I just woke up and I’m hung-over. What now? There has to be something I can do! After awakening, there are many things you can & should do to begin the hangover recovery process. Here are 10 suggestions to have you feeling better soon:
These first 5 suggestions for hangover recovery are recommended immediately after stumbling out of bed:
1) Re-hydrate your body with plenty of liquids. Drink plenty of purified or spring water immediately after awakening and continue throughout the morning. Tomato juice (such as V8), and other fresh fruit juices are also very effective liquids. Sports drinks, such as Gatorade or Powerade, often speed up the body’s replenishing process by including electrolytes and other essential vitamins. Herbal teas, such as ginger tea, peppermint tea and chamomile tea can do wonders for a hangover-laden stomach.
2) Make sure you eat a decent breakfast, especially if your stomach is relatively empty from the night before. Avoid foods with a lot of starch, animal fats or grease. A greasy sausage in the morning may psychologically or physically make your hangover symptoms feel worse! Laying down briefly after eating breakfast may help your stomach settle and speed the hangover healing process.
3) With your breakfast, be sure to take vitamins, minerals and herbal remedies. Panax Ginseng can bolster mental alertness (and physical endurance). Milk Thistle and Dandelion root herbs can detoxify your liver. The minerals Magnesium and Calcium can replace lost nutrients due to alcohol consumption. Finally, all B-Vitamins, Vitamin-C, and Acidophilus can all speed the healing process.
4) Try not to go overboard on aspirin, ibuprofen etc… – it’s easy to think you need more than is prescribed on the bottle, but frequently only a small amount will do the trick. Try to avoid stronger prescribed pain killers as they may be more addictive and have unwanted side effects such as drowsiness. NOTE: The pain reliever acetaminophen has been linked to liver damage, therefore this drug should be avoided by drinkers.
5) Just ‘sleep it off’ (if you can). After being awake and suffering for a while, consider going back to sleep (if you have no pending obligations). A good nap after you’ve already had breakfast, aspirin, some water etc…. sometimes speeds the healing process. Just an hour or two back in bed may be what the doctor ordered. Consider using an alternative sleep aid such as soft music to help you get more rest. Also, always have an eye mask on hand to block out unwanted light.
Here are 3 less conventional, yet possibly effective solutions to your hangover dilemma:
1) “Will” yourself to exercise. This may be very difficult in the midst of feeling ‘blah,’ but if you can overcome your feelings and lack of morning motivation, try to exercise any way you can. Getting your body to move ultimately energizes your spirit and mental alertness and possibly helps your body rid excess alcohol and toxins more quickly. One easy way to invigorate body and mind is to take a good brisk walk around the block.
2) Consider chewing gum aggressively, but don’t overdo it. By chewing gum fast or chewing several pieces at a time, you may make yourself temporarily more alert by increasing blood flow around the head and brain area. Obviously do not chew if you have dental issues. Also avoid chewing for too long – your jaw muscles may become tired or sore, possibly resulting in another headache.
3) Fill your sink with water and ice and keep dipping your head in-and-out until you’ve had enough. This is sure to invigorate your senses! An ice cold shower can also have similar effects.
Finally:
1) If you have a nasty headache, try using a forehead ice pack. Not only may this help your headache but the coldness might actually help jolt your overall system into overdrive. If you don’t have an ice pack, make one by filling a re-sealable plastic bag with ice.
2) Just give it time. One of the best remedies is to just give your hangover time to heal itself. The severity or duration of a hangover varies by a number of intangibles such as exactly how much, what and how quickly you drank your alcoholic beverage, the amount of time you slept the previous night and how much food you mixed in with your drinking. Generally, your hangover will peak within the first 2 hours after awakening and steadily improve throughout the day. The average person will be clear of most hangover symptoms by mid-afternoon to early evening.
As you see, there are many ways to recover fairly quickly from terrible morning hangovers, varying from scientifically proven common sense, to more radical wisdom. The biggest obstacle is having the ‘will’ to get over what ails you. Using these suggestions you can easily cut recovery time by 50 percent or more.
Source by H. Mikael Nisula
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