People love to drink alcohol. Whether it’s a cocktail, a shot of whiskey, a beer, or an elegant glass of chardonnay, people just enjoy drinking. But, once the party’s over, we seemingly always “forget” about the negative side effects of alcohol, namely the hangover. How do you stay hangover-free? How do you still enjoy a few shots with your buddies without waking up the next morning feeling like someone drilled a hole into the back of your head while you were sleeping and filled it with pop rocks?
How to Avoid a Hangover
Know What You’re Drinking
The key to knowing how to avoid a hangover is to know which types of alcohol contain ingredients that can eventually (after a night of social drinking) lead to a killer hangover. You also need to know how to stay away from them.
Stay Away From Congeners
Have you ever had a bourbon hangover or a red wine hangover? Ever wonder how your favorite bourbon or red wine gets its dark, rich color? That is from the particulates it picks up during the aging process. These particulates are referred to as congeners and they are the biggest cause of hangovers. Congeners can also be color or flavor enhancers that are added to the spirit. The best way to avoid hangovers that come from congeners is to avoid cheap whiskies and rums and lean towards lighter spirits like vodka, gin and white rum. A guaranteed way to get a horrific hangover is to mix congener-filled alcohol like red wine and bourbon. Good luck with that the next morning. All the aspirin in the world won’t make your head stop throbbing.
If you must imbibe different forms of alcohol (some containing congers and some not), it’s important to know which ones are the least likely to give you a hangover and which one are the most.
The Light Least (grain alcohol, gin, vodka and white rum)
You might be extremely surprised by this, but one form of alcohol with the last hangover potential (in moderation) is grain alcohol. Don’t be as afraid to enjoy that Everclear cocktail as long as it isn’t mixed together with a syrupy sugar drink and scooped out of a frat-house plastic-lined cooler. That mixture probably will give you a terrible hangover. Grain alcohol on its own is extremely pure and free of congeners. As is vodka and gin. It might seem that these three were the biggest culprits when it came to your vodka hangovers in college, but that’s not because of the spirit. It’s because of the amount consumed. Moderation of any alcohol is the key to staying hangover free (that rhymed).
The Moderate Middle (tequila, white wine, champagne and beer)
There’s no denying that tequila has a bad reputation. This reputation is not completely deserved though. Good tequila in moderation will probably not give you a mind-numbing headache the next morning. You just have to be aware that the lower the quality, the worse the potential hangover. The same goes for a tequila shot filled evening. Be prepared for a rough morning. The same goes for white wine and champagne. A moderate amount of white wine or champagne followed by a healthy glass of water, some aspirin and a good night’s rest should save you from any sickness the next day. Beer is a little trickier. Lighter beers are less likely to cause hangovers while darker and barrel-aged beers are much more likely to make your head feel like it’s going to explode.
The Murderous Most (whiskey, dark rum and red wine)
These are the “congener crew”, the dark spirits and wines that can creep up on you and make you miserable the next morning. Your best bet when dealing with these is to stay far away from cheap brands and never ever mix them together. Don’t start your night drinking red wine before moving on to bourbon. A smarter choice is to move on to a beer or a lighter spirit if you began your evening with a glass of whiskey or red wine. More expensive spirits are filtered more and contain way fewer congeners and impurities than their cheap counterparts. Also, cheaper wines are likely to have sugar in them. The more sugar you take in while drinking, the more likely you’ll wake up feeling like your head is stuck in a vice grip.
Stay Away From Mixing Alcohol
Next time you go out partying with your friends you should try to stick to one type of alcohol for the night. Mixing different types of alcohol is just asking for the loss of another sick day at work. If you do plan on mixing beer and liquor, make sure you start off with liquor first, then beer. A handy phrase that helps me remember how to mix beer and hard alcohol is, “liquor before beer, never fear” and “beer before liquor, will make you sicker”. You might want to get that tattooed on your arm so you don’t forget.
What Really Causes a Hangover?
Waking up with a hangover is a pretty bad start to your day. First of all, you likely did or said something that you regret and now it feels as though you are being punished by the gods of liquor for your rowdy Bacchus-like behavior. After the age of twenty-five or so, waking up hungover is really not very cool. You’ve got responsibilities, right?
But, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen. A night can get away from us from time to time. Maybe we are celebrating an important birthday (30th) or a promotion. No matter what the reason, sometimes revelry gets out of hand and we are doomed to spend the next day feeling sorry for ourselves for having too much fun the night before.
Alcohol Dehydration
So what really causes a hangover? A hangover is caused by many different actions. Alcohol is a diuretic. This means that no matter what you drink, congeners or not, you are dehydrating your body. If you don’t drink a glass of water for every drink to replace the lost hydration, you’re risking a painful headache. You don’t just lose water when you’re dehydrated, you also lose important chemicals in the body. The results are lethargy and an overall “meh” feeling.
A chemical called acetaldehyde is formed when your body metabolizes alcohol. This chemical, when built up by multiple drinks in an evening, makes you feel nauseous and adds to your headache symptoms.
The best way to avoid a hangover altogether is to not drink. But, we know that isn’t going to happen. So, moderation is extremely important. That and a lot of water, some aspirin and a good night’s sleep. Also, don’t plan on running in a 5K the morning after a night of drinking. It’s just not going to happen. Stay in bed a little longer. You’ll need it.
