The Hangover.

We’ve all been there. We go out on the weekend (or weekdays for those extreme party animals) and before the night is over, suddenly we find ourselves…over-served.  Of course, by “over-served” I mean bartender’s eagerly refilling your drinks.  Obviously, it’s not our faults we are over-served, it’s definitely the bartender’s! 🙂

Since I’m officially an adult now-married, out of college, etc., I don’t drink very much. The threat of a hangover is not worth it to me. I’m at the point in my life that I don’t want to deal with being hungover, I want to be able to get out of bed, workout, and seize the day! Not lay in bed all day watching Sex and the City reruns. Those days are long gone my friends!

But even with that in mind, sometimes you’re bound to get…over-served. It happens. This weekend I put my party shoes on and headed out to the Museum of Art here in Cleveland for the Summer Solstice party.

(Side note: This picture is from our engagement photo shoot. I love how our photographer documented this precious fashion moment :).)

We had a great time, but unfortunately I was over-served. How did this happen? I thought I was a responsible adult? Turns out, sometimes the party animal college chick rears her ugly, slurring her words, head. I woke up Sunday morning feeling..not so great. My body was seeking some serious revenge on me for poisoning it all night long.

Once I finally got out of bed, it was time to start nursing my body back to health. Everyone has a go-to hangover cure, I personally feel like there is nothing that can cure it except sleep. Oh, and you could always just drink less. But let’s pretend it’s too late for that. Here are a couple other suggestions that might help (or hurt) if you’re feeling a little under the weather:

Hangover Remedies

• Have a drink– I actually have a couple friends who swear by this remedy but I just can’t buy it. There’s no way drinking more will help you with your hangover. It makes zero sense. I think this is more of a temporary fix until you feel hungover again from that drink. You would basically just have to keep drinking forever to avoid a hangover. You’re body’s trying to recover, so feeding it more toxins, i.e. alcohol, is not going to help the situation.

• Greasy Foods– Lots of people believe greasy foods help with hangovers because they soak up the alcohol.  I’ve read a number of articles though stating that there’s no evidence greasy foods help with hangovers. There is evidence however that they’ll give you heartburn. In college, we used to rely on this “greasy food” remedy, but now I stick to healthier foods. I figure I already feel terrible, I’ll just feel even more terrible if I eat a big plate of french fries.

• Coffee– I drink coffee no matter what. I assumed that coffee can’t be good for you when you feel hungover since it’s a diuretic and you’re already dehydrated. My reason for drinking coffee anyway is because if I don’t, it’ll make my pounding headache worse because I’m also having caffeine withdrawals.  I only drink a little though, I definitely don’t think it will “cure” my hangover. It’s basically encouraged to drink it if you’re an addict like me, if not, you’re probably better off without it (source).

• Water, Sports Drinks, Coconut Water- Water is obviously a good idea. You’re dehydrated, so drink water! Sports drinks and coconut water also help because they replace electrolytes lost in the dehydration process.  So these drinks could potentially make you feel a little better. They definitely won’t hurt.

• Exercise– I think this one needs a big IF attached to it. Exercise IF you feel like you can. Obviously if you were sick, going on a run in 85 degree heat is not the best idea. But, if you wake up feeling not 100% but alright after a few Advil, a light workout is probably not a bad idea, or even just a walk.  So, I think it really depends on how bad you feel. Regardless, the thing you need most is rest.

And probably the most important one…

• Sleep– It’s pretty well known that you do not get quality sleep when you’ve been drinking. That lack of sleep certainly doesn’t help the way you feel the next day. So take a nap the day after and go to bed early. Sleeping it off is your best bet!

 

Hopefully, those tips will help you in the future. Obviously, the one way to avoid a hangover is don’t drink! But, we’re all human; sometimes we drink too much. If you do, try out some of these remedies especially the sleep one!

If you had a bit of wild weekend this past weekend, hopefully you didn’t end up like this girl:

 

If you did, go call your friends and apologize for an embarrassing evening. 🙂

Do you have any “go-to” remedies for when you’ve been, ahem, over-served?