On curing hangover

Comments on Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
#1

Found this on Cecils article about hangover and curing it: “While we’re on the subject of things not to do, don’t head for the sauna on the theory that you’ll sweat the alcohol out of your system. You’ll just give yourself an
even worse case of dehydration.”

Now, every Finn knows that sauna is one of the best things in the morning to cure hangover. But we also know that when one baths in sauna one must drink enough to quench the thirst.

Now some say that it’s not the sauna but the drink, but alas I usually drink only mineral water in sauna and I can say that it, the sauna, cures a hangover.

NE

#2

If you don’t want a hang over, don’t stop drinking.

#3

A big glass of water before going to bed will do the job. Most of the symptoms of hangovers are caused by dehydration.

I don’t quite see what mineral water has to do with anything.

Only humans do inhuman things.

#4

…and here is the thread:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_230.html .

#5

When you are in sauna you sweat and not only lose water but minerals. That’s where mineral water comes in.

NE

#6

Did you know that watching television cures muscle pain? It’s true! Whenever I pull a muscle, I take some aspirin and turn on the TV, and the pain starts to go away within just a few minutes.

Seriously, it’s the water that cures your hangover. If you drank the same amount of water but didn’t sit in the sauna, you’d feel better even faster, because you wouldn’t lose so much fluid through sweating.

Of course I don’t fit in; I’m part of a better puzzle.

#7

It’s true that some of the symptoms of a hangover are caused by dehydration, but all of us who’ve tried it know that drinking water doesn’t “cure” a hangover. Only time will do that. Menudo is supposed to help, too, but I can’t face tripe after a night of drinking.
Jill

#8

Drinking water doesn’t cure it, but it prevents it. I’ve never had a hangover since the time I began drinking a glass of water after an evening of partying.

#9

JillGat, I agree with Momotaro. I have found that drinking a quart or two of H2O before bed will prevent hangovers – and I am considered a notorious drinker by my friends.
Of course, the drawback with this method is that it requires strong kidneys.

#10

I’m glad it’s worked for you, but the literature doesn’t support it. Hangovers are caused by other things, as well as dehydration.

#11

Too bad for the literature, JillGat.
I still say it works. Or maybe it’s just my mutant metabolism.

#12

Years ago, as I recall, there was an interesting article on this subject in, of all places, Dog Fancy magazine. The writer decided to test whether the “hair of the dog” really is an effective cure for a hangover.

If memory serves, he enlisted the aid of a lab team at J.E.B. Stuart College in Murphrysboro, Tennessee. Using twenty volunteers, the researchers induced head-splitting hangovers and treated them by mixing a gram of ground-up fur with orange juice. As a control, the volunteers were also given a shot of whiskey.

The results:

Poodle 0% recovery
Chihuahua 0% recovery
Afghan 0% recovery
Jack Russell 0% recovery
Dandy Dinmont 0% recovery
Old Crow 100% recovery

#13

Quickest way to get over a hangover:

  • Copious amounts of water
  • 2 Aspirins (or more, as necessary, unless you’re under the age of 10 and you have chicken pox, or something like that)

Best way to prevent a hangover:
Before going to bed / passing out -

  • Copious amounts of water
  • 2 Aspirins (see note above)
  • Stick your finger down your throat to induce vomiting (do this outside or in the vicinity of a toilet – although cleaning up yuke does seem to sober me up pretty fast and tends to increase the time span between hangovers)

This has been under scrutiny off and on for the past fifteen years, and it the results should just about be ready for publishing.

#14

I was told vitamin B-12 and large amounts of water.
Now, the water has been covered (alcohol being a diuretic and all), but does anyone know anything about the B-12 suggestion?

#15

I think the vitamin level is related to the severity of the hangover, for example;

B-1 gets rid of the cobwebs
B-4 helps cure a minor overindulgence

Therefore, B-12 must be for a real screamer. The kind of hangover where it hurts to turn your head and there are those little lights flashing in the corners of your eyes.

Using that logic, B-52’s were developed to cure the hangovers of entire populations.

#16

The quickest way to get thru a hang over is to have a drink of alcohol. yep.

Alcohol goes right to those cells to replenish fluids.

#17

[[Quickest way to get over a hangover:

  • Copious amounts of water
  • 2 Aspirins (or more, as necessary, unless you’re under the age of 10 and you have chicken pox, or something like that)
    Best way to prevent a hangover:
    Before going to bed / passing out -
  • Copious amounts of water
  • 2 Aspirins (see note above)
  • Stick your finger down your throat to induce vomiting (do this outside or in the vicinity of a toilet – although cleaning up yuke does seem to sober me up pretty fast and tends to increase the time span between hangovers)]]

More than two aspirin would definitely not be advised for someone who has or intends to drink too much. There is no cure for a hangover, and the only real prevention is to avoid drinking too much. If anyone really wants to refute this, please cite a medical article.
Jill

#18

You are correct, of course, about the best way of avoiding a hangover, JillGat, but think of the fun you miss and the brain cells you save.

#19

[[You are correct, of course, about the best way of avoiding a hangover, JillGat, but think of the fun you miss and the brain cells you save.]]

Okay, well then at least quit before the room is spinning.

#20

Those recommending aspirin and Tylenol for hangover should be aware that the combination of alcohol and acetominiphen has been implicated in catastrophic renal failure. While it is true that most of the victims of this disease are among chronic alcholics, it is also true that not every chronic alcoholic is aware of the fact that that risk group describes themselves.

Drink less, drink water and other fluids with, and after drinking alcohol. Healthy metabolisms are better able to recover from poison, so stay fit, and take less poison.

                                       Tris