How to beat the lockdown hangover blues.

May 01, 2020

How to beat the lockdown hangover blues.

If you are suffering lockdown blues because you are stuck indoors, and you can't think of anything else to do but drink and eat. Getting drunk is one way of passing the lockdown time - shame that something so pleasurable, as drinking alcohol, can be so hellish the following day?
Does a hangover confirm the pleasure pain theory? If it does - it's a bitch.
Okay, there's nothing pleasurable in binge drinking. Getting so drunk you make a complete ass of yourself, is rank stupidity. And dangerous. Not just because you can end up in your local hospital A & E department, but because, especially for a woman, being dunk and incapable in a public place can lead to all sorts of nasty consequences. Rape, being one of them.
But this article isn't a lecture about why you shouldn't drink - it's about how to recover from the consequence of having drunk too much - ergo a hangover.
So what if you got pissed the night before - that's in the past, hopefully not to be repeated too often, what matters now, is how to crawl through your day until your body does the decent thing and recovers.
If you'd lived in ancient Rome, eating a deep fried canary was a popular remedy for the day after a Bacchanalian orgy. Something to do with the feathers having curative properties.

Could there be a more revolting cure? Well yes.

How about this one?

In Germany you would have a katerfrühstück
- hangover breakfast. Ever eaten rollmops? Believe me, it's an acquired taste, one I have never been able to acquire. Rollmops are raw pickled herring wrapped around bits of gherkin and onion. How anyone can eat them when not suffering is beyond me, but to put raw pickled herring into a stomach ready to throw up at a moments notice, is, in my opinion not going to improve your situation. If you didn't feel like barfing before you ate the rollmop, there's a good chance you will after you have consumed the thing. Yuk!
Mind you that's nothing compared to a cure from Sicily. Dried bulls penis. Yep - you read it correctly dried bulls penis.

Now I don't know about you, but apparently it's got something to do with restoring your virility. Funny thing though, eating dried bulls penis has gone out of fashion. I wonder why - not.

But seriously, here's some sensible ways to rid yourself of that painful hangover -
A hangover isn't just a headache - it comes with other unpleasant reminders that you had too good a time the night before. Dizziness. Tiredness. Upset stomach. And generally feeling like crap.
Making sure you are properly hydrated is essential. As soon as you wake up - start drinking water. Medical belief is that it is dehydration that causes a hangover. I have found that if I drink a glass of water for every glass of wine I have, I usually wake up sans headache, unless I mix my drinks - then it's - omg I shouldn't have done that.
Sports drinks are a good source of electrolytes which go a long way to help in getting rid of a hangover.
Eating certain foods (not rollmops) helps to reduce the feeling of nausea.

Bananas for instance.

Bananas prompt your stomach to make mucus. This helps to line your stomach against the acid effects of too much alcohol.

A Bloody Mary minus the vodka, contains the type of nutrients that revs up your metabolism, restores blood sugars, electrolytes, as well as vitamin C, another great resource in helping you rid yourself of your hangover. Tomatoes are particularly good at restoring blood sugar.

So what are electrolytes - this very short video (just over a minute) gives a good explanation of what an electrolyte is, and why they are so useful.

Virgin Bloody Mary Recipe -

Ingredients -
juice of a lemon wedge

juice of a lime wedge

4 oz tomato juice

dash of Tabasco

2 tsp horseradish

2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce

pinch of celery salt

pinch of ground black pepper

pinch of smoked paprika

Method -
Put the lemon and lime juice into a shaker. Add ice cubes or crushed iced and the remaining ingredients, shake if using a cocktail shaker and pour into a glass or simply stir the ingredients into a glass and drink.
Artichokes help to relieve that bloated feeling. Asparagus is also good to eat as this vegetable is a diuretic. Basically it stimulates you to going to the loo, in turn helping to flush out the toxins in your body.
Eating several small light easily digestible meals instead of a large meal, lets you restore your blood sugar, but doesn't put an added strain onto your already strained system.
There's no sin in having a hangover. Pharmaceutical companies make a large fortune selling their hangover cures. Don't take drugs with acetaminophen in them as this can cause liver damage, and let's face it, your liver is having a hard enough time as it is without you inflicting any more damage.
If you prefer to use a more natural approach, there's always herbal teas. Teas with ginger in are particularly good at easing a hangover.