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• What Exactly is a Hangover
  Alcohol consumption causes chemical reactions within the body including the way the liver has to work to break down the ethanol contained in the alcohol. The reaction in the cells of the liver when it is trying to breakdown the ethanol impairs the liver's ability to supply glucose to the tissues within the body such as the brain tissue. Glucose in the brain is how the brain gets energy. When the brain does not receive the glucose, we experience fatigue, weakness, moodiness and sometimes it can affect our ability to concentrate. Congeners are the chemical by-products of the process of alcohol fermentation. These congeners can exaggerate (make worse) the symptoms of a hangover. Dark alcoholic drinks contain more congeners, which is why those who drink dark alcoholic beverages have more intense hangovers than those who drink clear colored alcoholic beverages.
  
  
  • Avoiding the Dreaded Hangover
    Alcoholic drinks that are darker in color contain more congeners and will give you bigger headaches. Lighter colored alcoholic drinks like white wine and vodka will give you fewer headaches. Just remember that dark is bad and light is good. Stay away from the cheap stuff as it can give you more headaches. Stick with light colored, quality alcoholic beverages to reduce your hangover symptoms.
    
    
  • Determining Just How Hungover You Really are
    Knowing what your stage of being hungover is, can perhaps give you some direction on how much or how little you can or should drink next time, if there is a next time. If you keep track of how many drinks it takes to reach each stage, perhaps you can use the rating scale to determine exactly how many drinks you should consume depending on what it is that you have to do the next day and what state of mind and body you need to be in to perform the duties expected of you the next day.
    
    
  • Help for the Hangover Sufferer
    It is a good idea to take two Ibuprofen before starting to drink. Take them with a large glass of water. It is important to protect your stomach by taking Pepto Bismo or Mylanta with the Ibuprofen. The following pain relievers are hard on your kidneys and could cause irreversible liver damage (Excedrin, Panadol, and Tylenol). It is important to monitor your symptoms and to seek medical attention if you experience tremors, blood in your vomit or symptoms linger for more than a few days or signs of dehydration worsen.
    
    
  • Popular Hangover Cures
    Hangovers are common, especially among the college crowd. It seems that there is always someone coming up with a new hangover cure. There are a few popular hangover cures though, that has been around for some time now and are worth repeating here.
    
    
  • The Hangover Step-by-Step Cure
    Just as alcohol makes different people act differently. Individuals with different weights, heights and ages will respond in very different ways to the same alcoholic beverage and same number of drinks. One person's limit may not be another person's. Males can drink two drinks and be fine, a woman weighting 120 pounds may only be able to handle one drink of the same type. Just as alcohol can be different in how it affects people, these hangover steps may yield different results with different individuals. Experiment and discover what works best for you. Remember, you always have the option to limit your intake, or even to say no to alcohol altogether.
    
    
  • The Ounce of Prevention
    Clear alcohol is best as dark alcohol tends to contain substance called cogeners. These darker drinks will cause more hangover symptoms. Clear alcohols are: white wine, light rum and vodka. Dark alcoholic drinks are: red wine, dark rum, sherry, and brandy. Beer is somewhere in-between a clear alcoholic drink and a dark one on a hangover misery scale. Judge beer by how dark it is, the lighter in color the better. The clear and dark comparison does not work regarding how drunk or how quickly you can become drunk, it only determines the likelihood and the severity of your hangover.
    
    
  • The Definition of a Hangover
    Hangovers can ruin relations between married couples and can also cause many sexual disasters when those suffering from hangovers discover themselves waking up next to complete strangers. Because individuals feel so badly during hangovers they often say and do things out of character. Hangovers are difficult to endure and actually are physical manifestations of the body's need to heal and recuperate from an event that has caused great harm.
    
    
  • What NOT to do as Part of Your Hangover Cure
    Do not overdo it with the sweet blended type of alcoholic beverages. Sugar and alcohol is a very bad mixture. Sugary, trendy drinks that are floating colored blends of syrups and liquors all have the same result when you have too many of them...they end up going back up the way they came down.... yuck! Your list won't look exactly like mine because I may not be the same sex as you, or the same height or weight. One really good way to avoid hangovers is to know what is on your "what not to do list" that will help you to have fun if you choose to drink without regretting all that fun the next morning.
    
    
  • In Between the Drinking and Sleeping
    The water will also flush the alcohol from your body. Other good drinks are: apple juice, Hawaiian Punch, and Gatorade. Stay away from milk as it can be difficult to digest if your stomach tends to get quesy from too much alcohol. If you do become nauseated upon return home, then take a few small sips of plain room temperature water. Also, if your stomach is upset, you will want to avoid drinks that contain acid, like orange juice and carbonated drinks.