6 Ways to Avoid Hangover, Fatigue and Pain after Drinking Alcohol

Red wine gives me a headache.

When it comes to alcohol-induced headaches, red wine can have a negative effect. This connection was even known to the Romans over 2,000 years ago.

It was long thought that sulfites caused the pain, but white wine also contains them, and they don’t cause the same unpleasant symptoms as red wine.

According to a recent study by scientists at the University of California, Davis, this discomfort may be due to a compound called quercetin, which is found in abundance in the skin of red grapes.

Quercetin is thought to interfere with the body’s systems of some drinkers.

Contrary to popular belief, mixing drinks won’t make you drunker – it’s the amount you drink that matters.

The ethanol in alcohol is normally converted in the body to acetaldehyde, which is broken down into acetate by the enzyme ALDH.

Sometimes it’s not the type of alcohol that matters, but how our body receives it.

In some people, the enzymes do not work effectively, and the level of dangerous acetaldehyde increases. Because of this, a person gets a headache from red wine.

…but red also has its benefits

The idea that a glass of red wine could be beneficial emerged in the 1970s. At the time, studies showed that the French had a low risk of heart disease, even though they ate a lot of saturated fat.

Scientists called it the “French paradox”, and it still puzzles researchers.

Later, scientists came to a consensus that moderate drinking is more beneficial than complete abstinence. But today, scientists believe that this data may be misleading. After all, some people may abstain from alcohol because of other health problems.

Further studies attempted to determine whether red wine actually protects a person against heart disease.

A study conducted in China found that the more people drink, the more likely they are to develop high blood pressure and the risk of stroke.

But there is a flip side: while the risk of stroke is increased, the risk of stroke does not occur in drinkers. It seems that there is something in alcohol that protects us.

Waiting can make you more drunk.

Alcohol affects people in very different ways. It makes some people crazy, a small number of people fall into a state of depression, while many talk to themselves.

As science writer David Robson explains in his book The Expectation Effect, the effects of alcohol are not just chemical. In fact, social expectations also influence what alcohol does to us.

In one famous experiment, researchers tried to measure how people’s perception of how much they had drunk affected their aggressive behavior.

During the experiment, participants were given drinks that, as the researchers explained, contained either high alcohol content, low alcohol content, or no alcohol at all. In fact, the amount of alcohol in the glass was the same.

It turned out that those who thought they had drunk more acted more aggressively. The researchers measured this by the amount of hot sauce the participants added to their dishes.

However, anticipating alcoholism can also increase your level of alcoholism.

In another study, people who were told they were drinking vodka and the energy drink Red Bull felt more intoxicated than those who were told they were given a “vodka cocktail” or an “exotic fruit cocktail.”

Those who believed that alcohol with an energy drink was more intoxicating actually felt more intoxicated.

Therefore, you can limit the effects of alcohol by drinking very little.

The Story of Mixing Drinks

People believe that not all alcoholic beverages are equal in terms of the severity of a ‘hangover’.

Alcohol has a dehydrating effect that can lead to dehydration if you don’t drink enough water with your drink. It is also known that heavy alcohol consumption impairs sleep quality and reduces REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.

Also, the stronger the drink, the shorter the time it takes to drink it. First of all, if it is a drink that hides the taste of alcohol and has a pleasant aromatic taste.

Normally, our bodies ‘break down’ alcohol very quickly. But, as we wrote above, for some people, due to genetic differences, this does not happen as effectively for some.

The level of ethanol in their body remains high, and the hangover will be more severe.

Expectations can make us feel more drunk than we actually are.

Other substances in an alcoholic beverage can also affect how you feel the next morning.

The main ones are congeners that are formed during fermentation. They are acetone, safflower oil and tannins that give the color and tart taste to drinks like whiskey and red wine.

Bourbon, for example, has 37 times more congeners than vodka. Studies have shown that people get a stronger hangover after drinking bourbon than after drinking vodka.

However, the most important thing is the amount of alcohol consumed, and not the content of congeners in it.

Scientists have also tried to investigate whether mixing alcohol is important. Like the idea that beer is good before wine, and vice versa is bad, or the advice to never mix grape and grain drinks.

The study found that mixing the items in any order did not affect the severity of the hangover. Again, the only predictor of hangover severity was the amount of alcohol consumed.

Also, if you’re mixing drinks, chances are you’ve already had too much to drink.

So, the conclusion is this – to avoid a hangover, drink less.

It may also make sense to avoid dark-colored drinks.

Are hangover remedies effective?

There have been many quick ways to get rid of the painful hangover after drinking alcohol. In ancient Egypt, it was recommended to wear a necklace made of the leaves of the Alexandrian hamedaphna, and the ancient Romans recommended eating a roasted canary.

Some people save themselves with fatty foods or a disgusting mixture of raw eggs, tomato juice and hot sauce. But hangovers are not caused by a nutritional deficiency.

One research study looked at eight popular hangover remedies, from combinations of fermented foods and fruit juices to medications.

None of them showed any ability to affect hangovers.

Trials of other medications have also shown mixed results. Some have helped with specific symptoms, such as fatigue and nausea, but none have been able to eliminate all hangover symptoms.

Korean juice, for example, has been effective for people who are not genetically predisposed to severe hangovers.

Discussing the negative effects of alcohol with friends will help you drink less.

It is widely believed that eggs help combat a hangover, because they contain the amino acid cysteine, which can reduce some of the harmful effects of the acetaldehyde compound.

But since the role of acetaldehyde itself in hangovers is questionable, the benefits may not be that great. Indeed, one study in which participants were given cysteine ​​found a small improvement in hangover symptoms.

Interestingly, for unknown reasons, this effect was more pronounced in women than in men.

However, often, the quality of this type of research is not very reliable, because it is not easy to draw accurate conclusions about the severity of a hangover.

And so, you probably shouldn’t hope for a quick cure for a hangover.

Conversations with friends affect the amount of alcohol consumed

Our decision about how much to drink is often based on the behavior of people in the company. The brain constantly takes cues from other people to inform us about their reactions to our actions.

“Everything our friends do affects us, whether we realize it or not,” says Christine Scholz, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Amsterdam.

In a 2019 study, Scholz asked American students if they had talked to anyone about their recent drinking experiences, and whether the conversation was positive or negative.

It turned out that if the feedback was positive, they drank more alcohol the next day. But if it was a negative experience, it encouraged them to drink less in the future.

“Let’s say I’m talking to a friend the other day about the negative effects of alcohol, but the next day I end up at a bar with other people – I’ll still claim that the conversation is having an impact on me,” Scholz says.

So, the best way to avoid a hangover? Banal – drink less.

But there are some strategies that can help with this. For example, discuss the negative consequences of drinking with friends in advance. Or play by your own expectations by finding the happy state you seek by drinking less or not drinking at all.

If you have a party ahead where you can’t avoid alcohol, try to limit yourself to drinking whiskey and red wine.