in high school, you go get some bread. You're like that's what we need. Soak up the alcohol. When you're at university, you get your KFC or McDonald's, whatever. Now still doing the same thing.

Speaker 1:

To be honest, I haven't changed at all, but it just doesn't actually make me feel like less drunk in the morning. It makes me just feel so ill, like so unwell. So I think that you react to food differently as well after nights out. But the point is is that your metabolism slows down when you're in your 20s, so your ability to break down alcohol and the toxins in alcohol decreases. It's just so much harder. So the more you drink, you know, the more you're going to get blackout and the more anxiety you're probably going to get when you get older, which is a terrifying thought, I must say, because I've already had much anxiety in my life already. This also means that you have less efficient hydration and higher chances of headaches, nausea and fatigue in general because your metabolism slows down, because it means you're less hydrated and also these food cravings, like I just mentioned, they begin to change like junk food is less helpful and the dehydration then hits harder. So it's all stuff that we need to start thinking about, which just really was never a thought in anyone's mind before, and sleep when you're in your twenties just becomes a non-negotiable right.

Speaker 1:

So when I was a teenager, when I was at uni, I could go and run off of like two hours of sleep, and I know that not everyone could, but I think I was just built. Different Lectures I'd go to and, honestly, you'd probably be thinking like, why would you make your 9am lectures I'd go to and, honestly, you'd probably be thinking like why would you make your 9am? It's university, no one cares for some reason, like it was just a game for me to be able to tick off the 9ams and like be there in the morning, because I think the guilt of like not making it made me feel so bad. So I went. But the point is I actually just could.

Speaker 1:

But now the thought of like any commitments the next morning, like especially if you're working and you've got to be at work at 9am let's say probably even earlier and you're going out in the night, it's like, oh my god, that's just unheard of at this point. Like how are you going to make it through the next day of work? I don't know, but your sleep becomes more important essentially that's what I'm trying to say and sleep debt no longer works. So you miss a few hours and you're feeling it, whereas at uni I could miss like 10 hours of sleep and I wouldn't feel a single thing. Your brain recovery process is slower, so this affects your concentration and your mood, and that's just a given. I used to be able to concentrate on those two hours of sleep like probably not very well. Probably wasn't really even concentrating very well on my 9am. There's probably no point in me even going to be honest, let's, let's just be real. But it's 10 times harder now. That's why, like when you're going and drinking and then you're at work the next day with a hangover absolute full respect to those people I am yet to do that successfully because my concentration is just shot. It's absolutely shot and that's just a harsh reality.

Speaker 1:

Another one is that late nights mean you need a full recovery period in order to get over those hangovers. Little sleep rather than just a coffee, which used to like sort me out. You just can't rely on a coffee anymore, which is so sad if you've had like a really big night out. They just become way more brutal. So your dehydration, like I mentioned, hits harder. Your body actually seems to hold on to less water the older you get. And there's this toxin in alcohol which I can't really pronounce, guys, and and I honestly I'm not going to butcher it right now, um, but it lingers longer and it makes your nausea worse. So, like these are all scientific facts that are actually backing up the fact that we struggle with hangovers 10 times more the older you get, especially in your 20s. Drinking alcohol in your 20s really disrupts your sleep quality, and 10 times more than it did in your teens. Now we're going to go into some more scientific facts to back this up.

Speaker 1:

Like I mentioned before, your circadian rhythm changes the older you get. So if you don't know what that means, it just means how your body reacts to day and night. You're always going to wake up in the morning because your body is programmed to wake up in the morning. You could still wake up at midday if you're tired, but your body sees morning because that's how it's programmed, and then your body gets tired at night because it's time to sleep. So that is your circadian rhythm, essentially.

Speaker 1:

And your circadian rhythm changes the older you get. So, as we age, our body clocks shift earlier. That, so, as we age, our body clocks shift earlier. That's why you probably see, like your grandparents, going to bed at like 5 pm I mean 5 pm is a bit much, isn't it. We are here to listen, not to judge. So we just start waking up earlier, and that might be for jobs or just in general. You just do, and that means that it's much more of a struggle to stay up late, honestly, I could be talking to the wrong people here. Stay up late, honestly, I could be talking to the wrong people here. You guys might be absolute seshes I am here for that, don't stop but there's definitely a point where you will start to notice this. So your melatonin release slows down and it makes it harder to fall asleep after a night out than it used to in your teens.

Speaker 1:

Everyone without fail says that after you've had a lot of alcohol on a night out, you just don't have a good sleep, and I think that's a given. I was in my teens and people would say that to me. I'd be like, uh, not at all, the alcohol knocks me out and I actually have a better sleep. But nowadays I really start to notice like inconsistent sleep and just waking up really early after a night out because, again, the circadian rhythm even if I'm exhausted, I will just wake up early and it's so, so soul crushing because I just wanna lie in sometimes.

Speaker 1:

Next point how your alcohol processing slows down when you get older. This is research backed. Guys, those enzymes in your liver which break down alcohol are much less active and I find it crazy that they can already be less active from your teens just to the shift into your 20s. That's not really that much time. They're still very close together, like that's within 10 years I'd say. Let's say you're 15 to 25, your enzymes are still slowing down, they're becoming less active. Like really, oh my god, that's not, that's not fun, but the point is the toxins are more likely to stay and linger for longer and that means that you have worse hangovers. The toxins from the alcohol stay.

Speaker 1:

So that's probably why people have like two day hangovers when you get older. And it's like New Year's Eve three day hangovers and you're feeling fine after the third day. Because when you get older it's like, oh God, this is going to be a rough one and it's not just going to be a day. I don't think I've ever had three day hangovers. I think I've mostly only had a day and a half hangovers and that's like the worst possible. That's giving New Year's Eve, that's giving birthday oh my god. Also, especially if you're crying on a night out. I don't know if you're a big crier, but on my birthday I always cry. It's just a known fact. And crying mixed with being really drunk makes the worst hangover ever the next day because again, if you think about it, it's dehydration.

Speaker 1:

Okay, the third point is for the science backed stuff, guys, is stress and responsibility. So obviously when you're in your teens, all you've really got to worry about is school homework and then, I don't know, hanging out with friends and just doing your, doing your classes, and that's really not that big a deal. The same thing with uni, probably even less. You've probably got less worries. But once you get into your twenties and you're starting to work or you're starting to stress about the fact that you're not working and you're unemployed, or you're fun employed or whatever's going on like you have to start worrying about yourself and how you're going to take care of yourself for the rest of your life. So in that sense, the stress increases these responsibilities. After like a long day of work, after a long week of work, your school stress is much more different to jobs and career stress. They're not even comparable. So of course the stress hits in and after everything we've just spoken about.

Speaker 1:

It's not very nice, and that means that you're not just struggling with exhaustion because you're going on an absolute bender, you are also dealing with mental exhaustion too, from a long week, from trying really hard at work, hopefully or you're hardly working, who knows but the point is is that mental exhaustion kicks in and you've got more responsibilities, which mean that there's less time for you to have that recovery. It's not like you can really just take that day off like you could at university and be like screw the lectures, we're good, I'm gonna stay in my bed and watch I don't know Friends. No one really watches Friends anymore but you know what I mean. You just have less time for actual rest because you're stressing, and less time for recovery, and I think in that sense, it's more important that it doesn't mean you need to slow down. It doesn't mean you need to party less at all. I think it just means that you need to be partying smart rather than partying hard. And you can party hard, but smart, and we're going to get into right now how you can do that, because we are going to deal with surviving this shift.

Speaker 1:

Okay, we're not retiring yet. We're in our twenties, guys. This is supposed to be the best years of our life, and we already cover on this podcast that they're probably not. But the point is that that doesn't mean that you should stop going out and stop living your best life because of that. So how can we deal with surviving this shift from your teens to your 20s, with your hangovers, sleep and energy levels? So how can we deal with surviving this shift from your teens to your 20s, with your hangovers, sleep and energy levels? How are we going to optimize our sleep? Guys, it's quite important.

Speaker 1:

What we're going to do is we're going to stick to a consistent sleep schedule. So this even means on weekends and again, do not quote me here because I say this pretty much every episode. I am not preaching. I'm not perfect in the slightest. I'm probably. Yeah, I'm just not. But the point is I do make it a mission to try my best to do it. So when it comes to weekends, I definitely try and wake up still early enough so that my brain is just like used to being up at these specific hours, so it doesn't make it harder the next day. So I'll try and still wake up at 8 8 am on a weekend, and it doesn't mean you can't have a line, but it means that you're really just focusing on your circadian rhythm. It's a known fact that you'll have better sleep when you have more consistent wake times and go to bed times.

Speaker 1:

The second point is screen time. It would all be great if we could actually do this, but you know what? I was so close to writing this one off before putting it in this episode, but I thought you know what, for those girls and those guys who just really want to go above and beyond and who are just better than the rest of us, you should limit your screen time before bed, because this actually is supposed to boost your melatonin levels, which is really cool, because I always just see melatonin as the natural sleeping drug, because I definitely have taken that many a time due to my sleep, sleep deprivation. But clearly it's not and it's a hormone in your body. So if you limit your screen time before bed, you're probably gonna increase your melatonin, which is really important and helps you on those nights out. Nights out or screen time which do you value more? Are you gonna have more of a raging night out? Then limit your screen time so you'll feel better. If you don't really care, then just don't listen to me, it's fine.

Speaker 1:

Next, power naps. I have a problem with this one because I don't really nap very well. Naps just don't happen for me, like I really struggled to just rest my head for 20 minutes. But power naps are like 15 to 20 minutes. That's the sweet spot, because that means that you're not gonna wake up exhausted after like an hour nap, feeling like you should have been sleeping, and then your body is probably gonna be pissed off with you. You're sleeping just the perfect time. But my issue with that is automatically. I find it incredible for the people who can, it probably takes me about 20 minutes just to switch off. That means it's like a 40 minute nap. I just think, if you can, if you're a napper and you're a serial napper, those things are probably going to help you so much. Another point about napping, though, like I just mentioned, is probably keeping it to 15 to 20 minutes is the sweet spot. So don't nap for an hour. You're going to to feel worse. It's not going to help you. It just completely defeats the point.

Speaker 1:

Hangover hacks how can we get over these hangovers, guys? My hangover cravings just at the moment tend to be like chicken nuggets on the night a bagel, the next morning like a fat bagel full of salmon and cream cheese. Oh my god, I crave that so hard and always a diet cook, with everything, obviously. But the thing is I crave that for like two hours and then, when it actually comes to eating times, I'm like you know what? I actually know I shouldn't eat this and I know I should eat something healthy. Not because my body and mind is a temple, absolutely not just because I know that eating healthy after a hangover is actually going to help me so much more. So then I'll be like okay, no, I'm actually going to cook, I'm going to make myself like that protein filled meal. Sometimes, if I've had a lot of junk food the night before, all I crave in the morning is like some long stem broccoli and I know that sounds crazy. But roast that long stem broccoli and, oh my god, we are so good to go like. Absolutely nothing more that I could want and I'm actually craving that right now, which sounds really weird. But if you get me, you get me.

Speaker 1:

Hydration is probably more important than anything else, so if you are trying to make it through that day of work, you need to think about drinking water. Here's something that I like to think about is keeping a bottle of water in a different area of the house where you go. So having multiple bottles of water means, if you lose one or don't bring one with you all the time, there's one in the bathroom, there's one in the bedroom, there's one in the kitchen and they're all filled up. So, wherever you're going, you don't even have to stress about bringing your water bottle with you. You've got a water bottle everywhere, which means that you're more likely to drink water. So that is a tip, a secret Emily 20 survival guide tip that you should probably think about when you're going through a hangover.

Speaker 1:

Next point is having electrolytes before bed. I actually don't do this, but it's definitely something I'm now gonna start doing, because I think it is just so easy to do and it really boosts your whole performance the next day, because this just can reduce fatigue. You're just filling your body up with hydration so that you're gonna feel better the next day. Why would we not want that? It's annoying that you have to think about it now definitely, because it definitely used to be something we didn't have to think about. But just doing that maybe keeping tablets right next to your bed and finding tablets that you actually like, because I don't know if I actually like the taste of electrolytes, but when you're really that drunk, who cares? You know who cares. You're going to want to feel better in the morning.

Speaker 1:

Ooh, this is the next one in your hangover hacks is avoiding sugary alcohol. This comes back to my point about tequila again, tequila is a light alcohol and it does mention online and in my research that darker alcohol means worse hangovers. So I guess that's like rum and whiskey and I don't know, maybe red wine, red wine, probably the darker the liquor, the worse the hangover, and the darker the liquor, the more sugary it is. So that's why people say tequila is great, you don't get a hangover. I mean it depends. If you're not a sesher like us, then you probably don't drink enough.

Speaker 1:

But the point is avoiding darker liquors when you can and looking for like the vodkas are probably going to help you. I wouldn't say incrementally, I'd say minimally, but still enough. That like, if you really are thinking about being smart with your hangovers, that's probably a good choice to make. So if you only like dark liquors, try finding a one that you like that's maybe a little lighter, like that could even be white wine, but honestly, white wine gives me a banging hangover as well. So we really can't win here boosting your daily energy levels.

Speaker 1:

So how can we do this? This is going to help us so much after the hangover, when you're waking up the next morning and you're like, oh my god, I feel awful. What am I going to do to fix this? What you're going to do is you're going to exercise and I know, on the worst of worst hangovers, when you can't get out of bed, fine, we're excusing those just for a minute. But if you have a hangover and you're like this is my day, that I'm taking a rest day, I'm writing this day off or I shouldn't be taking a rest day, but I'm really hungover so I'm not going to exercise, don't do it, don't think like that. You should exercise. This regular exercise that you have improves your energy metabolism. So even if you're exercising in the week like you're probably going to feel better when you do get that hangover, but also exercising is such a hangover cure. If you do exercise, you're sweating out those toxins, you're sweating out that alcohol. Everyone always says and it's because it's true that you never really feel worse after a workout. You're always going to feel better in any way, so that also goes for hangovers. You're going to feel better if you sweat, sweat it off. So definitely think about incorporating exercise into your routine when you have a hangover.

Speaker 1:

Another point is having a balanced diet. Honestly, like it's so much easier said than done, isn't it? Because it's so hard to not reach for things for convenience when you're just a busy person. But having a balanced diet, especially when you're looking at hangover foods, is really important Because if you start reaching for like really yummy chicken and stuff that you're making yourself, or focusing specifically on protein, that's going to actually help improve your hangover throughout the day as much as, like I said, I really love the bagel and like the bagel is probably fine. But when you reach for the processed foods, you're probably going to feel worse afterwards and it's just going to give you that like small second of enjoyment. But really, if you actually fuel yourself with the broccoli, then you're going to feel so much better.

Speaker 1:

My next point I hate to break it to all the caffeine lovers out there, but don't have too much coffee on a hangover. You're literally setting yourself up for complete failure and disaster because you're going to have caffeine crashes. So if you've got work and you're like I need a neck back these coffees today to get through it, you don't, you really don't, because you're going to have a massive crash by the time it hits 2pm and you're going to be exhausted and your boss is going to be pissed. We don't need to deal with that, guys. We have enough stress to worry about and we're just trying to live our lives out here. What I'd say is really plan out the point of your coffees. If you're going to be drinking a lot of coffees because you're so hungover, then like plan it out to the point where you don't have too much in one go and then crash, because all the emotions would come in. I'd feel tired and sorry for myself and like probably end up crying and honestly, guys, I promise I don't cry that much, but I just think, reduce your caffeine. It's actually not going to help you. Less caffeine the better. Maybe one coffee in the morning and then one coffee in the middle of the day, but no more than that.

Speaker 1:

So what have we learned from this episode, guys? What have we actually learned? Let's try and not dwell on the sad parts, the fact that we're probably getting older, but honestly, you're not imagining it. If you are struggling with more hangovers recently and you're like I would always be able to go out and go on a massive night out and then be able to work the whole next day, and you're like I could never do that, now the sound of doing that, the thought of doing that, just makes me feel sick. Same, absolutely same. I'm with you on that one.

Speaker 1:

But the point is that you're not imagining it. It's not just like in your head. Your body actually does change the older you get, and your 20s are the decade of realizing that sleep and recovery actually matter. Your body would do so much for you and it would work so hard to make sure that you just didn't have to worry about it. But now we're starting to realize how important sleep is just for our own mental states and also the recovery aspect and factor of things in general. And I think with the right adjustments, with the right thinking about being smart when you're going out, you can still have fun and you don't have to be able to be like, oh my God, I can't go out because I'm gonna have a hangover. We don't need to be living that life yet. We are still so young. You just need to be smart about it.

Speaker 1:

If I could give you my key takeaways from this episode, number one your body's ability to recover naturally starts to decline, but you can work with it, not against it, and it's still going to be okay and you can still have an amazing night out. Number two sleep and hydration are your besties. They are your best friends. Okay, you want sleep and you want to be drinking as much water, electrolytes etc. As you can possibly take, because it will really help you. And number three what I've kind of just preached this whole episode is that, yes, we're getting older, but it doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. I almost love myself 10 times more now than I did in my teens. Those were some horrible anxiety driven years and my 20s are slightly better than that and I think it's only gonna get better from here. But the point is you just don't need to party less, you just need to party smart, not hard. That is the moral of this episode.

Speaker 1:

One funny story I have to say before I finish this episode is at university, this was genuinely like a two-day hangover that I had. This was one where none of these tips would have helped me, because I was so beyond dead and I really was not sure that I was actually going to make it like. It sounds dramatic, but I was so drunk and I had so many tequila sunrises. The tequila comes back and it just doesn't come back in full form, it comes back as the devil, because I actually ended up breaking my friend's sink. So I don't know how I did it, but I happened to fall in the bathroom and bring the sink down with me and thankfully they didn't have to pay for it because there was a plumber and it was a uni house.

Speaker 1:

I was so drunk that I ruined my nice leather jacket, pulled down the sink with me and literally was not able to move the next morning. That's how you know, that's how you just know. I didn't even remember that I pulled down the sink. My friend would call me and she was like so you ruined our sink, basically? And I was like no, I didn't, that was someone else and I'm sure there was some video footage. But the point is is that that is beyond belief. So really, just be smart about things, don't break sinks. It's a bit silly like. You can do it if you want, but I I don't recommend it. It's probably going to cost you more than you think. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. If you're doing, uh, something big this weekend, or if you're having a hangover right now, maybe these tips are going to come in handy. So I hope you enjoyed it and I shall see you guys next wednesday. Bye, wednesday Bye.

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