Hangover Hacks: Proven Remedies That Actually Work

Mark Hyman, MD

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Dr. Mark Hyman
Coming up on this episode of The Doctor's Farmacy. There are no benefits to alcohol consumption. There is no health benefit. There's no heart benefit. The data is really clear that it's bad for you, especially cancer.

It does increase the risk of cancer, so I don't think alcohol should be considered a health promoting substance in any way. However, having a drink or 2 once in a while is not gonna kill you, and it's not a bad bad thing. Thing. Before we jump into today's episode, I'd like to note that while I wish I could help everyone via my personal practice, there's simply not enough time for me to do this at this scale. And that's why I've been busy building several passion projects to help you better understand, well, you.

If you're looking for data about your biology, check out function health for real time lab insights. If you're in need of deepening your knowledge around your health journey, check out my membership community, Hyman Hive. And if you're looking for curated and trusted supplements and health products for your routine, visit my website, supplement store, for a summary of my favorite and tested products. Welcome back to another episode of the doctor's pharmacy and health bites, where we take juicy little bites into current health topics. And today, I wanna tackle a topic that many of us have experienced but few truly understand, hangovers.

Whether it's after a night of celebrating with friends or an unexpected overindulgence, hangovers kinda leave us feeling drained, anxious, and downright miserable. In this episode, I wanna unpack the science behind hangovers and explore what happens for bodies during this really unpleasant aftermath and discuss effective strategies to prevent and manage them if you need them. Maybe you won't need them if you take care of yourself, but just in case you have a fun night, how do you get over this? Well, hangovers are more than just a headache and fatigue. They're a complex physiological response to alcohol consumption that affects our brain, our liver, our gut, and our overall health.

In fact, alcohol is a poison, and the dose makes the poison. I'm gonna delve into how alcohol disrupts our sleep, dehydrates our bodies, messes with our electrolyte balance, and leaving just feeling pretty out of sorts. Obviously, all this is a bummer. No one likes a hangover. So how do we prevent it?

Quite frankly, the best way to avoid a hangover, don't drink. K? Now we know, just to be clear, there are no benefits to alcohol consumption. There is no health benefit. There's no heart benefit.

The data is really clear that it's bad for you, especially cancer. It does increase the risk of cancer. So I don't think alcohol should be considered a health promoting substance in any way. Just to be clear, the data doesn't support it. However, having a drink or 2 once in a while is not gonna kill you and it's not a bad bad thing.

Of course, don't drink is easier said than done, I know, but here's the facts. The standard recommendation is 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks a day for men. That's way too much. Right? According to the WHO, the World Health Organization, there is no safe consumption of alcohol for human health.

Say it again. According to the World Health Organization, there is no safe consumption of alcohol for human health. Period. Alcohol is a neurotoxin. It's psychoactive, and it can cause dependence in addiction.

Now the International Agency For Research on Cancer, the IARC, has classified alcohol as a group one carcinogen, which is the highest risk group along with asbestos, radiation, and tobacco. Just saying. Nobody's got asbestos anymore in their house. You don't really wanna get radiation if you can avoid it, and certainly, we know tobacco and cigarettes cause cancer. Now according to study in the journal of the American Medical Association, even light to moderate consumption has consequences.

It also increased your risk for dementia and Alzheimer's. And why? Because it shrinks your brain and reduces neuroplasticity. If you see an alcoholic's brain on on a brain scan, I used to see it all the time when I was in the ER. They just, like, shriveled and shrunken up brains.

It was pretty sad. Alcohol increased the risk for cardiovascular disease, certain cancers that I mentioned, and the alcohol free movement is gaining popularity, and the younger generation's catching on to the harms of alcohol. In fact, I just went to a party, 40th birthday party, and it was no alcohol. There was no alcohol. And I just had a office party for my office, no alcohol.

I think people are kinda coming wise to the dangers of alcohol. So more and more people are kinda just stop drinking and turning to mocktails. However, if you do drink, and I'm gonna give you a few things that might help. 1, pace yourself. Right?

Go slow. This is gonna help your body metabolize alcohol more effective. Remember, I can only deal with 1 ounce an hour. Right? One ounce an hour of hard liquor, probably 5 ounces of wine an hour, or 10 ounces of beer an hour.

You drink more than that, and you are just, you know, upping the toxic load your liver has to deal with, and it just can't keep up. The speed at which you drink plays a huge role. Your body can process, like I said, about 1 standard drink per hour. Now I want you to keep in mind, though, that this can vary based on the type of alcohol you drink. Right?

Your physical health and your genetics. Now drinking more than this is likely gonna increase the risk of a hangover. Also, you can avoid congeners. Now what are those? Those are byproducts of alcohol fermentation that are found in higher concentrations in darker liquors, whiskey or things like that.

These are found in cognac, whiskey, bourbon, and red wine. It creates methanol, tannins, histamine reactions, all kinds of stuff, so not great. Now these these compounds, these conjugate give these types of alcohol their distinct flavors, but they hang around in the system long after you drink, which can make the hangover a lot worse. Now research shows that high conjunnered darker colored liquors, which is a bummer because those are the ones I like, that lead to more severe hangovers than lighter colored clear liquors like vodka, gin, rum, sake, and even maybe white tequilas. But also note that I'm not recommending these types of alcohol either.

The more distilled the spirit is, the lower the congeners. This is why drinking top shelf flickers doesn't result as much of a hangover to some people as lower price alternatives, and I found that true. It's also worth noting that the amount of alcohol consumed is more critical than the type of alcohol in determining the severity of your hangover. So while the conjugate is important, it's really the amount of overall alcohol. Now drinks with higher alcohol concentrations like shots of liquor put a greater burden on the liver and are more likely to cause hangovers.

Congeners add complexity to the detox process too. They stimulate the release of stress hormones. That cause an inflammatory response, and they that all worsens your hangover symptoms. Now some people actually may be very physiologically sensitive to specific congeners. For example, those with histamine intolerance, which is more and more common, experience worse hangovers from red wine, which is high in histamine compared to clear liquor.

So I noticed that when I have red wine, I don't feel good. If I have tiki white tequila, I'm fine. Avoid sugary mixers, which is all sugary mixed drinks. When you combine sugar and alcohol, bad news. So stay away from those sugary mixed drinks.

The other thing you wanna do is stay hydrated. Drink water and electrolytes before, during, and after drink it. Drink at least half your weight in ounces of water with a sugar free electrolyte powder such as Elite or Element, which contains a balanced ratio of sodium, potassium, magnesium. Really important. Our sugar free coconut water contains natural electrolytes and help hydrate you as well.

There's something called liquid IV, and Gatorade. They're big no nos. They're loaded with unnecessary sugar, dyes, flavors, enhancers. Just stay away from all that colorful sports drinks crap, and that's terrible. Basically, you wanna drink a glass of water and at least for every drink you have.

Right? For every alcoholic drink you have, just 1, maybe 2 glass of water with electrolytes. And you can bring individual travel electrolyte packets with you. I do that all the time. It's really great.

Also, eat before you drink. And why why do you wanna do that? Well, a balanced meal actually slows the absorption of alcohol. Fat, protein, fiber slows the amphetamine of your stomach, and that actually can help reduce the effect and the speed of alcohol and reduces, toxicity on your system. Things like guacamole, or a phytonutrient salad, chicken, steak, or fish, all that's gonna be great.

It's also gonna help you prevent low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. And you also wanna eat hydrating and micronutrient rich plant foods, like non starchy veggies, cucumbers, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, fruit and lots of fruit, bananas, avocados, guava, grapefruit, which is full of magnesium, potassium, and sodium, really important. So make sure you get water and electrolyzed for hydration. You also wanna then actually take some minerals like zinc and also niacin, which is a b vitamin, vitamin b 3, critical cofactors in alcohol metabolism. So when you have to make those enzymes work, you need these cofactors like zinc and niacin to actually make them work to detoxify the alcohol.

Now research suggests that they could lower hangover severity, although we need to do more research on it, still seems promising and it's low risk to do. You can eat zinc rich foods. Right? Meat, shellfish, legumes, pumpkin seeds, oysters, nicotinic acid rich foods, meat, nicotinic acids, niacin, like meat, fish, poultry, avocados, mushrooms are full of, niacin. The next thing you wanna do is feed your gut bacteria.

Wanna load up in the early parts of your day with fermented foods like yogurt, pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi. Get your microbiome healthy. Eat a polyphenol rich diet for your microbiome and immune system like blueberries, apples, cherries, raspberries. Also include vitamin c rich foods, red antioxidant, red bell peppers, kiwi, citrus fruit. And don't eat all those inflammatory foods.

They really are bad for you in general, and they make the alcohol problem worse. So fried foods, refined carbohydrates, sugars, processed, ultra processed food, all that's gonna irritate your gut even more and won't slow down alcohol absorption. That's diet, lifestyle, hydration. Okay. What can you do to actually help you support detoxification and take the right supplements that have the right nutrients that are commonly depleted with alcohol consumption.

So what I like is an herb called milk thistle, before and after drinking, and a b complex vitamin. Milk thistle's an herb, which is great. It's, helps liver detoxification. B vitamins are depleted when you drink. Alcohol like thiamin, I mentioned that.

B 6, niacin or b 3, b 12, and folate. All these can cause headaches and fatigue. So if you preemptively supplement, you can actually reduce the effects of alcohol in your system. Zinc, magnesium. You can also take something called N Acetylcysteine or NAAC.

N Acetylcysteine helps your body make glutathione. And what is glutathione? Glutathione is our master detoxifier, our master antioxidant, and our master anti inflammatory compound. Now research shows that low dose snack can help with nausea and weakness and hangover symptoms in women, but more research is needed, but it's promising. There's even actually research on this, and we know it can have a lot of toxins.

For example, if you have liver failure from Tylenol overdose, the treatment is NAC. If you're getting IV, contrast dye for a kidney study, for example, it can cause kidney failure. You give NAC beforehand, it prevents the kidney damage from the dye. Also, stop drinking at least 3 hours before you go to bed, which minimizes alcohol's negative impact on your sleep. It gives your body enough time to detoxify.

The half life of alcohol sorry. The half life, which means how much time it takes for half of the alcohol to get out of your body, is between 4 to 5 hours. Now the the effects of alcohol can still affect your sleep up to 6 hours after you stop drinking. Okay. So once you've had a little too much drink, now you're really feeling the next day, here's what not to do.

Do not drink more alcohol. Don't have the eye opener in the morning. Right? The hair of the dog approach. It just delays and worsens the hangover.

Coffee, don't drink it. It dehydrates you more. Use Ibuprofen sparingly or Advil. It can kind of affect your GI tract and your kidneys. But here's what you should do to deal with your hangover symptoms.

1, hydrate, but not just any hydration. Drink clean water with electrolytes. Now it doesn't guarantee you'll get over a hangover faster, but it's gonna help restore hydration. Also, eat a balanced meal. Eggs and nutrient dense foods with protein and fat and fiber are really important.

Now eggs are also rich in something called L cysteine, which actually gets made into N Acetylcysteine, made in glutathione, which helps liver detoxify acetaldehyde. Also, high fiber carbohydrate foods like vegetables, nuts and seeds, beans, whole grains. They really help stabilize blood sugar levels. Also, there's sometimes herbs and vitamins and supplements that can help. So we'll talk about those.

So what are those? Ginger can be good for nausea. Chamomile tea helps anxiety, it's calming. Red ginseng, helps acetaldehyde metabolism, and b complex replenishes the depleted vitamins and helps energy. Now red ginseng will not cure a hangover, but it can help reduce its symptoms when it's taken soon after drinking by increasing acetaldehyde metabolism.

So you can get red ginseng and have it with your drink, basically. A randomized crossover study, that means they basically, you know, gave the same group of people different things at different times. So they took 25 guys, they gave them red ginseng, that reduced plasma alcohol and also expired alcohol as well as hangover severity consuming after consuming whiskey. Now this study concluded that red ginseng positively affects alcohol metabolism and alleviates hangover symptoms. Of course.

That's cool, but I think more research is needed on that. Cold shower, is gonna make you feel more alert or a cold plunge. That's good. Now cold shower might help you feel alert. It also increases some of your adrenaline hormones, and increasing adrenaline can make you more alert and speed up alcohol metabolism and even clearance of alcohol from the brain.

And from the what? Also, get some rest. Make sure you get sleep and that mitigates hangover symptoms. An observational study of 578 college students found that reduced total sleep time was associated with more severe hangovers. And students who slept more than 7 hours, consumed more alcohol and experienced longer hangovers, but their hangovers were less severe compared to those who slept less than 7 hours.

So overall, reduced total sleep time was associated with more severe hangovers. In the end, time is really the best medicine. Right? It's the best cure for hangover. Your body needs time to process and eliminate the alcohol and all those toxic byproducts.

So that's a lot. Okay? Alcohol, we know it's a toxin. There's no safe dose. If depleting vitamins and minerals, it affects your liver, affects your brain, affects your hormones, your microbiome, your immune system.

But, you know, occasional drink's okay. Just be careful and understand that there's things you can do to mitigate its harmful effects, like eating beforehand with lots of high fiber fat protein foods, drinking more slowly over time, having water and electrolytes after each drink, and having the right vitamins and minerals, including b complex zinc and magnesium, as well as also herbs like milk thistle, all that can help. So I hope you found today's episode enlightening and packed with useful, good information to help you better understand and manage hangovers. We covered a lot of ground from the science of how our alcohol impacts our bodies to those practical tips I mentioned on how to mitigate those horrible symptoms. But remember, the key to healing hangovers starts with prevention.

Don't drink too much. Hydrate. Proper nutrition goes a long way in making sure your next morning isn't a total write off. Now if you found these tips helpful, I encourage you to start incorporating them into your routine. And, of course, always listen to your body and make choices that support your overall well-being.

Our health is for sure a precious asset, and taking care of it means we can enjoy life celebrations without paying a hefty price the next day. Thanks again for joining me today on The Doctors' Pharmacy, and don't forget to rate, review, and follow The Doctors' Pharmacy wherever you get your podcast. Stay healthy. Stay informed, and I'll see you next Friday for another juicy episode of Health Bites. Thanks for listening today.

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