Get Ready For The Morning After

Okay, part two of Liquid Friday is the obligatory hang-over cure roundup. Here are some oft-used tricks from our New Year’s Day bag, as well as a few we pulled off the Web. Feel free to add your own.

1. Water the night before: An ounce of prevention and all that. Drinking a bunch of water after you get home and before you go to bed (and anywhere else you can during the night) will drastically reduce the sting of that fourth champagne toast. Here’s a suggestion from a reader of www.hungover.net, but it only works if you’re drinking bottles of beer that you open yourself, which is totally (un)likely:

Bill from Bondi, Australia says, “When I’m out on the squirt I take the top from every beer I drink and put it in my pocket. When I get home i count the caps and that’s how many glasses of water I gotta get through. Works even better when you’re seeing double.”

2. Eggs and potatoes: Greasy, heavy food, especially eggs and carbohydrates, will sop up a lot of that nasty acid and stuff that’s making your stomach die. Also, you get to eat them with friends at a diner, swapping stories of who was standing next to whom at midnight, who danced on what surface, and where that lampshade finally ended up, which should help get your mind off it. The website www.curemyhangover.com has this to say about eggs:

Eggs - Egg yolks contain large amounts of cysteine, which breaks down acetaldehyde, one of the culprits behind a hangover. Eggs are also a good choice if you don’t feel like eating much due to the high amount of energy they provide. It’s also believed that the high nutrient and fat content delays hunger.

3. Fluids and exercise: No, really, a bit of a workout will help. We’re not just trying to be cruel. You basically sweat out the nasties. Don’t kill yourself training for a marathon or anything, but a little moving around, breaking a sweat will do you good and make you drink more water. You should drink Gatorade, too. From www.health911.com:

Exercise will help get rid of your hangover by helping the body rid itself of toxins. The increased circulation gets blood and oxygen to your oxygen-starved brain. Exercise will help get rid of your hangover by helping the body rid itself of toxins. The increased circulation gets blood and oxygen to your oxygen-starved brain.

4. Take your vitamins: Overdoing it at the bar will sap your body of important vitamins, especially B vitamins. It helps to take a few in the morning to start replenishing your stores. There’s a whole section on www.hungover.net about which vitamins help with what aspects of the New Year’s flu.

5. Hate to say it, but, take it easy there, sport. One surefire way to cut down on that hangover is to avoid drinking too much in the first place. Try drinking a glass of water every other round. This will keep you hydrated and only half as pickled. Also, try setting your limit on drinks beforehand. Even if you don’t exactly stick to it, the guilt of breaking your limit may keep you moderately in check.

Whatever you decide to do this New Year’s, and whatever you must undertake to undo it, here’s wishing you a fun evening, a midnight kiss and stories to last you well into 2008.

Happy New Year!

Get Ready For The Morning After