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Revelers clink beer glasses and enjoy themselves during an all day party at historic McSorley's Old Ale House March 17, 2004, in New York.
Sometime tomorrow, around the time your alarm clock rings, you will hate yourself for trying to keep up with your college self this St. Patrick's Day. You used to be able to bounce right back from hangovers; now, if you have more than two pints of Guinness tonight you know you'll feel it in the morning. What happened?
It's not your imagination. Our bodies really do start to lose the capability to process booze as we get older, an alcohol expert explains.
"The critical enzymes for breaking down booze are somewhat diminished in efficiency as we age," says Jim Schaefer, an alcohol metabolism expert and an anthropology professor at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. The enzymes your body depends on to break down booze are alcohol dehydrogenase, or ALDH, and aldehyde dehydrogenase, or ADH. Excuse the alphabet soup, but ALDH breaks down ethanol (booze) into acetaldehyde, and then ADH breaks down the acetaldehyde into a non-toxic substance called acetic acid. "It has been suggested that acetaldehyde is one of the key toxic chemicals that influences the severity of a hangover," Schaefer says. "So any deterioration in ADH levels would contribute to worse hangovers."
Whiskey sales boom lifts Irish spirits
Another reason not to chase your college years tonight: Cheaper booze also tends to intensify hangovers. Inexpensive beer, wine and liquor are more likely to have higher congener content -- congeners are the "chemical soup" that results from the fermentation or distillation process, Schaefer explains. "The more expensive liquors are often filtered and triple or more distilled -- thus, cleaner alcohol, less junk," he says.
"As we age, we may be unable to avoid chemical changes that could be wrecking the efficiency of our liver, and we should avoid lousy intoxicants, as they are guaranteed to cause digestive or metabolic discomfort," Schaefer adds.
Let's review: If you are past your college drinkin' days, don't throw back a bunch of green-tinted Miller High Lifes. If you must imbibe tonight, stick to the fancy stuff, and your pounding headache Friday morning will be at least a little less pound-y.
Do you feel your hangovers have gotten worse as you've aged? At what age did you notice it? Or, do you generally avoid drinking enough booze to cause a hangover?
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Leave a Comment:
The solution is simple enough. As we grow older, most of us acquire experience and wisdom, no...?
the solution is simpler....you can still have fun, just drink water before you go to bed
lots and lots of water
A recent article suggested the best scientific cure for a hangover is coffee, before going to bed or a few hours after you've calmed down from drinking. The caffeine does something to increase the metabolism of acetaldehyde. It has worked wonders for me, and who shouldn't enjoy themselves with friends and a couple of drinks when they can? I'm too busy on weekends to see everyone, so I love being able to head to a bar on a weeknight and feel fine the next morning.
I may be biased though. I am young.
take vitamin b and c, with a big glass of water, before you go to bed. alcohol strips vitamin b from your body, and vitamin c always helps.
Not to add to the "I have the miracle cure" posts, but chemically, here you go...
Drink a glass of milk before drinking. It coats your stomach.
Drink Gatorade between each new can/bottle/shot. It replenishes lost electrolytes.
Eat a banana right before bed. It counters the diuretic effect of alcohol and helps prevent dehydration and several trips to the bathroom overnight.
Eat a few eggs in the morning. The cysteine counters hangover symptoms.
If you can handle all that, you'll feel great.
If I did all that I'd puke...LOL
The perfect cure: take an ice cold shower in the morning. Figured that one out on spring break years ago. We would party all night and hit the beach the next morning, but the water was still very cold. All that adrenaline from the cold water knocks it out. It sucks while youre doing it, but you get out very refreshed and hang over free.
I agree with MmmMmmBeer. Drink as much water as you can before going to bed - for me, it nips the hangover in the bud and I wake up feeling just fine. Its worth having to get up in the night to "go".
I agree with Christine. Over the years I have learned what to drink, when, with who, how much, how often and for how long. A healthy life style, good food and exerscise also helps. Not much more to say.
My hangovers have haunted me for over 40 years...never had much tolerance for alcohol..a couple of drinks or 6 I will still have the next day blues....once in awhile I get no hangover after a nite on the town...that is a rare blessing but keeps me trying to repeat the good morning after...I try to limit myself to two drinks but sometimes I slip into the Ray Malland character in " The Lost Weekend. "
Yep, green tea works well too, i get the gallon jug of arizona. Lots of water the day before and some food the next morning and i am right as rain.
Still taking Friday off though, hangover may not be a worry at 35, but sleep still is.
Fast food and Gatorade works for me!
A big, sloppy "Big N Tasty" from Burger King for brunch, followed by delivery Chinese food for dinner(hot and spicy soup, egg rolls, and Orange Beef) and a huge bowl of ice cream around 10 at night.
I'm 32, but I exercise enough to where I can get away with that, for the most part...but this is a once or twice a month occurrence, unlike college which was party central From Wednesday night until Sunday morning.
Learned about this in my home brewing guide. Vitamin C never hurts, but Vitamin B helps a lot. One of those "vitamin overdose" packs before you crash also helps quite a bit in keeping the hangover away.
I've decided that one of the issues is tolerance. Usually slow and steady wins the race but not in the drinking games. When one is young, pounding the booze as quickly as possible till the money runs out works. When one is older, one has the finances to start earlier in the evening and go longer. More booze equals more ill effects.
The only problem drinker is the one that never buys.
drink the high life tonight..........feel like a low life tommorow.
I also agree with the "drink a lot of water" comments. If that still doesn't work, a nice greasy breakfast with eggs and bacon and/or sausage will fix it up pretty quickly.
A toke on good hash will make you forget that the earth rotates around MARS (sic) and you will have no memory of how you got to where you are - when you do wake up. Moreover, you will not care!
The hangovers do NOT get worse, but your poor old aging decrepit mind THINKS they do.
It's simple, try to eat before you sleep if you can if not pop up aspirin before you sleep and drink a lot of energy drinks the following day to replenish lost electrolytes
@ France
I used to pop aspirin before bed but my doctor told me it really destroys your kidneys something fierce, especially since you're not flushing your system with water since you are sleeping, the compounds just gestate in your kidneys
if you live in canada, a gravol before bed and 2 extra strength ibuprofen works like a charm. just know you'll be brain dead the next day, so don't do if you have to work. and tylenol is not the way...its bad for the liver which is working overtime!
I have not noticed my hangovers get worse over the past 35 years........cuz I never did drink, smoke or do drugs........ahahhahhhaaahahhhaaa!
I'm 50 now and drinking to excess hurts a lot more now than it used to. I had chalked it up to the fact I do not drink as often as I did in my 20s. I really started noticing it in my 40s.
So, can those alphabet soup enzymes be synthesized and sold OTC in ingest-able form? If not. how about a patch or nasal spray?
That is brilliant. Why hasn't anyone done that? I would buy it.
yeeaah, just what we need is more pills to throw our bodies out of whack...
I never had a hangover until I turned 21. Aint life grand?
Same here, and they've steadily gotten worse since. Some days I can actually 'see' my pulse in my vision, when I've really had my finest hour the night before.
welcome to the real world. now sit down and drink your beer.
When I was in my clubbing days (18-25) I could kill a 18 pack, a pint of vodka, and a few 40s b4 I fell asleep. And still get up at 8 shower and go work a full 8 hour day then start right up that evening. Im 28 now and really slowed down on the party scean (got faded on wine one night, ouch). Now I can handle one night of binging but spend the next day in discomfort. I will say I can still go 3 days in a row, but leave me alone the entire next week. I drink water and eat b4 I go to bed now, and cold Monster ready in the AM, nvr on a work night tho. They talk about tolerance, back then beer hurt more than liqure, now it reversed.
Never had a hangover til I was in my 30s. One was enough, I never drink enough to be hung over now.
In my mind I'm still 21, but in reality I'm 43! I work long hours, live in a man camp, in a country where alcohol is illegal. Of course when I take holiday every 10 to 12 weeks, it doesn't take long before the party begins. I'm pretty good about stopping myself before I become legless, but holy cow the hangovers last for days! I need a cure for this? anyone?
Of course, the most common approach to not getting a hangover, is to simply not drink. But for those that do, the most effective way to prevent, or at least reduce the threat, is to drink an equal amount of water..... so as to dilute the alcohol in the blood stream. Wish I had known that when I was younger !!!!!!! LOL!!
I don't think hangovers have become worse for me. The reality is that, in college, I had nothing better to do on a Saturday morning than sleep in to recover. However, now, I have multiple things I would rather do (or have to do) and, therefore, can't afford to hibernate in a dark room all day.
I agree.... I had hangovers in college, I was just able to sleep and lazy them off. Now I have to get up, go to meetings, go to the gym, run errands, etc.... you feel it more when you have thing to do that require that your brain and body are sharp.
Just remember... No brain, no headache!
A hangover is natures way of telling you, you should have smoked pot.
Agreed ^_^ and if you use a vaporizor, you eliminate most of the bad stuff! Let's get pot legal in the U.S.A. in the next 10 years, and tax it. Anyone arguing it's worse than alcohol in any way is a brainwashed moron, being led around like a sheep.
Indeed!!
everyone with netflix go watch "The Union"
except... alcohol makes you want to socialize, dance, and flirt. That's why it's so popular. Pot makes you want to eat and watch a movie at home. Fine for a Tuesday but that makes for one hell of a boring weekend.
Do vaporizers prevent the burning, hacking coughing???? That is the downside for me.
The reason people get hangovers is because they dont drink enough. If your going to go out on St Patricks Day and hang one on you have to go out a couple times before that. You have to keep a little booze in your system so it isnt such a shock when you do tip them back. Drinking upscale booze does help also. Elementary my dear Watson.
Just keep drinking.
At 41, I *definitely* notice this effect. Wine in particular really hurts the next day. I'm glad to read that this 'aging effect' isnt in my mind.
Im young and wine still hurts very much badly in the mornings >.< ugh
DRINK - VOMIT - SLEEP :)
Yes, hangovers, though they don't happen often, are worse. What I notice is the fog that stays with me throughout the entire next day. I just can't think straight. The other thing I've noticed in about the last 4 years (I'm 43), is sometimes when I drink (seems to happen more with beer or wine) is I wake up in the middle of the night with my heart POUNDING, like it's going to burst out of my chest. It's a horrible feeling. I don't even have to drink much at all- it can be one glass of wine or one beer. And it doesn't always happen. It's the strangest thing ever and really bums me out...
The SAME thing happens to me!!! Heart pounds away like crazy. I take 1/2 a Benadryl before bed and sleep right through it now. Dont have to do often as I dont drink like I used to.
Same thing happens to me, but it happened once during the middle of the day after a few nights of staying up late and drinking. Really freaked me out, thought I was having a heart attack. Embarrassing and scary at the same time. Freaks me out when I drink too much now thinking it might happen again.
Hi CJ,
I'm a physician near 50 and I've tried to scientifically figure out what you describe (as it is a terrible feeling!). The heart pounding is from the acetaldehyde, a temporary breakdown product in the metabolism of alcohol. Acetaldehyde is a poison, a known carcinogen. The liver is supposed to break it down quickly. It can cause esophageal or other cancers over time. Knowing what I now know about the whole process scares me so much that I rarely drink more than a glass of wine these days!
Check your blood pressure. I used to get that after a couple of beers too. Once I got that under control it's not nearly as bad. It might even be mild withdrawl.
Wow - interesting! That happens to me, too, and I am always a little freaked out by it. Glad to hear I'm not the only one!
And yeah, I definitely limit when and how much I drink now vs. what I used to. If it's a weeknight, that means only a glass, maybe two if it's early. Anything more has to wait til the weekend, when I have a whole day to recover if I need it!
And don't even get me started on the weight gain drinking causes later in life - that really sucks!
Somewhere in my late 20's/early 30's hangovers started getting more acute, for some reason Corona beer gives me the worst headaches, maybe its the crappy water from south of the border?
I don't drink Corona because of the horrible hangovers plus it taste like skunk.
Way worse now than even just 5 years ago. I feel so bad the next day, I rarely drink at all now. I feel like I got hit by a truck even with just a few beers, and I drink the good import dark beers that are expensive. My body is telling me "turn out the lights, the party's over!" My liver sent me a thank you card and gift basket.
Aaaaaand the hangovers hurt more than they used to... and cornbread and iced tea took the place of pills and 90 proof
And thus the reason I never allow myself to get sober
I think its due to the ingredients changing over the past few years. It would be interesting to know what sort of genetically modified bits there are in today's beer along with concentrates.
An Alka-Seltzer before you to bed and one when you wake up is my trick. Doesn't work much anymore though....
How about listing the ingredients on the bottle like all other food!!
It's on the bottle you drunk! Though the older we get the more difficult it is to read the small print. Get the cheaters out and have a beer.
I had read that if you drink, eat a bunch of slices of cucumber before going to bed you won't have a hangover. I tried it and it works. There is always cucumber in my frig and liquor in my cabinet! haha
Yes; also if you steep cucumber slices in a pitcher of water and use that as a mixer you can really get away with it!
Now I know the facts........as the economy tanked I went back to "college wine" screw on caps and the hang overs got worst. I will be glad when the economy improves and I am able to go back to the more refined stuff.
Without going into a treatise on organic chemistry, acetaldehyde is basically embalming fluid. The chemical difference between formaldehyde and acetaldehyde is one carbon atom. Antabuse works on this principle. It stops the metabolism of alcohol at acetaldehyde and as such you are basically embaliming yourself. Dehydration also plays a role in a hangover. Alcohol inhibits production of Antidiuretic hormone which is partly why you pee a lot when you drink. As such your electrolytes become depleted which is one reason your muscles feel achy. Being in the medical field, when I would over serve myself, I found drinking a liter of Lactated Ringer's prevented a hangover nicely. Not getting @!$%# faced prevents a hangover even better
Embalming fluid........... huh ....... No wonder at 48 I look so young. I always just thought i was pickeled! LOL
Its Obama's fault....
Lots of great wines have screw of tops now....do some research...has nothing to do with "college wine"
Yeah, everything is his fault. FYI "great" wines do not have screw on caps now because of Obama. Crap wine/ bottom of the barrel/ and basic table wines do. Its called truth in packaging. It protects consumers by not allowing companies to decieve them into thinking they are actually drinking Burgandy for $2.50. You are still free to buy those sub par wines, and believe me they havnt got any worse with screw on caps. But youre right, hangovers are Obama's fault.
if theres a dairy queen on one corner and a liquior store on the other corner ill go for the ice cream everytime now
A hangover is nature's way of bitchslapping you for your complete and utter stupidity. That's the simple bottom line.
it's also nature's way of saying you did a lot of living last night.
hangovers be damned- party on!
As my husband says 'Cheap white wine will do it every time.' and it does it every time to me, i know that. If I stick to the good stuff, i am much better off. I have also learned to never mix the grain and the grape, and to avoid gin at all costs. I really resent all the time I have to waste getting over a stupid hangover, so try to drink loads of water before going to bed and having something in my stomach before drinking. But I still love a good wine , a tasty beer or a sharp and salty marguerita sitting in the sun. I'll be dead a long time, I know that!
i have learned to avoid vodka at all costs. ugh. dumb russian alchohol.