Tips on sensible drinking
- Drink water or soft drinks between alcoholic drinks to dilute the alcohol.
- Pace yourself. Slow down and take small sips not big gulps.
- Eat something before or during drinking. Food makes the body absorb alcohol more slowly.
- Change your drink. Make spirits into long drinks by topping up with more mixer, add soda water to white wine, or choose shandy rather than beer.
- Watch out for larger measures at home or at a party compared with standard pub measures.
- Know how to refuse a drink. You don't have to take one just because it's offered or take part in rounds you don't want. And don't pressurise others into drinking.
- Darker drinks like red wine, brandy and whisky give worse hangovers because of higher concentrations of chemicals called congeners.
- Avoid top-ups so you can keep track of how much you are drinking.
- Learn the strengths of your drinks so you can stick to your own limits, bearing in mind the safe limits are 2-3 units per day for women and 3-4 units per day for men (but not every day).
- Plan how you're going to get home before your night out. Take a cab or ask a non-drinking driver to collect you.
The morning after
If you wake up the next morning feeling terrible, you probably didn’t follow this advice. Although there are no real cures for hangovers, there are ways to ease the symptoms.
Treatment involves rehydrating the body so it can deal with the painful symptoms (though the best time to rehydrate is before going to sleep).
Over-the-counter painkillers can help with headaches and muscle cramps. Paracetamol-based remedies are usually preferable as aspirin may further irritate the stomach and increase nausea and sickness.
Sugary foods may help you feel less trembly. In some cases, an antacid may be needed to settle your stomach first.
Bouillon soup, a thin vegetable-based broth, is a good source of vitamins and minerals, which can top up depleted resources. Its main advantage is that it’s easy for a fragile stomach to digest.
You can replace lost fluids by drinking bland liquids that are easy on the digestive system, such as water, soda water and isotonic drinks (available in most shops).
‘Hair of the dog’ (drinking more alcohol) does not help. Drinking in the morning is a risky habit, and you may simply be delaying the appearance of symptoms until the alcohol wears off again.
If you’ve had a heavy drinking session, hangover or not, doctors advise that you wait 48 hours before drinking any more alcohol, in order to give your body tissues time to recover.
Alcohol – the myths
Myth: “Coffee will sober me up”
Caffeine in coffee is a stimulant so you might feel more alert, but it won’t make you sober.
Myth: “I’ll be fine in the morning”
Alcohol is broken down by the liver. A healthy liver can get rid of about one unit of alcohol an hour. Sleep will not speed up the rate at which the liver works. Just because you have a night’s sleep does not necessarily mean you will be sober in the morning. It depends on how much you drank the night before.
Myth: “Alcohol keeps me alert”
Alcohol can make you think that you are more alert, but it actually has a depressant effect which slows down your reflexes.
Myth: “Beer will make me less drunk than spirits”
Half a pint of beer contains the same amount of alcohol as a single measure of spirits.
Myth: “I’ll be fine if I drink plenty of water before I go to bed”
This can reduce hangover symptoms by helping to prevent dehydration. But it won’t make you any less drunk, or protect your liver or other organs from the damaging effects of alcohol.
Myth: “The recommended safe limits are too low”
They are based on good research which has identified the level above which problems start to arise. For example, if a man drinks five units each day (not greatly over the recommended limit) then, on average, he doubles his risk of developing liver disease, raised blood pressure, some cancers, and of having a violent death.
Myth: “Most people drink more than the recommended limits”
Studies show that about 1 in 3 men and about 1 in 7 women drink more than the weekly recommended levels. So, if you drink heavily, it might be what your friends do, but it is not what most people do, and you are putting yourself and others at risk.
Myth: “It’s none of my business if a friend is drinking too much”
This is a matter of opinion. Some people would say that if you are a real friend, it really is your business. You may be the one person who can persuade your friend to accept that they have a problem, and to seek help if necessary.