It’s happened to the best of us. That feeling of nausea and a banging headache when you open your eyes, tongue dryer than one of Gandhi’s flip-flops and the desire to just curl up into a ball and disappear forever.
Well, as it turns out, Manchester is up there in the top ten cities for feeling this way the most often.
Every year, over 168,000 people take to Google looking for the almighty ‘hangover cure’. This year, locked down and afraid of tiers, alcohol sales at supermarkets were up 22% as well did the only thing that made sense – drink.
With that, Manchester has come in third place for the top most searches of ‘hangover cure’, with over 3,120 annual searches. That equates to about 7.88 Mancunians searching for hangover cures per 1,000 population.
Taking first place is Newcastle with 1,680 annual searches (8.73 per 1,000) and Leeds in second with 3,840 (8.43 per 1,000).
I know for a fact that not just 7.88 of every 1,000 people in Manchester are hungover so the rest of you must already have your hangover cure solid in place and well practiced.
However, if you still haven’t got yours down, the health supplement, YourZooki who researched the data enlisted the help of a nutritionist, Amanda Callenberg to provide top tips to curing a hangover.
She says: “Many of us consume a bit too much alcohol… often leading to unpleasant hangovers with symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, dry mouth, nausea and vomiting – which none of us wants to experience.
“Although alcohol is perfectly safe to enjoy in moderate amounts, it does contain the toxic chemical ethanol – a diuretic which means it helps our body to get rid of fluids – and when we become severely dehydrated, our bodies can’t remove these toxins, so they stay circulating in our bodies.
“It is this dehydration that causes such classic hangover symptoms.
“The best way to avoid a hangover is to know your limits and limit how much alcohol you drink in one sitting, however, we all know how hard this can be when there is an unlimited supply of Prosecco in the kitchen, so other ways you can lessen, and possibly speed up your hangover recovery are:
- Eat a balanced meal before you begin drinking: Include fat, protein, and carbohydrates as food in the stomach slows down the absorption of alcohol – this shouldn’t be hard.
- Hydrate: Alcohol is a diuretic, which means it causes higher levels of urination leading to dehydration, so you should drink plenty of water, before, during and the day after drinking, to keep yourself well hydrated. Aim to drink a glass of water between drinks and have at least one big glass of water before going to sleep.
- Replace lost nutrients: Load up on lots of fresh fruit and vegetables the next day to give yourself a vitamin boost and replace the vital electrolytes and nutrients lost due to excess urination. Supplementing with water-soluble vitamins like vitamin C and the B vitamins may also be helpful to make sure you’re replacing the vitamins lost from increased urinary excretion. Being depleted in Vitamin C can cause tiredness and fatigue, a weakened immune system, and difficulties concentrating.
- Have a hearty breakfast the following day: Alcohol can inhibit glucose production causing low levels of blood sugar, so make sure you have a good hearty breakfast the next day, or a snack before bed to maintain your blood sugar levels.”
