You’re not alone if you’ve ever felt sick or had a headache after a night of drinking. Hangovers can be pretty tough, but understanding why they happen can help you prevent them. Let’s explore ten interesting facts about hangovers.
Hangovers can be expensive beyond just what you spend at the bar.
Many people have experienced waking up with a hangover after a night of spending money at the bar and not even remembering closing their tab. Hangovers aren’t just costly for your wallet; it’s estimated that alcohol use costs about $240 billion in the US.
Have you ever considered calling in sick to work because of a hangover? You’re not alone. Hangovers can cost you around $2000 a year due to missed work or decreased performance. Going to work with a hangover can also increase the risk of accidents because your judgment may still be impaired.
Carbonation makes hangovers worse.
If you enjoy fizzy drinks, they might be the cause of your severe hangovers. The bubbles in these drinks can make alcohol get into your system faster, raising your blood alcohol level. This can make your body have to work extra hard to process it, leading to a more unpleasant hangover than you expected. If you have important tasks the next day, avoiding drinks like hard seltzers might be a good idea.
Smoking is bad for health and hangover.
If you’ve been out at night and run out of cigarettes, you might wake up with a bad hangover. Cigarettes release a chemical called acetaldehyde, which is one of the reasons for hangovers when you drink alcohol. So, when you smoke while you’re drinking, you’re getting an extra amount of this chemical. Smoking might also make you drink more to try and get the good feeling you get from a cigarette.
Dark liquors cause bad hangovers.
Have you ever been told that drinking red wine will give you a terrible headache the next day? There’s a scientific reason for this. Darker drinks like red wine, whiskey, and rum contain more substances called congeners, which can lead to hangover symptoms. Congeners are created during the fermentation process when alcohol is produced. So, if you want to avoid awful hangovers, consider switching from bourbon to vodka.
Genetics affect hangovers.
Your grandmother might be the reason you feel terrible after drinking. How bad a hangover is can depend on how your body deals with alcohol, and your genes have something to do with it. Some genes help your body break down alcohol, and your friend who never gets hangovers probably has those genes. For instance, many Asians don’t produce enough of a certain enzyme, which can lead to worse hangovers.
You could be going through withdrawal symptoms.
Terrible hangover signs might also be like alcohol withdrawal signs. These signs can include feeling shaky, sweating, being extra sensitive to light, and more.
Some people say that a hangover is like a mild kind of alcohol withdrawal. Your body is trying hard to remove the harmful stuff and get you back to normal. It’s also important to know that if you have these signs, you shouldn’t keep drinking more alcohol to try to feel better. Drinking more is like a quick fix that can cause bigger problems later!
Women may have worse hangovers.
When it comes to hangovers, women might have a rougher time than men. This is because of the water in our bodies. We all know the human body is mostly water, but it’s not the same for men and women. Women usually have less water in their bodies and more fat. Women are also often lighter than men, so they can get drunk faster. Ladies, remember to take it easy on the drinks!
Hangovers and inflammation are closely linked.
Many people don’t consider inflammation when it comes to hangovers. Alcohol releases something called cytokines, which are like little inflammation troublemakers that can harm your liver. These cytokines are what make you feel sick when you have a hangover. So, when you drink a lot of alcohol, you might experience inflammation.
Your headache is because your brain is thirsty.
We all know that hangovers make us thirsty, but what you might not know is that alcohol dehydrates your brain. Alcohol can stop a hormone that helps your body hold onto water. Without this hormone, you lose more water, especially from your brain. That’s why you often wake up with a pounding headache after a night of too much drinking.
