At The Morrison Center we encourage ourselves and our patients to live a balanced lifestyle, and a truly balanced life allows for times of celebration and indulgence. We’d like to share our favorite tips for prevention and recovery from hangovers.
The basics:
- If you’re going to drink, do so in moderation
- Drink plenty of water before, during and after drinking
- Eat nutritious food before (and even while) you drink
To really hack your hangover, here are our surprising tips to get you back on your feet the next day:
1. Pre-game.
- A cup of green tea has been shown to be liver-protective specifically before a night of drinking.
- Taking a high dose vitamin C about an hour before drinking can help improve alcohol tolerance. Vitamin C is one of our most important antioxidants for combating alcohol’s toxic effects.
For maximum hangover fighting power, we recommend:
Buffered vitamin C, 4 capsules with food
2. Choose your poison wisely.
- Keep it clear: vodka, tequila blanco, and gin with club soda and a squeeze of lemon or lime. Here’s why:
There are substances called “congeners” in alcohol – a byproduct of the fermentation process. Congeners act as toxins in the brain and, therefore, the body wants to eliminate them. The more alcohol is distilled, that is, the clearer the alcohol, the better you’ll feel the next day.
- Steer clear of wine and beer. They’re the hardest for the body to detoxify, they’re high in sugar and contain other inflammatory elements like wheat, sulphites and histamine, all of which can amplify their toxic effects and your hangover.
3. Before bed…
- Charcoal is a powerful binder – it grabs onto the toxic metabolites of alcohol to help your body eliminate them. Not that we would know…but we hear it works great.
We recommend Activated Charcoal, 2 capsules before bed
- Cysteine and N-Acetyl Cysteine are a building blocks of glutathione, our body’s most prominent antioxidant and a big player in alcohol detoxification (it’s also depleted by alcohol!). N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) has been shown to help restore depleted glutathione levels, helping the liver to detoxify alcohol and help keep your hangover at bay.
We recommend N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), 2 capsules before bed
- Liver-Supporting herbs, like arjuna and yarrow, to improve detoxification.
We love LiverCare, 2 capsules before bed
4. The morning after…
- Settle your stomach.
After a night of drinking, you often feel nauseous and sick because your stomach is may not be moving food in the right direction. Boiron Nux Vomica, a homeopathic remedy, helps to re-establish normal digestive function, and there are no side effects—just take five pellets of Nux Vomica 9C – 15C under the tongue every hour until you feel better.
Ginger tea also has stomach-calming effects.
- Rehydrate and replenish your minerals.
Alcohol has a diuretic effect. Excess urine carries with it important minerals, leaving you dehydrated and depleted the next morning. That (plus a drop in blood sugar) is why you might feel shaky, anxious, weak or have a rapid heartbeat when you wake up after a night of drinking. Replenish with these mineral-rich drinks:
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- Stop at the corner store and pick up some coconut water.
- Pop by your closest organic juice bar for some fresh green juice with lemon.
- Sip some healing bone broth. Here are some spots that deliver in NYC: Brodo in the East Village and IndieFresh.com. Or make your own and store it in the freezer – recipe coming soon to the blog.
- Try EXOS lemon lime powder in water for a quick and yummy refuel of electrolytes.
- If you’re feeling a bit puff, we love ReHydration, a liquid homeopathic blend that helps our cells absorb H2O.
- IV infusion of vitamin C and electrolytes helps reset the body quickly. Call our office to learn more.
Of course, drinking in moderation is always a wise choice. But for those times when the party never ends, when your best buddy keeps refilling your glass, when you’re having too much fun to call it a night…we hope these tips will have you on the mend in no time.
Sincerely,
The Morrison Center