My greatest buddy gives me with countless quantities of useful help and knowledge, however one in all her most enduring items of recommendation dates again to our faculty days, after we used to do some fairly irresponsible ingesting. We’d combine spirits, we’d drink beer earlier than liquor, we’d down sugary photographs virtually designed to offer us pulverizing complications … just about the whole lot you’ve heard you shouldn’t do whereas consuming alcohol, we did.
To battle off the inevitable hangovers that will occur the subsequent day, my buddy got here up with a plan that she enforced with ruthless effectivity. After any of us completed an alcoholic beverage, she’d hand us a full glass of water and demand that we drink the entire thing. “Sandwiching” a glass of water between any two boozy libations was a hard-and-fast rule, and if we forgot and tried to order two back-to-back cocktails, we’d hear her voice over our shoulders: “Water sandwich, water sandwich, water sandwich.”
I can nonetheless hear my bestie chanting “water sandwich, water sandwich” behind my thoughts each time I am going out for drinks, and, as a daily shopper of water sandwiches, I positively really feel like they’ve helped me battle off some doubtlessly devastating hangovers. However I discover myself questioning whether or not the water sandwich works as a result of I consider it really works, or whether or not there’s some scientific foundation for its hangover-fighting energy.
To get the solutions, I consulted a bunch of medical docs, they usually gave the total scoop on how water sandwiches can affect alcohol’s impact on the physique.
A glass of water between every alcoholic drink can cut back dehydration.
The docs I interviewed all identified that dehydration performs a significant function within the tough morning after. “Drinking a glass of water between alcoholic beverages is a good way to decrease the dehydration that often comes from alcohol consumption. Alcohol acts as a diuretic, a substance that activates the kidneys to produce more urine, resulting in electrolyte and water loss,” defined Dr. Krystal Inexperienced, a main care doctor at Inspira Health in New Jersey.
Inexperienced went on to say that “this loss of fluid contributes to dehydration and may leave people feeling tired, thirsty and dry the next morning.”
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However if you happen to’re ingesting a glass of water in between every alcoholic beverage, you’ll be able to “dilute the alcohol concentration [in the body] and dampen the dehydration effects that cause the hangover,” mentioned Dr. Ronald Lee, a psychiatrist presently training in Massachusetts. Additionally, as a result of alternating water and alcohol will decelerate your alcohol consumption and make you are feeling “full” extra rapidly, water “may reduce the total amount of alcohol consumed over time,” famous Dr. Sham Singh, a psychiatrist and holistic medication skilled at WINIT Clinic.
‘Water sandwiches’ could assist ease hangovers, however they received’t eliminate them completely.
Water sandwiches could make up for the dehydrating results of alcohol, however the docs reminded us that dehydration isn’t the one explanation for painful hangovers.
“Although water may make you feel better in general, it will not slow the metabolism of alcohol into acetaldehyde, a poisonous byproduct that leads to hangovers,” mentioned Dr. Jasleen Salwan, a doctor specializing in inside medication and habit medication with Begin Your Restoration.
Acetaldehyde will kind within the physique no matter whether or not you drink water, so water sandwiches would possibly decelerate or reduce the hangover, however they received’t banish it utterly. Additionally, water can’t “restore depleted electrolytes and glucose — prime factors that make the hangover more severe,” Singh mentioned.
On the finish of the day, there’s just one tried-and-true rule in place to stop hangovers in all circumstances. As Inexperienced mentioned, “The less alcohol you drink, the less likely you are to get a hangover.”
Time is the one surefire treatment for a hangover, however there are a couple of shortcuts that may velocity up the restoration course of.
Water sandwiches generally is a useful device to take the sting off your nastiest hangovers (earlier than they occur), and the docs shared a couple of different concepts that will cushion the ache.
Singh urged readers to “eat a meal rich in healthy fats, proteins and complex carbohydrates before starting to drink alcohol,” as this could “slow alcohol absorption and limit variations in blood sugar levels, which can produce bad crashes leading to that fatigue and nausea.”
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Additionally, ingesting liquids wealthy in electrolytes, reminiscent of coconut water or sports activities drinks, earlier than or after ingesting alcohol can “help replace sodium, potassium and magnesium liquefied due to the diuretic effect of alcohol, which eventually can contribute to better muscle function and [reduce] headaches,” he added.
Lastly, Singh mentioned, “Good, restorative sleep is very important because alcohol disrupts REM cycles and results in a poor quality of sleep, which can lead to a much longer period of fatigue.”
