A freshers’ guide to drinking

Adjusting to the new routines and daily grinds that come hand-in-hand with a new academic year at university can take a lot out of us. 

As students, this gives us the perfect excuse to abuse our health and consume as much alcohol as we possibly can before the deadlines begin to kick in. More often than not though, our actions are rewarded the following morning with a banging headache and a shaky promise to never drink again. Many of us have routines which we think will help us avoid waking up regretting the night before. Rumours are spread and magical hangover “cures” are passed from student to student. This article will hopefully shed some light onto the Do’s and Don’ts of drinking and perhaps help you find a way to take the edge off your next hangover.

Do: Eat before you drink

Food really does act as a sponge for your alcohol to be absorbed into. Eating before you drink means that your body will be preoccupied digesting your food and alcohol will be absorbed more slowly into the bloodstream. To maximise the effect, try eating foods high in starch and carbohydrates which slow down digestion the most. Such food can include pasta or even just a banana may help keep your hangover at bay.

Don’t: “Hair of the dog”

A popular belief which supposedly reduces the symptoms of a hangover is to have another drink in the morning. In reality, this remedy just delays the hangover until later on in the day when our blood-alcohol levels start to fall again. Instead of more alcohol, try replenishing the loss of electrolytes with energy drinks and rehydrating with lots of water. Coffee is also another bad choice as a morning pick-me-up, as caffeine acts as a diuretic which causes further dehydration. Keeping the body hydrated with water and energy drinks will help keep your body functioning effectively and keep away feelings of dizziness and light-headedness.

Do: Drink plenty of water

This one should be obvious but drinking water whilst you are drinking will also help reduce the hangover effects. The more water, the more diluted the alcohol in your body will be and will therefore be much more easily removed from your body.

Don’t: Drink wine instead

Wine is often thought of as a healthier alternative to other forms of alcohol, but as far as your headache in the morning is concerned, it could be much worse for you. Tannins are naturally occurring compounds found in wine and can trigger dehydration symptoms. The sugar added to wine during the fermentation process does nothing to help keeping you hydrated either. More sugar is usually found in cheaper wines and therefore the quality of your drink may also affect the severity of your morning hangover.

Don’t: Go low-cal

Beverages claiming to be low in calories often cause you to feel the effects of your drink much faster than regular ones. These drinks are emptied from your stomach faster and pass to the liver which then becomes saturated with alcohol. This saturation leads to alcohol passing at a faster rate into your bloodstream meaning that you become intoxicated at a faster rate also.

Don’t: “Beer before liquor”

How your drinks interact with each other chemically has no effect on your hangover. Drinking just beer will cause you to become intoxicated more slowly than if you switch to the hard stuff suddenly. A beer before moving onto liquor means that you will be more inclined to drink your liquor faster and suffer more when morning comes around.

Do: Know your limits

Even if they weigh the same, a woman will feel the effects of a drink much sooner than a man. This is because men have higher amounts of “alcohol dehydrogenase”, an enzime which metabolizes any alcohol present in the body. Men also have a higher percentage of bodily water and so alcohol will be more diluted and less easily absorbed into the bloodstream.

It is always important to know your own limits when consuming alcohol, as everyone is different and will respond to their drinks in different ways. If you’re not quite at the point of knowledge yet, in the meantime, try not to push your body too far and have fun with (or despite) your hangover in the morning!