When you drink too much alcohol, your liver — which is responsible for detoxifying your body — is overwhelmed by dealing with the breakdown product, called acetaldehyde, and that’s what creates the horrible feeling. The other main reason is dehydration, because alcohol robs your body of water. In addition to time-honoured ploys such as eating before you drink and avoiding salty snacks which make you thirstier, try these morning-after ideas:
- Face up to food
Try toast and jam (the sugar helps your body burn alcohol faster), or drink clear vegetable soup to replace the salt and potassium your body has lost.
- Bark back
A headache is part of the territory that goes with a hangover, and willow bark (Salix alba) tablets are a natural alternative worth trying. It contains a form of salicylate, the same active ingredient you find in aspirin.
- Take zinc and B-vitamins
Zinc helps your body to make alcohol dehydrogenase, an enzyme you need to metabolise alcohol; plus, drinking too much booze drains your body of the valuable B-group vitamins.
- Get herbal help
Herbal bitters are a traditional remedy for that green, liverish feeling; mix a teaspoonful in a glass of water and sip slowly. Chamomile and peppermint teas are soothing. And — before you go out and do it again — take milk thistle (Silybum marianum) tablets to protect your liver from the onslaught.
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