Why do i get awful hangovers

If you find that your hangovers are creeping into day two or even three, you might want to check on what is causing that. The Why: One of the major reasons hangovers can stretch on longer than expected is because sleep is such an important part of getting over a hangover. This can be made even worse if you were particularly tired before you even started drinking, meaning you just may not have the energy to bounce back like you should.

Your body processes alcohol at the same rate no matter what, so when you drink faster you get drunker, and your hangover gets worse. While having a glass of wine or three might be tempting after a particularly long or hard day, the resulting hangover might make the next couple of days long and hard as well. Additionally, drink slower. Some types of alcohol may affect you differently than others. This is because darker colored alcohols contain more impurities, chemicals called congeners, that can worsen your hangover symptoms.

Keeping those in mind, and taking action to avoid some bad habits, should keep your hangover to a reasonable amount of time - or help you prevent it completely! The Symptom: One of the most common symptoms of a hangover is a headache the morning after, often caused by dehydration. While unpleasant, hangover headaches should not be debilitating. The Why: Unfortunately, alcohol is a known migraine trigger. And while you may not normally suffer from migraines, or even get a migraine every time you drink, you may still be subject to migraines when you drink some alcohols.

Many migraine sufferers claim that red wine is a chief migraine trigger, and studies have shown that ten ounces of red wine, but not vodka with an equivalent alcohol content, provoked headaches in migraineurs.

In general, lighter colored alcohols cause less severe hangovers because they contain less chemical impurities called congeners. Next time you wake up with a migraine, take note of what you drank and determine if there are particular alcohols that trigger your migraines.

The Problem: Some people pass out like no other after a night of drinking. Others have the opposite reaction and end up waking up multiple times throughout the night without ever truly getting good, restful sleep.

While most people lie wilted and lifeless under their bedsheets, they spring to life as fresh as a daisy. According to recent studies, nearly a quarter of people appear to avoid punishment for a night of excess, even when they drink fairly heavily. Yet they seem to keep their secret well-guarded.

Is it due to good genes, their choice of drink — or a magical cure? Until around five years ago, scientists had largely chosen to turn a blind eye to these questions. The unfortunate result is a huge amount of folklore, without much evidence. Fermentation produces toxic by-products that also give a drink its colour. As a rule of thumb, the clearer your drink, the clearer your head in the morning Credit: Getty Images.

Even the cause of the hangover had been somewhat mysterious. Possibly, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. Alcohol affects your body in multiple ways, according to the Mayo Clinic , which is why the hangover symptoms are so diverse. For instance, you can blame fatigue, weakness, shakiness, and mood disturbances on the way alcohol can make your blood sugar dip below a healthy threshold.

Booze also expands your blood vessels, which can lead to headaches , and it hikes your urine production, which can cause dehydration that might make you want to drink all the LaCroix in a mile radius.

There are all sorts of theories on why hangovers get worse with age. And that may be true, as your liver does get worse at its job over time. Sometimes, systolic the upper number blood pressure goes up, the heart beats faster than normal, and sweat glands overproduce — evidence that the "fight or flight" response is revved up.

Some people become sensitive to light or sound. Others suffer a spinning sensation vertigo. The causes are as varied as the symptoms. Alcohol is metabolized into acetaldehyde, a substance that's toxic at high levels. However, concentrations rarely get that high, so that's not the complete explanation. Drinking interferes with brain activity during sleep, so a hangover may be a form of sleep deprivation. Alcohol scrambles the hormones that regulate our biological clocks, which may be why a hangover can feel like jet lag , and vice versa.

Alcohol can also trigger migraines , so some people may think they're hung over when it's really an alcohol-induced migraine they're suffering. Hangovers begin after blood alcohol levels start to fall. In fact, according to some experts, the worst symptoms occur when levels reach zero. The key ingredient seems to be "drinking to intoxication"; how much you drank to get there is less important.

In fact, several studies suggest that light and moderate drinkers are more vulnerable to getting a hangover than heavy drinkers. Yet there's also seemingly contradictory research showing that people with a family history of alcoholism have worse hangovers. Researchers say some people may end up with drinking problems because they drink in an effort to relieve hangover symptoms.

Robert Swift, a researcher at the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Rhode Island, coauthored one of the few review papers on hangovers in It's still one of the most frequently cited sources on the topic. The rundown on hangover remedies that follows is based on that review, an interview with Dr. Swift, and several other sources. Hair of the dog. Drinking to ease the symptoms of a hangover is sometimes called taking the hair of the dog, or hair of the dog that bit you.

The notion is that hangovers are a form of alcohol withdrawal, so a drink or two will ease the withdrawal. There may be something to it, says Dr.