New Year's Eve for many is a night of celebration (I on the other hand will probably be home and in bed by 10:00 p.m.) and some take that celebrating a little too far. The champagne may taste great that evening but the headache and sometimes nausea at the dawn of the New Year is more than most people can take.
There are right and wrong ways to deal with the aftermath of a night of excessive drinking...and steps to take even before you head out. The obvious would be not to drink to excess in the first place. For those party-goers who do end up having one or three too many, Loyola University Health System family physician, Dr. Aaron Michelfelder, offers the following tips on how to avoid the misery of a New Year's hangover:
Related: Cocktail Survival Guide for New Year's Eve
Before the party:
-
Plan to drink moderately -- a maximum of five drinks for men and three drinks for women during a minimum three-hour period.
-
To prevent inflammation, take an anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen or Aleve.
-
During the party:
-
Eat first, and then drink, not the other way around. Food slows the absorption of alcohol.
-
Drink slowly.
-
To prevent dehydration, drink a glass of water after each alcoholic drink.
-
Take a B vitamin supplement.
After the party:
-
Do not drink and drive.
-
Get as much sleep as possible.
The morning after:
Related: One Glass of Wine Equals too Tipsy to Drive?
-
Take another B vitamin.
-
Drink lots of water.
-
Exercise (if you can stand it). During vigorous exercise, blood circulates three times as fast as it does when you are sitting on the couch. And the faster you circulate blood through your liver and kidneys, the faster your body will remove the toxins.
What doesn't work:
-
Coffee will make you more alert, but it won't prevent or help a hangover.
-
Forget "hair of the dog" -- the notion that having a drink can relieve a hangover. It will only make you feel worse.
More from GalTime:
