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PUB
CRAWLS
BREWPUBS
BREW
CLUB PROFILE
BRITISH,
IRISH
CHI-CHI
COCKTAILS
FUN
AND GAMES
GAY
BARS
KARAOKE
OLD
MEN
OUTDOORS
SPORTS
BARS
THE
YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
WINE
WINE
WORDS
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The French call it la gueule de bois, or "mouth of
wood." The Italians sometimes refer to it as stonato,
meaning "out of tune." A Norwegian might say he has jeg
har tommermen, meaning "carpenters in the head."
No matter what words one uses to describe a hangover, the
symptoms are universal. After a hedonistic night of boozing
it up, you wake up with a throbbing headache the size of
Texas (exacerbated by even the slightest sound or hint of
light), debilitating weakness, achiness and a powerful thirst.
Nausea signals that last night's drinks are about to make
a hasty exit out of one orifice or another any minute. The
symptoms are usually accompanied by groans, oaths to never
overindulge again and whining: "Why, oh why did I have that
last drink?"
We all know who's to blame for our hangovers (no, it's
not the person who bought the last round), but we still
like to fault something or someone else. The saying "Beer
before liquor, never sicker; liquor before beer, you're
in the clear" is a perfect example of this misplaced blame.
The advice suggests that it's not so much how much
you drink, or even what you drink, but rather the
order in which you drink beer and liquor that affects
how you'll feel the next morning. We consulted experts to
find out if there's any scientific credence to the oft-uttered
phrase.
"There's no scientific basis to that," says Russell Marz,
assistant professor of nutrition at the National College
of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland. Marz does concede
that mixing different kinds of alcoholic beverages may cause
problems for a person with allergies to compounds found
in such drinks. These allergies, he explains, are quite
common. For example, someone with a wheat allergy may react
to the barley, malt and hops in beer; a person with allergies
to corn or rye might react negatively to liquor made from
those compounds. Some people get headaches from the tannins
in red wine, too. To make things worse, alcohol increases
the intestines' permeability, so everything, including irritating
compounds, is more rapidly absorbed. For a person allergic
to wheat and rye, mixing beer and liquor could take
a greater toll than sticking to one type of drink might.
But Marz does not believe that the order in which you consume
affects how you'll feel the next day.
Ed Gallaher, a research pharmacologist at the Veterans
Administration and an assistant professor at Oregon Health
Sciences University, agrees: "My inclination is that it
doesn't make a bit of difference. People would like to come
up with every alternative explanation or excuse for hangovers,
but the active ingredient is alcohol." he says. Alcohol
leads to intoxication, and intoxication leads to hangovers.
In other words, don't buy the ticket if you can't take the
ride.
It is possible that drinks containing high levels of congeners,
or chemical byproducts responsible for the taste and color
of alcoholic beverages, can exacerbate a hangover. Richer,
darker drinks like whiskey, bourbon, brandy, red wine and
dark rum are thought to contain higher levels of congeners
than white wine, vodka and gin. Carbonated beverages and
an empty stomach increase the absorption of alcohol (think
wedding-reception drunkenness), and may increase your suffering
the morning after. Paying attention to your body is the
best way to determine what drinks--and in what amount--you
tolerate best. If you think that drinking beer before liquor
makes you sicker, don't do it.
Of course, moderation or abstinence is the best way to
wake up hangover-free. But if you do have one (or more)
too many, the following advice may serve as damage control:
Drink lots of water before you hit the pillow and when you
wake up, since dehydration is a primary contributor to hangover
angst. Take antioxidants, including vitamins C and E, along
with a milk-thistle supplement before bed to help clean
up the toxic aftermath. They will especially help your poor
liver. (Ideally, take these before you start drinking.).
Drink some OJ, or any 100 percent-pure juice the next morning
for the vitamins and water it contains. Taking a B-complex
vitamin before crashing is also a good idea, and a non-aspirin
pain reliever might even reduce your headache to the size
of Rhode Island.
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