Summer + Parties = Need for Natural Hangover Remedies

Memorial Day opens up the summer season (even though summer doesn’t officially begin until June 21). This means backyard barbecues, beach bonfires, and long nights in which to party. In many cases, this will involve alcohol, which may result in the after-effect known as the dreaded hangover.

You know the feeling: head pounding, throat dry, burning eyed feeling you wake up with from a night of too much drinking. If dehydration is the main cause of a hangover, how is it possible when you flooded your body the night before? The more toxins you allow into your body, the less time your liver has to filter them out and you wake up with the terrible effects that follow a night of imbibing. Other symptoms of a hangover can include feeling dizzy, sweating, having muscle aches, a rapid heartbeat, tremors, irritability, or anxiety. There are many recipes for a hangover, many of which are hard to stomach or hard to believe but maybe some of them will actually provide some relief if not all for your recovery woes.

Once you start drinking, the body stores the alcohol in your system which is why the effects can come on strong and last for hours. The alcohol you let absorb into your body disrupts the production of glucose (natural sugar) and makes your liver work overtime which explains the feeling of sluggishness you receive upon waking up, among the many other symptoms already mentioned. Glucose feeds the brain and accounts for the weakness encountered after your body has been taken over by the drowning qualities of alcohol.

The first cure for a hangover would be preventing one by abstaining from drinking, or not consuming too much in the first place. However, people who often regret this decision already have a hangover and want to be put out of their misery. Many people try to prevent the pain when they get home by drinking a few glasses of water and some aspirin tablets before bed, and while the water does help flood your system and is good for you in the end, the aspirin is harmful to your body. Painkillers like ibuprofen, acetaminophen or aspirin are hard on your liver, stomach, and kidneys and can cause gastrointestinal bleeding or kidney damage over time.

The morning you wake up with a hangover the best start to your day could be a nice hot shower. The steam on your face helps you sweat it out and the power of the jet stream on your neck and back can relieve the tension and blocked blood vessels that cause headaches. Breakfast for some people is the best way to cure that achy stomach and bacon seems to be the remedy for a bad mood as well. A large meal of greasy breakfast food may help fill your stomach, eggs have antioxidants in them to replenish your system, and bread can do loads of good to soak up any lingering toxins hanging around your body.

Natural homeopathic remedies for a hangover include taking ginger capsules or drinking ginger tea to curb your nausea or soothe your stomach. Vitamin B will help restore your energy and herbs like dandelion and fennel can flush out your liver and improve its function while also getting rid of any extra alcohol bloat. Taking potassium, eating a banana, or adding magnesium-loaded green vegetables to your diet after a drinking binge will help rejuvenate the senses and give your body back its vitamins and minerals that were stripped away with the alcohol.

While exercise may seem like the last thing you want to do while nursing a hangover, some experts say it helps to sweat out the booze and replace it with endorphins in order to readjust your body back to normal. The best way to help your body after a long party is to get a good rest because the fluids in alcohol rob your body of its nutrients and even if you feel as if you have rested fully, most likely you were tossing and turning and did not remember. Nap during the day (unless you are at work) and make sure to get a good night’s sleep in order to be fully functional the day after your hangover.
 

If you enjoy the feeling of being in control of your mind and body, and like to feel like yourself the next morning, the first step to avoiding hangover is to abstain from drinking too much altogether. Pace yourself and alternate water, juice, or soda between drinks—not just by mixing them—and you will hopefully still be able to enjoy alcohol without it enjoying you and endangering your entire next day.