Hangover

Quick navigation: Tips to avoid a hangover |

Hair of the dog... Massive and greasy full-English and/or Sausage and Egg McMuffin... Two Nurofen, stat... Morning lie-in followed by an all-day nap followed by a good night’s sleep... Berocca... Seven pints of water... Oysters.

There is no shortage of old wives’/best mates’ tales about how to combat the dreaded hangover. But cures are pretty much subjective to person and situation, so we’ll spare you the long list.

Yet if you want to know how NOT to get hangovers, you should know what causes them. Booze. Obviously. So rule number one is to NOT DRINK. Errr, right. Next!

The reason you get a hangover is because you’ve soaked your body in alcohol.  Partly true. The real reason is you’ve soaked your body in alcohol filled with ugly toxins. These toxins are called congeners and they occur during the fermentation process. They’re what makes gin taste different from bourbon from peach schnapps and so on.

When you drink booze, your liver tries to break it down. Unfortunately, if the mix of exotic concoctions that seemed such a good idea the night before contained too many congeners, you're in line for a mean headache, nausea, vomiting and other 'nice' side effects.

Meanwhile, your poor kidneys are going to have to work hard to clean up the mess. They look around for water, which they need desperately (and in large quantities) to flush out the poisons and complete the purification process. That’s why you pee so much. But as they require more water than you are probably drinking, the liver and kidneys are forced to search the rest of your body for the elixir they require. So by now you may have got rid of some of the toxins, but you’ve become terribly dehydrated. And that usually means impaired brain function, a pounding headaches. And to top it off, even sleep won’t save you.

Just because you've passed out you’re still not guaranteed a good night’s kip because of the wonky effect all the booze in your body has had on your brain. For a start, all that alcohol means you won’t get any quality REM sleep. In all, it’s a pain of colossal proportions.

So, how DO you survive the Day After the Night Before?

Here are SUK’s TOP TIPPLE TIPS:

1. Cut down on the alcohol, and don’t mix your drinks. Unless you want to die with a liver the size of Buckinghamshire, either take it easy or alternate your booze with non-alcoholic bevvies. If friends rib you and you need to save face, tell them there is booze in your lemonade or cola

2. Cut down on the congeners. Some alcohols contain fewer toxins than others. Stay away from red wine, champagne, bourbon or other dark velvets such as whiskey, rum or stouts. Vodka has the least amount of congeners, so if you must, stick with this

3. Cheap = Congeners. The cheaper the brand and quality, the more toxins contained within. Splash out on the good stuff and you won’t suffer as much. Step away from the shelf and put down the screw-top red wine!

4. Spare a thought for your industrious liver and kidneys by drinking water. Before, during, after and continuously. It really will help. We promise

5. Get some rest, take some Milk Thistle (this natural herb, which can be bought from health food shops, contains silymarin which helps the liver to repair and rejuvenate itself)

6. Lay off for a bit!