Sunday morning, you wake up in the late morning/early afternoon, your mouth is dry, your head hurts and you’re full of anxiety, you’re hungover. You drank too much last night and told everyone too many details about your life. What should you do?
Hangovers are something most people experience, a collection of physical and mental symptoms such as headahces, nausea, dehydration, fatigue and dizziness. After a heavy night of drinking your electrolytes are depleted and you are dehydrated. Whilst there are plenty of products you can take to try alleviate these symptoms I have something even better, some activities.
Firstly, hangovers have been around since we began boozing, as have been attempts at curing them. In Ancient Greece they thought cabbages could help prevent intoxication and that wreaths of ivys or flowers could stop headaches, the 1878 Paris World Exposition popularised the Prarie Oyster (raw egg Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco) as a remedy. All of these attempted cures may alleviate some symptoms or help some people but really everyone has their own solutions and most likely you’ve just got to wait it out.
So what do most people do? They rot. I actually think there is beauty to this, waking up late and binge watching Greys Anatomy or Bones, getting up to drink water or a sugary drink and then only leaving the house to get you takeaway, I love it. In this hyper-capitalist grind culture, we rarely allow ourselves time to do nothing; often, I feel a bit rubbish if I haven’t been productive. Allowing the rot and the laziness to help run your hangovers course just means you can take a day for yourself and recalibrate. You may feel as though you’ve wasted a day at the time but you will be fresh come Monday.
However, sometimes you’ve had a lazy week already and you don’t feel like rotting. Well getting up and exercising, as hard as it seems, sometimes cures that headache and groggy feeling. Sweating out the booze (despite being dehydrated) and loading up with electrolytes for the gym or a run is bound to actually help. Feeling like you’ve done something and worked off all that drinking will also help you feel like you haven’t wasted a day. It also means you can earn your takeaway later, because really you should still have one.
Another good thing to do with a hangover is just get up and do something. If you’ve had friends over, go for a mooch around, go to some shops, get some food and a coffee. This helps you feel like you haven’t wasted a day but also isn’t quite as intense as exercising, there’s a lower chance of throwing up too. I usually like to do this in summer when there is more to do but a nice wintery walk, feeling that cold air in your face, also works. This again means a day isn’t lost to drinking and can make for a nice weekend with your drinking partners. Be careful though, this can get quite expensive if you are like me and always hungry and after sugary drinks when hungover.
The final suggestion I have is one I rarely do, a secret weapon, drinking again. The hair of the dog always cures a hangover, but if getting drunk is your goal you might struggle. For centuries this has been the strategy. You can’t be hungover if you don’t stop drinking! I have only done this a few times and whilst feeling wrong for the first few sips, soon it all comes back to you. It is a good way also to distract from a hangover but rarely use this one, unless you want people to think you have a problem.
Overall, the worlds your oyster when you’re hungover, you can rot, exercise, go out or drink again. You can’t really do much to fully cure your hangover but it is good to make the most of it. Everything I’ve written about will help with your hangover and you can then feel rejuvenated, ready for the next week and satisfied that you’ve lived up your weekend.
by n8n.
