bouncing back from a night out, 101
Whether it’s stumbling through a friday morning presentation after a thursday night out, sweating what smells like Jager at SoulCycle, or holding back vomit at a family reunion - we’ve all had our hangover horror stories. The internet is ridden with simple hangover fixes, and being the nerd and former frat guy that I am I have tried and researched most of them.
Much of a hangover can just be anxiety about being hungover when you have something important to do. Understanding that you have influence over your hangover anxiety can be enough to get over many hangovers. That, however, can change depending on the severity. So let’s categorize hangovers in to 3 tiers with remedies that work for me for each.
Tier 1: Drinks with dinner
what I would feel like after 2-4 drinks
Light headache, fatigue
Not super motivated, but can have coffee and power through
Exercise isn’t what I want to do but I can manage
Remedies:
A supplement with Dihydromyricetin after drinks, before bed
Helps breakdown alcohol
I use Cheers+, but there are others
Coffee and advil if I have a headache
Whatever workout I had planned
20 min nap at some point if I’m planning to go out again
Tier 2: Saturday Night Fever
a full, hard night out
Headache
Stomach issues
Bad sleep
Slightly elevated heart rate upon waking
Craving greasy foods
Lack of motivation
Remedies:
If I’m someone who’s prone to stomach issues, a milk thistle supplement pre-drinking
Dihydromyricetin supplement before bed
Wake up right when my body feels uncomfortable (this can end up being as early as 4 or 5 am), and aim to start with sugary: fruit, juice, soda, or a smoothie to accommodate the blood sugar drop (more on that below)
go right back to bed and wait for my body to relax, sleep as much as I can
Advil if I have a headache
After some rest, coffee and light exercise (walk, jog, or easy lift)
Tier 3: The Miami Special
weekend bender composed of unrelenting day and night drinking
All of the symptoms from tiers 1 and 2 plus:
Serious Anxiety/stress
Almost complete lack of sleep, but don’t feel tired
Elevated Heart Rate
Remedies:
A magnesium and 5HTP Supplement in the days leading up or night of
Helps reduce cortisol and improve sleep
I use New Mood by Onnit but doesn’t matter
Dihydromyricetin supplement before bed
Wake up and have something sugary, as in Tier 2, then go back to bed to get real sleep.
If the fruit/smoothie doesn’t help, CBD or other “relaxation” gummy to help get some sleep
absolutely no exercise whatsover, for at least a day. After 24 hours, light to moderate exercise. 48 hours later, can go back to routine.
Though each Tier has some remedies I do specific to that kind of hangover, all of them have a two common themes:
My sleep and circadian rhythm will be thrown off, no matter what. The severity depends on the tier, and the time to full recovery can be as short as a few hours but as long as a few days.
Sleep after alcohol isn’t “real” or restful sleep. The worse it is, or the more nights in a row, the greater sleep debt you build. Just like a credit card, my debt will have to be paid back at some point and the sooner I pay it back the better.
Alcohol can drastically drop my blood sugar over night, which is why I may wake up earlier than I thought and have a tough time going back to sleep. This only gets worse the more I drink and the more sugary my drinks are. If I’m in tier 2 or 3, I likely won’t be able to go back to sleep until my blood sugar returns to normal, so having a source of fast sugar (fruit, smoothie, or juice/soda if you really don’t have anything else available) the moment I wake up is key.
Now make me proud and find a reason to use these tips.
For questions, email ideen@vicesfitness.com
