What Causes Hangovers?

After a long night of laughing, dancing and, of course, drinking, I proceeded to wake up this morning feeling, well, less than perfect. As I lay in my bed pondering what happened the night before, my thoughts shifted and inspired me to figure out just how my symptoms arose. So what are the causes of  a hangover?

Of course the main reason why you get a hangover is because of drinking alcohol. But what is inside the alcohol is what you need to watch out for.

 Alcohol contains toxins which can build up in your body when you drink too much, which can cause you to feel sick the next day. These toxins build up because your body cannot metabolize the alcohol fast enough. A chemical called acetaldehyde is found in alcohol and is one of the main culprits to the cause of a hangover. 

Other things, such as congeners are another cause of hangovers. These are impurities found in the alcohol that arise during the fermentation process. Studies also show that if you drink darker liquors you are more prone to get a hangover and worse. 

 Dehydration is another reason why people can get hangovers and when you drink, many vitamins and nutrients in your system are lost because of the alcohol. 

So what can you do to fix your post drinking bedroom blues? Watch how much you drink. Prevention is the best thing you can do. Drinking lighter liquors and drinking water in between alcoholic 

drinks is also a way of preventing a hangover because it will keep your body hydrated. Having food in your stomach before going out will also help you from getting really intoxicated and allows you to have more nutrients in your body before hitting the bottle. 

When you do get a hangover, don't keep drinking! "Hair of the dog" will not help and it will only prolong your symptoms. Also pumping up the vitamin B's the morning after will help your body reboot so eating fruit the morning you get a hangover will help. If you're truly in pain, taking Tylenol is not the best bet when hungover. Studies have shown that when mixed with the preexisting alcohol in your system, Tylenol can damage your liver. Sports drinks like Gatorade are good to drink because they contain the sugars your body has lost the night before and some say that exercise (even sex!) is best for a hangover because it gets the blood pumping and moves the toxins out of the body. All in all, as most people know, drinking too much will give you a hangover, but now you know how to fix it!