Ever woken up with a splitting headache? Where everything seems to go wrong after a night at the awesome party that you can’t remember? You’ve probably been the victim of a hangover. But not to worry! We at in2it.sg have compiled a guideline for preventing those hangover blues. It’s time to party without the morning-after pains!

Hangovers generally occur after a night of hard partying, when copious amounts of alcohol have been ingested in an attempt to have ‘fun’. But what a lot of people don’t realize is that alcohol is a diuretic; that means it dehydrates you. When you lose water, you also lose a lot of mineral salts along the way. Add on that alcohol is actually a toxin of sorts and you’re well on your way to a massive hangover in the morning. Symptoms of a hangover often include headache, nausea, sensitivity to light and noise, lethargy, dysphoria, diarrhea and thirst.

 The first thing you should do is have a good meal before hitting the bar. You don’t have to plan to have a massively healthy, mineral loaded meal before partying, but you’d be surprised at how a quarter pounder from MacDonald’s can help in preventing alcohol from being absorbed directly into your bloodstream. Also drink a lot of water or fruit juices.

 

Alcohol takes a while to clear out from your body; in fact it can take days before your body has completely detoxed itself. On average, it takes about an hour for your body to go through a mug of beer, so slow down on your drink intake. Darker colored alcohol will wreck more havoc than the clear colored liquor; if you want to knock a few back, stay away from the likes of whiskey, bourbon and red wine. Try to stick to white wine and vodka; in fact, vodka is probably the least harmful liquor to try and drown yourself in.

 

After a night out in the town, the first thing you should do after you get back home is to try drowning yourself again, but this time with water. Drink as much water as you can take. It’s going to feel uncomfortable, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Next, go pee; clear your system. Not to mention, this will save you a trip later in the night. Then hit the sack and sleep it out.

When you wake the next day, DON’T reach for that aspirin and avoid caffeine as well. Either of those in the morning after is a bad idea. Coffee will further dehydrate you, while aspirin will just thin out your blood more and make the effects of the hangover worse.

 
What you should do is take something sweet to raise your blood sugar, something isotonic to replace your mineral loss, lots of water to get over that dehydration. Try a tangy drink, like tomato juice with a bit of lemon to get over that alcohol craving. You could also do up a banana-honey milkshake the night before and drink it when you get up. The milk will soothe your stomach, while the honey raises your blood sugar and the magnesium and potassium in the banana help in balancing your system out. Fruit juices are just as good as water, as long as you remember to constantly hydrate yourself.

If you do need a painkiller, make sure it’s not an analgesic with blood-thinning properties like aspirin or ibuprofen. Regular paracetemol is fine though.

Got all that down? Here’s a quick recap for you.

1) Eat a good hearty meal before you start drinking
2) Drink a lot of water before and after drinking
3) Take a lot of fruits and juices when you wake up
4) Don’t drink coffee or take aspirin

Now you’re all set to party away, with less of the aches and pains after, so enjoy your New Year’s. And remember if you drink, don’t drive.