Hangovers
DON'T LET ENGLAND GIVE YOU A HEADACHE
Lessen the Pain of a World Cup Hangover with ‘Must-Know’ Facts from Water Wellpoint
www.waterwellpoint.co.uk
Download the hangover PDF guide
With all of the excitement building as the country gears up for the World Cup and England’s first game on Saturday, Research Scientist, Dr Colin Wilson, from leading wellbeing business, Water Wellpoint, is offering useful advice to football fans for the World Cup to reduce the chances of a hangover, especially for those who have to go to work the next day!
“Water Wellpoint is all about helping organisations help their employees be healthy and for those planning to drink alcohol whilst watching the games, these tips could be invaluable” confirmed Colin Wilson. “Employers want their staff to have a good time – but not feel the after effects too much if they are working the following day.”
Five Interesting facts about the causes of a hangover
1. Why a dry mouth after a heavy night’s drinking? Your body is sending a desperate message to replenish its water supply because drinking about 100ml of alcohol (by volume) causes the body to expel up to a litre of water; that's ten times as much liquid lost as gained for every unit of alcohol consumed*.
2. What causes the hangover headache? You get a headache partly because of water loss from the brain which makes it decrease in size and pull on the membranes that connect the brain to the skull, resulting in pain.
3. Red wine and darker spirits cause worse hangovers. Congeners which are by-products of fermentation make the hangover worse. Red wine and darker spirits are worse for congeners. White wine and clear spirits such as rum, vodka and gin have fewer congeners but mixing your drinks is a definite ‘no no’ because the combination of the different congeners can result in particularly severe hangover symptoms.
4. Do women get worse hangovers? Although body weight is a factor, part of the reason women suffer hangovers worse is because women have less enzymes and a substance called glutathione in their livers, making their hangovers more severe because it takes longer for the body to break down the alcohol.
5. A bad night’s sleep. Why don’t you sleep well after a heavy night? Because your body is rebounding from alcohol's depressive effect on your system.
How to prevent a hangover
Other than not drinking at all!
Don't drink on an empty stomach
Sip drinks, don't gulp. Keeping to one drink per hour is a reasonable rate
Intersperse alcohol with water or a soft drink for every alcoholic drink consumed.
It's true that fizzy drinks such as champagne do 'go straight to the head' in terms of their alcoholic effects.
Limit salty snacks as these can make you more likely to drink more and become more dehydrated!
* Total amount of fluid lost will depend on the strenghth of alcohol consumed.
Water Wellpoint helps businesses support the wellbeing of their employees through wellbeing reviews and a Wellpoint kiosk that measures 6 key indicators of health. The company also provides educational material and seminars to help people improve their health through better hydration, diet and fitness.
Dr Colin Wilson is available for interviews on the Biology of a Hangover.
He trained as an organic chemist and did his first degree and Ph.D. in Glasgow, before working at the University in Southampton. He has then worked in industry both in this country and abroad in a variety of roles ranging from discovery of novel biologically active molecules, though working with novel synthetic fluids for refrigerators and discovering new synthetic lubricants and in polymers. Since 2005 he has been working with Water Wellpoint for the development of the Hydration Quota, which calculates how much extra water an individual needs to drink to maintain good hydration, as well as developing a ‘hydration database’ and giving training on hydration and health.
For interviews or further information please call the Water Wellpoint Press Office at HSL:
Louise Fowler/Wendy Harrison – 020 8977 9132
louise@harrisonsadler.com
