In the spirit of Dry January, now is a better time than any other to prepare for the massive party that you'll most likely have on Feb. 1 2018, when you can resume drinking with a huge sigh of relief, and most likely, a huge hangover the next day. Here are a few things you definitely shouldn't do when you're hungover AF.
Think about it — when you wake up, your head is pounding, and your eyelids weigh about a million pounds. You pry them open and look downward, and it appears you managed, in a magical feat, to undress yourself WITHOUT removing your shoes, in spite of the fact that you wore your tightest pair of jeans. And, although 12 hours ago you didn't know how to undress yourself properly, you wake up believing you have a Ph.D in curing a hangover. Each one of us has a go-to hangover cure, but the truth is, most of these hangover cures can hurt you more, if you aren't careful about them.
The irony is that the best way to "cure" a hangover is just to lean into it, to ride that wave of misery right through to the other side. But here are the things you definitely should NOT do.
Take Tylenol
Your liver, which is basically the human body's Brita filter, can only metabolize a certain amount of alcohol per hour. The same rule applies to acetaminophen, the active drug in Tylenol. If you wake up and your liver is still processing alcohol, and you add acetaminophen, your liver has to work doubly hard. According to Splinter News,
Under normal circumstances, the liver can detox acetaminophen right away—but when under the influence, it’s too busy and toxic byproducts can accumulate. And even a little bit of byproduct can cause liver damage.
To rid yourself of the throbbing headache, you can always take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and aspirin. Just be careful to read the labels to make sure there aren't any warnings about combining with alcohol.
Sweat It Out
Think about this one logically. If you're already dehydrated AF, and the first thing you do is step into a steam room, you're basically squeezing the last remaining dollop of hydration out of your body. You are essentially making this one hundred percent worse for yourself. You will look and feel like a stiff, dry sponge by the time you get out.
Some people love to sweat out a hangover through a work out of some kind, which is a strange, strange form of self-punishment reserved only for the truly masochistic. It's best to wait until you have stayed in bed drinking enough water to start feeling a little better, and then to do an easy workout, like some light stretching and going for a walk. Take a day off from hot yoga.
Be nice to yourself, for the love of Mary.
Drink More
You might know that drinking more after a night of drinking does relieve the symptoms of a hangover, because a hangover is a nice name for alcohol withdrawal. But in the long run, continually giving yourself something your body is in withdrawal of leads to continual dependence, and often times, this dependence on a drug can become chronic.
So the next time you go out drinking with all your friends and decide you'll all meet for brunch the next day, maybe re-think the Bloody Mary you order and get yourself a refreshing glass of water instead. Your body might be hurting, but it'll thank you in the long run. And hey, you can still indulge in some pancakes to soak up any leftover booze in your system.
