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Dec 28, 2007 11:01 pm US/Central
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Good Question: How Does A Hangover Work?
(WCCO)
The formal name is Veisalgia, which is Norwegian for "uneasiness after debauchery" and Greek for "pain." We simply call it a hangover and it's how some of us will begin the New Year.
"About a drink an hour is what's safe," said Kirk Hughes who works at the Hennepin Regional Poison Center. "Our bodies can go ahead and detoxify or process about one drink an hour."
When we drink more, we screw up our body's processes.
"Then we go to the bathroom every 5 to 10 minutes," said one guy in Minneapolis.
That's because alcohol inhibits our urinary system and blocks the production of a chemical called vasopressin.
"That increases our urine output and leads to dehydration," said Hughes.
Alcohol is a major diuretic. For every 8 ounces of alcohol we drink, our bodies lose nearly 32 ounces of fluid.
"This is water, vitamins, minerals, and also sugar," said Hughes. "Things that are essential to making our brain work properly our muscles work properly."
"I wanted to kill myself," said one Twin Cities' man about a hangover he experienced.
That feeling the next day often begins with a dry mouth, which is our brain's way of telling us we need water. The there is the headache, which is also caused by dehydration.
"You need to shift whatever little fluids are left in your body to vital organs," said Hughes.
Our organs actually steal water from the brain which literally shrinks the brain so it starts pulling on the membranes and causes pain.
The severity of our hangover can depend on what we drink. Darker alcohol is harder to process than the clear stuff and the higher the alcohol content the faster it is absorbed by our bodies. Beer contains about 4%-6% alcohol, wine is 7%-15%, and hard liquor contains 40%-95% alcohol. However, that doesn't mean we should toss back a 12 pack.
"If something is carbonated it helps our body absorb it much quicker," said Hughes.
So which hangover remedies are fact and which are fiction?
Burnt toast because it contains carbon which is a natural filter? Fiction. The toast contains the wrong kind of carbon and won't help.
Black coffee because of the caffeine? Fiction. It can actually make us more dehydrated.
Eggs? Fact. They contain cysteine which breaks down toxins in the liver.
Drinking more the next day? Fiction. It may ease our headache for awhile but it prolongs the hangover.
The experts say the best advice is to drink a lot of water and take a multivitamin before and after drinking. We should also eat a good size meal before we go out for the night.
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