How to survive the hangover and keep on partying

Hangovers. We get them. We hate them. We want to get rid of them. Students are the true powerhouses. We can get drunk on any day as long as it ends in a Y, which means we also have to endure the whole morning after the routine. 9am lecture or walking into the office the next day, we will do it with the utmost dignity and self-respect. Sometimes it gets too much, therefore, this article will go through some simple steps to help you and your pals survive the hangover and keep on partying.

Hydration is key

The most obvious and probably the most avoided one. It is the moment when you wake up at 9:03 on a Wednesday morning, you’re late for a lecture and your mouth is as dry as a desert going through a 250-year drought. Let us rewind to the night before. You’re drinking a shit-ton of alcohol, the seal has been broken and your hot date for the night in the toilet.

What does this result in? You lose a hell of a lot of water, therefore your poor brain actually shrinks. Your brain is a hydration tank so when your body becomes dehydrated it clings onto the tissue. Resulting in head pounding headaches. So during the night of drinking, try and drink water in between each alcoholic drink and when you wake up, drink!

Bad news - so us students also love coffee. However, coffee makes you wee, resulting in loss of hydration. So if you think a hangover fix will be resolved with coffee, you are wrong.

What you eat for breakfast is a matter of life or death, or throwing up

I am a sucker for it, I go out drinking and in the morning I think the best thing for my body is a Full English, with all the trimmings (even black pudding). However, this can actually intensify that hangover feeling. When you drink your blood sugar levels dip, which results in symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, headaches... you know the deal.

So swap your Full English for poached eggs, asparagus and a can of sprite. This will help improve your blood sugar levels and give you all the nutrients you need to improve that catastrophic hangover.

Alcoholic drinks to avoid

Congeners will be your worst nightmare. It is the chemical to give the aroma and taste in non-distilled alcoholic drinks. But it is also known for instigating the bloody hangover. Some drinks have more of this chemical than others.

Ones to avoid:

• Tequila

• Whiskey

• Cognac

One to definitely avoid:

• Whiskey

Ones to drink:

• Gin

• Rum

One to definitely drink:

• Vodka

Hair of the dog...good idea before a lecture or no?

OK, so you are brave enough to brace the 9am lecture, but your hangover is leaving you weak, demotivated and dead. This is when hair of the dog comes in. Never heard of the saying before? Well, it pretty much means, to prevent the hangover is to carry on drinking. Science says that hangovers are associated with methanol, which is present in many alcoholic drinks. The metabolism of methanol then results in all those shocking hangover symptoms. Ultimately, drinking alcohol prevents this from happening, therefore preventing the hangover. I have purposely kept this super simple, and there are many conflicting studies. However, it is happy hour somewhere in the world!

Ginger will be your best friend

One of the best natural remedies is ginger. As well as improving your immune symptoms and fighting against sickness such as sore throats and colds (I’m thinking freshers flu here), it is also great for fighting against nausea and offers fast relief in assisting with digestion. So you can say goodbye to your alcoholic demons faster than you think!

My go-to remedy

For the last tip, let’s screw science and research and I will tell you what I do to prevent a hangover, or to simply make my journey to lectures far less sickening.

When I get home from a night out, I go straight to the kitchen, drink two pints of water, have a couple of Neurofen tablets and a multi-vitamin tablet. I also eat a couple slices of toast (or cheesy chips) to ensure the alcohol gets soaked up. I then lay in bed, set my alarm and pray to the heavens that I wake up feeling OK. It has worked for me many times, so if you want, you can give that a go too!

 

Megan Bryant is an Online Marketer at StudentJob UK, Europe’s largest jobs board offering vacancies in part-time, internships and graduate positions.