What Happens to Your Body During a Hangover?

Ever wondered what is happening to your body during a hangover? The effects extend beyond discomfort, potentially impacting your health more than you realize. In this blog post, learn the physiological toll of routine hangovers and insights into their hidden impacts on your well-being.

Effects of Hangovers on the Body

Alcohol consumption affects the body in various direct ways, influencing everything from sleep patterns to blood sugar levels and gastrointestinal health.

• Dehydration – Alcohol acts as a diuretic, increasing urine production and potentially leading to dehydration. Symptoms may include dry mouth, thirst, dizziness, and headache.
• Gastrointestinal Effects – Alcohol can inflame the stomach lining (gastritis), causing nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain. It also stimulates excess acid production and delays stomach emptying, exacerbating these symptoms.
• Headache – Alcohol dilates brain blood vessels, often triggering headaches during and after drinking, exacerbated by dehydration.
• Low Blood Sugar – Alcohol disrupts blood sugar regulation, leading to low blood sugar levels that contribute to fatigue and weakness.

Also, drinking excessively can trigger an immune response, releasing cytokines, affecting memory and concentration, and causing symptoms like nausea, headache, chills, and tiredness. This inflammatory response is comparable to an infection. It may entail changes in gut microorganisms and increased toxin release, which could result in an unhealthy intestinal lining.

Sources of Hangovers

Effects on your body from a hangover can last up to 24 hours and are caused by a variety of circumstances. The principal causes are dehydration and the liver’s metabolism of alcohol. Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) converts alcohol to acetaldehyde, a toxic chemical that is then converted into non-toxic acetate by aldehyde dehydrogenase. However, prolonged drinking can cause acetaldehyde accumulation due to delayed conversion, resulting in symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and sweating. Inflammation can exacerbate these consequences. Understanding these mechanisms explains why moderation and hydration are so important in dealing with the consequences of alcohol intake.

Avoiding a Hangover

To avoid what happens to your body during a hangover, cutting back on drinking is crucial. Limiting alcohol consumption to a safer standard is critical for avoiding hangovers since the more you drink, the more likely you are to get one. Other ways to lessen hangover chances include:

• Eating before and during drinking to restrict alcohol absorption.
• Limiting drinks to one per hour with water in between.
• Avoid bubbly beverages such as champagne.

Because gin or vodka have less congener content than bourbon, whiskey, brandy, or red wine, they help reduce the intensity of a hangover. Finally, not smoking while drinking can help reduce hangover symptoms.

Get Help from Hanley Foundation

If you’re experiencing these effects hangovers have on the body and recognizing the need for recovery from excessive drinking, whether it’s affecting your physical health, mental well-being, job, relationships, finances, or even creating legal issues, Hanley Foundation is here to support you. We offer personalized treatment options tailored to your specific needs and circumstances. From residential treatment and therapy to support groups and educational resources, we provide a compassionate and understanding environment to help you achieve and sustain sobriety. Our experienced team is ready to guide you through every step of your journey towards healing and a healthier, more fulfilling life. Reach out to Hanley Foundation today to start your path to recovery.

Hanley Foundation is devoted to reshaping the narrative of addiction through prevention, advocacy, treatment, and recovery support. Our comprehensive prevention education programs have positively impacted Florida’s communities, making us the largest prevention services provider. For over four decades, our treatment facility, Hanley Center, has offered private, confidential, and personalized addiction and mental health care, surrounded by a tranquil tropical setting that promotes healing and recovery.