How Does Drinking Alcohol Cause a Hangover?
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How Does Drinking Cause a Hangover?
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If you're one of the millions of people who regularly drink alcohol, chances are you've had a hangover at one point in your life. The term is used to describe the unpleasant symptoms that occur after an overconsumption of alcoholic beverages. Typically, these symptoms include dehydration, fatigue, headache, vomiting, diarrhea and nausea; however, different individuals may experience different symptoms. Some fortunate individuals may even avoid hangovers altogether. So what is it about drinking alcohol that causes a hangover? The biggest factor is dehydration.
How Can Drinking Cause Dehydration?
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You're probably wondering how, if you are drinking, your body can become dehydrated--alcohol is a liquid after all. Yet despite its liquid form, the main ingredient in alcohol is ethanol, a colorless and highly-flammable liquid produced by the fermentation of yeast. Ethanol not only is a depressant psychoactive drug but also a diuretic, which means it makes your body produce more urine. This, in turn, removes water from your body, which leads to dehydration. Dehydration then causes headaches and fatigue, two of the classic hangover symptoms. While drinking water may seem an obvious remedy, if you're in the midst of an excruciating hangover, you may be unable to digest any form of food or liquid--even water. Why is this? In addition to dehydration, ethanol can irritate the stomach lining, which leads to nausea and vomiting. And vomiting only leads to further dehydration, which exacerbates the symptoms.
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Other Contributing Factors
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Additionally, because ethanol is a depressant, your body's reaction to it isn't pretty. To fight off the depressing effects of the beverage, your body tries to stimulate your brain by releasing numerous chemicals. Unfortunately, despite your body's good intentions, these chemicals cause nausea, tremors and sensitivity to light and sounds. And that's not all. Because your liver, which is the body's filter, can only metabolize a certain amount of alcohol in a certain amount of time, the amount of ethanol you ingest affects the time your liver needs to filter it. Typically, the severity of your symptoms depends upon the amount of ethanol present in your body. So what can you do to prevent all this? Well, the best way to prevent a hangover is to avoid drinking. If this is not an appealing option, you should try to limit the amount you drink and drink a glass of water between each alcoholic beverage. Be warned, though, that even if you do follow these guidelines, a hangover may still be likely.
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- Photo Credit Darren Hester
