New Beginnings

Throughout the festive season, we’ll no doubt be painting the town a deep shade of red. The trick to being the life and soul of the party night after night is to avoid the horror hangover. Here, Rebecca and Sarah guide you through the pitfalls of booze.


R - I’ve got so many parties planned over Christmas and New Year I don’t know if I’m going to be able to fit in sobering up!

S - I know! I’m debating whether it’s possible to drink right through into January! Although my body doesn’t even seem to like two nights out in a row, I get immense hangovers.

R - You just have to get used to the ‘hair of the dog’. My worst thing is the cravings I get, greasy foods and lots of sugary drinks; the best cure has to be fried egg sandwiches though!

S - I always wake up regretting the kebab I had on my way home and then marvel at how I can possibly be hungry. Maybe my brain is playing a cruel trick on me, so that I'll end up with my head in the toilet! There is some sense in eating something fatty when hungover though. Not only will the calories give you an energy boost, but if you eat the right food, like a fry up (maybe bacon, sausage and egg) you could be onto a winner. Meat and eggs are rich in the amino acid cysteine, which helps your body eliminate toxins. It makes me wonder though, what damage I did to myself the night before?

R - Alcohol is generally bad for your body or more importantly your brain. It acts on nerve cells within the brain, interfering with communication by suppressing the activities of excitatory nerve pathways and increasing the activities of inhibitory pathways. This causes huge behaviour changes; did you know that there are six stages to the effects of alcohol?

S - Six stages? I thought there were just two? Tipsy and drunk!

R - Most people only get to stage three. The first stage is one of euphoria (blood alcohol content - BAC 0.03-0.12%), which I think is the nicest. A bit of a confidence booster, but with rosy cheeks! Next comes excitement (BAC 0.09-0.25%), this is when you become uncoordinated (helps us dance). Our final stage on a heavy night is bewilderment (BAC 0.18-0.3%), obvious behaviour here is confusion and a high state of emotion - hugging for girls and fighting for boys! Then there is stage four - a drunken stupor (BAC 0.25-0.4%) where you can’t stand or move. Stage five is a coma (BAC 0.35-0.50%) and stage six is death (BAC >0.5%)

S - Blimey! Surely you missed out the ‘I’ve taken leave of my senses’ stage, characterised by thoughts such as “now is a good time to call my ex and tell them I love them” (even if you never said it sober!). There are some positive benefits to alcohol though, some doctors recommend a nice glass of red wine don’t they. All those antioxidants it contains help destroy damaging free radicals in your body. But what really bothers me is the hangover - why do I feel so terrible the morning after the night before?

R - The alcohol you’ve consumed enters your bloodstream causing a brain gland (the pituitary) to block the creation of vasopressin (an antidiuretic hormone). Without this your kidneys sends water directly to your balder, instead of reabsorbing it into your body; that’s why you need the toilet ten times an hour. In the morning you have a dehydrated body, dry mouth and an extremely painful head.

S - I understand the dry mouth, but why the headache?

R - Headaches result from dehydration because your organs try to make up for their own water loss by stealing water from the brain, causing the brain to decrease in size and pull on the membranes that connect the brain to the skull, resulting in pain.

S - You know what? I think we’ll be ok. If you can remember all that random stuff about the effects of alcohol, your brain cells must be doing just fine. I’ll just remember to pick up some paracetamol. What can I get you, gin and tonic?

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