Did you wake up on New Year’s Day wondering why you fell into the same trap as many other people did on New Year’s Eve?  The throbbing headache, the churning stomach, the tired feeling and muscle weakness…   The drawbacks from a night of drinking go on and on, sometimes lasting for a couple of days.

Over the past couple of years there have been a lot of hangover remedies placed on the consumer market.  You may have heard of some of them (RU-21 for example), others may not be as commonly marketed.  All of them claim that they will help you wake up feeling just as good as you normally would.  I haven’t ever tried any of these remedies, but I would like to talk about why they are unlikely to work. 

Alcohol really is toxic to our bodies.  We can tolerate it, and its effects are relatively short-lived, but just the simple fact that enough alcohol can kill you will tell you that it is not something that is meant to be put into our bodies.  When it is consumed it starts a complex cascade of events on multiple systems throughout our bodies.

The most obvious effect that alcohol has on any system is its effect on the brain.  It doesn’t take too many drinks before you start doing things that you wouldn’t normally do.  A few more and you start to lose the fine motor controls.  A few more and you start to lose major muscle control.  All of this is due to how alcohol affects the brain.

Alcohol affects the brain by interfering with a few receptors.  One of the main neurotransmitters that is affected by alcohol is Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA).  GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system.  Alcohol increases the effects that of this neurotransmitter, which leads to a sluggish response from the muscular system.  To add to this, alcohol also has an effect on some excitatory neurotransmitters (decreasing their effectiveness) which leads to a further decrease in muscular response.

Unfortunately this isn’t the only part of the brain that is affected by alcohol.  Alcohol also attacks the cerebellum, which is a part of the brain that coordinates muscle function.  When this part of the brain is affected, you really start to lose fine motor control (initially) and major muscle control, such as balance (as you continue to consume).  This is the basis for the tests that the police do to determine sobriety.

Alcohol does affect a third part of the brain, but this is going to have global effects on your body.  Anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) is a hormone that is produced and released in the brain, but has its major function carried out in the kidneys.  ADH functions to re-absorb water into your body.  Unfortunately alcohol reduces the effectiveness of this hormone (effectively turning it off).  This is why you have to go to the bathroom so often when you are drinking.  It is also the source of a major portion of your hangover the next morning.

As you continue to drink more and more, you continue to dehydrate yourself more and more.  The water must come from somewhere, as your blood is pushed through the kidneys every loop through the system.  As your body excretes the water, your blood volume is decreased (as much of it is water).  This lowers the blood pressure, which sounds like a good plan, but it is not a healthy way of doing so, as it forces the heart to work harder.  Fluid is brought from other areas of the body to compensate for this drop, but it isn’t overly effective, as only certain reserve amounts are brought over so that every system can continue to function.

The drop in volume of the circulatory system is part of the reason for your hangover.  The decrease in effective pumping of blood to the muscles decreases their health and energy levels.  This can also lead to tension headaches the next morning. 

 It is the decrease in cerebro-spinal fluid, related to the dehydration, that will leave you with the pounding headaches.  Unfortunately the only way to remedy this situation is to take in more water.  This is why the hangovers can last so long in certain instances.

Finally, the stomach is affected by alcohol.  The alcohol that is taken in irritates the lining of the stomach.  This is called alcohol-induced gastritis.  It leads to the uncomfortable rolling stomach pains that some people describe.  It is also the reason that alcoholics sometimes have severe stomach issues.  This can also explain why some people crave the greasy junk food the day after a drinking binge (grease is theorized to help “coat” the stomach, relieving some of the pain).

So the question you have all been waiting for is; “How do I avoid a hangover?”  Unfortunately there is only one way to avoid a hangover…stay away from alcohol.  There are likely quite a few of you who will think I am crazy for offering that explanation, so I will give you a couple of alternatives.

First, drink less alcohol.  Alcohol is a dose-dependent drug, so the less you have of it, the less affect it will have on your system.

Second, drink water between drinks.  Although this won’t work in theory (due to the effects of ADH), it will slow down the speed of which you drink the alcohol.  This will slow the rate of absorption into the body, and help you to avoid some of the effects of too much, too fast.  In addition, some of the water that you consume, may be absorbed, and slow your rate of dehydration.

Finally, know what you can and cannot have.  Different types of alcohol effect different people in different ways.  Some people can handle beer, but if they have a drink of hard alcohol, they will feel it in the morning.  Others are the exact opposite.  By knowing your body, you will decrease the likelihood of having a hangover in the morning.

Once you get past the state that you may have been in yesterday, I hope that you will implement some of these ideas to avoid future episodes.  Unfortunately the memory can be short (another effect of alcohol) so you may want to keep this article close.

I hope y’all have a happy, safe new year.

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss these, or other, issues in more detail, please contact:

Jeffrey L. Cumro, Doctor of Chiropractic, Certified Personal Trainer
Better Life Chiropractic and Wellness, LLC
          Better Care > Better Health > Better Life
402-210-1472
BetterLifeNE@gmail.com
www.BetterLifeNE.com