What, specifically, causes the symptoms of a hangover? Why does eating and drinking make it better?
In: Biology
Apparently its surprisingly complex, there is a multitude of toxic substances and physiological substances involved, so for a complete answer youd probably need a whole bunch of scientists.
But there are three things that explain the eating and drinking thing:
1. Dehydration: Your body needs to get rid of toxic stuff, and does so by pissing them out. This removes liquid and dissolved minerals (‘electrolytes’) from your body. Eating salty stuff and drinking allows you to refill on those liquids and minerals.
2. Low blood sugar. For some reason, hangovers are associated with low blood sugar, which makes you feel bad. Adding sugar helps.
3. Alcohol increases production of substances which increase acidity in your stomach. Adding stuff thats not acidic helps stabilizing the acid levels. (For that reason gastric protection drugs like pantoprazol work wonders).
Source: Was medic in the armed forces in a country where the armed forces consist of conscripts that have nothing to do except drinking, so curing hangovers was like 50% of my job description and we made quite the science of it 😀
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