If you’ve ever shown up at Stooley’s on a Sunday morning wearing a big pair of sunglasses and demanding a Red Eye from the bartender, you already know the meaning of the word hangover.
Saturday night might have been a celebration, but waking up a few hours later with that pounding headache, nausea and dizziness can be a struggle.
So, can a glass of tomato juice and the hair of the dog that bit you really help your hangover woes?
Kieva Hranchuk, ArtSci ’10, said her nights of drinking white wine are often followed by a headache the next day, but she has her own special remedy to make her feel better.
“When I get home from the bar before I go to bed I drink water and take Advil or a multivitamin,” she said.
“The day after, it’s Gatorade or greasy food. Like I’ll go to McDonald’s.”
Alicia Pellini, Nurs ’08, said beer and tequila are her biggest hangover triggers.
“I’ll be screwed the next day,” Pellini said. “Basically I get very tired, very nauseous, I have a headache and it’s hard to go out in the light.”
She said this feeling can be prevented by drinking Gatorade before bed, but next-day antidotes aren’t so helpful.
“I’ve tried ginseng drinks. They have caffeine so they try to perk you up but they don’t work,” Pellini said.
Mike Tomlin, owner of Stooley’s Café, thinks the best way to get over a hangover is with the hair of the dog that bit you—the same brew that got you sauced in the first place. He added the “Hangover Helpers” section to the Stooley’s menu with some of his own suggestions to get back on your feet the next day.
Starting off the morning with a Red Eye, consisting of beer with a side of tomato juice, is a cure Tomlin uses himself.
“The tomato juice cuts the beer down. You don’t want to necessarily get right back into [drinking],” he said.
Lava Juice, another helper on the menu, is made with two raw eggs floating in Clamato juice with lots of Tobasco sauce.
“If you can stomach it and keep it down, it’s good for you,” Tomlin said. He said the spiciness also helps you sweat.
“Eat something hot and it makes you sweat out the alcohol.”
According to Tomlin, Stooley’s sells so many California Clubs and Caesars on Sunday mornings that those might as well be hangover helpers too.
“Everybody that’s hung-over is looking for a little bit of grease to put back in their system.”
Other cures claim to put an end to hangovers before you even need these remedies.
Edd Pratt is co-founder of Sobrietol, a company that introduced one of the newest hangover antidotes last February.It promises to do more than sooth your headache.
“Our product does two things: It reduces your blood alcohol [level] and it makes you feel like you didn’t drink the next day,” Pratt said.
He explained that ethanol from alcohol is converted through metabolism into a metabolite called acetaldehyde during digestion. Acetaldehyde is 20 times more toxic than ethanol and leads to your hangover the next day.
“Many researchers believe that the key cause of hangovers is acid acetaldehyde,” he said. “If that’s the case, then any product that says you can take it the next day is impossible.”
Pratt said Sobrietol contains an enzyme to target this problem before your hangover hits.
“You can add an enzyme in the stomach, the same one as in your liver, that will break down the alcohol right there,” he said.
“It rapidly reduces the blood-alcohol concentration … and gets rid of the acetaldehyde.”
According to Pratt, you need to take something before those hangover symptoms arrive in order to actually stop the hangover.
“The way most people take our product is they put it on the nightstand so they take it before they go to bed,” he said.
That way, Pratt said, it won’t break down the alcohol before you get that buzz.
Toxicology professor James Brien is skeptical about this kind of cure. He said acetaldehyde is a possible cause of hangovers, but the body has the capacity to process some acetaldehyde.
“It might work on individuals who have less capacity to process acetaldehyde, but not on most people.”
Brien said the key phenomenon that causes the painful hangover symptoms is the body’s withdrawal from alcohol.
“During withdrawal [people] are readjusting to the removal of alcohol. The individual feels out of sorts, they’re not thinking clearly, maybe they have some co-ordination problems.”
Brien said withdrawal is multifaceted in its effects and has the potential to cause vomiting and headaches because of contractions in the brain.
“I think people’s genetic background and experience with alcohol are key determinants to the type of hangover they experience,” he said, adding that those with greater experience with alcohol may develop a tolerance.
Some other substances can also affect the way you feel the next day when they are combined with alcohol.
“Red wines will have everything from tannins in them to a substance called tyramine,” he said. Tannins in grape skins and seeds prevent oxidization in wine, while tyramine causes an increase in systolic blood pressure.
“They cause the relaxation of blood vessels and these may have effects that last longer than the effects of alcohol itself.”
One problem Brien said you should pay attention to is increased urination caused by drinking, which decreases the bodily fluids and changes the electrolyte balance.
“Consume a fair amount of water so you don’t get dehydrated. That’s a key thing,” he said, adding that it might be best to drink fruit juices because they’ll replenish your electrolytes.
But it might not be that simple after a night of drinking, when the stomach’s lining is irritated, making you feel nauseous.
Brien said one of the worst myths about alcohol is that drinking loads of coffee will sober you up and make you feel better.
“All that gives you is a wide-eyed, intoxicated individual,” he said.
Brien said time’s the only cure for removing alcohol from your body.
“Probably the so-called home remedies of making sure you deal with dehydration and electrolytes is best,” he said.
“And making sure the next day doesn’t include heavy workload or a lot of thinking.”
Emilie Hayhoe, ArtSci ’08, said she likes to set aside a day to recover after a night of drinking.
“I can’t get out of bed because I feel like I had the worst flu of my entire life. If I get up it’s not a good thing,” she said.
“I usually devote the day for a hangover day.” The last time Hayhoe had a hangover day she went to Starbucks, to the movies with a friend and then went home to sleep it off.
She said she has tried other ways to cure her hangover, but nothing has worked.
“Recently I tried the caesar the day after,” Hayhoe said. “It didn’t work.”
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