Why do we get headaches the day after getting drunk?
In: 10
There’s a lot of talk about it being an inflammatory response, but it’s really simple.
Dehydration.
Alcohol isn’t water. If you’re drinking 10% alcoholic beverages, then only 90% of that is potentially water.
On top of that, alcohol inhibits vasopressin, which is the hormone that regulates how much urine your body makes. Without it, your body gets scared and just dumps water as fast as possible. So you pee more.
Add those two together, and you have dehydration.
What’s the first symptom of dehydration? A headache. Second? Upset stomach.
You need to retain water to prevent dehydration. Drinking more water doesn’t help much. Consuming water and electrolytes, specifically sodium, keeps your kidneys from effectively managing to pass water to the bladder.
When the alcohol metabolizes out, you need to be hydrated. Gatorade, Powerade (in both cases, the zero sugar options are fine; you’re focused on liquid and salt), fruit juice, or my personal favorite, ice water and saltine crackers.
Back to inflammation, acute dehydration causes inflammation. Inflammation is probably the physical cause of the headache, but the inflammation is directly caused by the dehydration, so dehydration is the cause.
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