Science / Medicine : Body Cells Exact Cruel Revenge for Indulging in Too Much Holiday Spirit : Health: ‘Tis the season to nurse a New Year’s hangover. But scientists say both causes and cures of the morning-after malady are highly individual.
“A dark brown taste, a burning thirst,
“A head that’s ready to split and burst . . .
“No time for mirth, no time for laughter--
“The cold grey dawn of the morning after.”
--George Ade, “Remorse,” 1903
No words may better describe the collective shape of the Western world on this, the day after the most celebrated of nights before.
At this very moment, trillions of cells in many millions of bodies are writhing in the agony of hangover, trying to regain their wits following the damage inflicted by last night’s merrymaking.
The “hangover syndrome,” as some medical experts call it, is a collection of the first pharmacological effects of alcohol after the feeling of intoxication has worn off.
According to Dr. Cedric Smith, professor of pharmacology and therapeutics at the State University of New York at Buffalo, hangovers involve three rather independent groups of symptoms:
* Headache is the most common, typically a pounding pain that Scandinavians liken to “having carpenters in your head.” It is similar to vascular headaches (such as cluster and migraine) in which blood vessels in the head dilate and irritate adjacent nerve endings.
* Gastrointestinal disturbances--nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
* A group of symptoms including tremors, hot and cold flashes, sensitivity to bright lights, sweating, guilt and depression.
Research shows that hangovers are usually at their punishing worst about 12 hours after the blood alcohol level peaks. With a typical evening drinking episode of three to four hours, the level will peak around 11 p.m.
Symptoms begin to appear while the level is falling, but the height of the hangover occurs usually after the level is essentially at zero. Recovery arrives 24 hours after the time of drinking.
The amount of alcohol necessary to create a hangover is highly individual. “Biochemical differences render some people much more susceptible to hangovers than others, even when they have the same levels of blood alcohol,” says Smith, who has been studying alcohol and its effects for more than 20 years.
Dr. Joseph Beasley, director of Brunswick House in Amityville, N.Y., the largest private alcoholism treatment facility in New York state, points out that people who feel bad after drinking relatively small amounts of alcohol (1-4 ounces) at a single sitting and who have a severe reaction the next day may be allergic to some ingredient in the alcoholic drinks.
“Some individuals are highly allergic to malt, yeast, wheat, barley, corn or any of the chemical additives and preservatives,” he notes. “This situation is similar to the well-known ‘Chinese restaurant syndrome’ caused by monosodium glutamate, which can trigger headaches, muscle weakness and a hangover-like feeling without any alcohol whatsoever.”
No single type of beverage brings on a bigger hangover than another. “There have been some very small studies--involving no more than 50 people total--incriminating the darker beverages such as red wines, brandies or whiskeys as more likely to produce hangovers than more purer beverages such as vodka and gin,” says Smith. “The effect is said to be related to congeners, chemical substances produced during the fermentation, distillation and aging process.
“But you really don’t find marked differences. What you do find are people who will say, ‘I won’t touch that beverage anymore because I got sick on it.’ But if you ask 10 people what they got sick on, you will get a wide variety of beverages.”
The precise mechanism of hangovers is still a mystery to scientists. Edward B. Truitt, a professor of pharmacology at Northeastern Ohio Universities’ College of Medicine at Rootstown, says that no single metabolic change produced by alcohol appears to be well enough correlated to hangover symptoms, intensity and time of occurrence to be firmly implicated in the cause.
“There seems to be a combination of neural, hormonal and metabolic effects,” he says, “but the relative importance of each is difficult to ascertain.”
Even if science can’t quite explain hangovers, the phenomenon itself is hardly surprising when you consider the impact of alcohol on the body:
* Over a certain amount it is pure poison. It maims and eventually kills cells.
More than 2 ounces of 90-proof alcohol a day, or its equivalent in beer and wine, is regarded as potentially dangerous to health, according to Beasley. (Beer contains 1.2 ounces of alcohol per 12-ounce serving; table wine contains 1.1 ounce of alcohol per 3 ounces).
* The central nervous system--the brain, spinal column and nerves--is acutely sensitive to alcohol. In addition to acting as a depressant, even one shot of alcohol can temporarily disrupt the delicate biochemistry that regulates the system, particularly the areas involving balance and coordination.
* Alcohol is particularly toxic to the cells of the stomach and intestines. It can cause malfunction along the gastrointestinal tract for up to two days.
* The liver is equipped to detoxify up to an ounce or so of alcohol produced daily as a natural byproduct of carbohydrate metabolism. But if you drink a large amount of alcohol, this system is overwhelmed, allowing both liquor-borne and naturally occurring alcohols to spill into the bloodstream. This can contribute to widespread cellular damage.
* Alcohol is a diuretic. You urinate much more than the amount of the fluid you take in, creating a relative state of dehydration--thus the thirst and the dry, cottony mouth associated with the hangover.
Modern pharmacology has yet to produce the miracle hangover cure. What seems to help as much as anything else, though, is still “the hair of the dog that bit you.” A small amount of alcohol, along with plenty of fluid to counteract dehydration, relieves the hangover more quickly than anything else. That’s because more alcohol produces a sedative-hypnotic effect, which helps the headache and nervousness that accompanies a hangover, and satisfies a hangover’s mini-withdrawal symptom, Beasley says.
Many sufferers swear by an Alka-Seltzer-type product, which combines pain reliever and stimulant with liquid to restore the body’s fluid level.
Before going to bed, some people will drink volumes of water. Others take aspirin or Tylenol. Others say the hangover is less severe if you drink alcohol on a full stomach.
Amityville’s Beasley, one of the country’s leading experts on the relationship of alcoholism and nutrition, offers this favorite “day after” recipe:
* Drink lots of fluid (water or fruit juice) and get plenty of rest.
* Eat small amounts of food frequently, perhaps every two to three hours. Alcohol induces an over-secretion of insulin, causing low blood sugar. Eating lightly raises blood sugar and supplies needed nourishment without straining your tender digestive tract.
* Take non-aspirin pain reliever for headaches. Aspirin may irritate already abused gastrointestinal tissue.
* Take one gram (1,000 milligrams) of Vitamin C twice a day for a couple of days. Vitamin C helps protect the body against cellular damage wrought by alcohol.
* Take a B-complex vitamin, also twice a day. Alcohol interferes with this essential group of vitamins, which is important to nervous system function.
Beasley, a former dean of the School of Public Health at Tulane University, says this recipe “will not only make you feel better but will also begin to restore the damage done to your body.”
The final piece of expertise comes too late to help today. It’s this: The very best remedy is prevention. Just don’t drink, or drink very little. You have 364 days to think about it.
