When we reach the end of December, life usually becomes a party! Right from Christmas to New Year, we have reasons to let our hair down and have a lot of fun. We believe in new beginnings and saying goodbye to the past. Most of us do that in style. We throw a party or attend one and simply enjoy every moment. Parties aren’t just about meeting up with friends, chatting and dancing. Alcohol is generally the star of a party, something that we may tend to overindulge in at times. What happens the next day? We start showing the classic symptoms of a party hangover. Headache, nausea and fatigue greet us the morning after the party. But it doesn’t always have to be this bad! So, read on to know how to cure party hangover.

You might think that only teens who can’t handle alcohol end up with a party hangover. Nope, hangover happens to be one of the common after-effects of alcohol, and age has got nothing to do with it.

Health Shots reached out to Dr Ravi Shekhar Jha, Director and Unit Head, Pulmonology, Fortis Escorts Faridabad, to know more about hangover and its cure.

What is a hangover?

In simple words, it is your body’s way of telling you that you had a lot of alcohol. Getting technical, Jha explained that it is majorly related to chemical and enzymatic imbalance in the body. He shared that the “enzymatic imbalance associated with hormonal imbalance and chemical reaction leads to increased urination called diuresis, which in turn leads to dehydration, increased viscosity of blood and headache along with other hangover symptoms.”

Cure for party hangover

A majority of hangover gets fixed on its own, so you don’t have to do much. However, severe hangover might indicate alcohol toxicity and should be handled as emergency, shared the expert.

Here are some easy tips to recover from party hangover

1. Oral rehydration

Generally, morning symptoms like headache and nausea just need oral rehydration, which means you need to take a lot of fluids or water orally.

2. Take the right medicine

Have antacids, which are medicines that relieve indigestion, and anti-inflammatory medicines including paracetamol.

3. Eat healthy breakfast

Hangover or no hangover, it’s always good to begin your day with a healthy breakfast. But it’s more important to have one to get rid of party hangover. Jha advised to include a lot of citrus fruits, and non-sugary juices preferably vegetable juice in your breakfast to cure hangover.

4. No spicy or sugary food

He said it’s best to avoid having too much spicy and sugary foods as they might “increase the alcohol absorption and also the hangover symptoms.”

5. Eat fat-rich food

It might not be a great idea for your waistline, but throughout the day, you should take food rich in fat as it delays the absorption of alcohol.

Jha shared that recovering from hangover generally depends upon the quantity of alcohol intake, but in most cases, the symptoms settle down in 36 hours. But if you want to avoid hangover, before taking alcohol or going to a party, eat butter bread or toast as it can delay the absorption of alcohol.