How To Survive The Killer Hangover

By Jack Colton

When I sat down to write this guide, I figured that there was nothing that hasn't already been said in our partner sites Hangover Guide on JackColton.com, so instead of writing a whole new one, I just did shots and copied his. Have Fun!

The morning after always SUCKS.
We all have had plenty of the days that followed the nights that turned into one big blur of faces, drinks, music, and velvet ropes. Some of us have actually been known to keep bottles of Ibuprofen in our nightstands, cases of Powerade in our trunks, and have developed routines that can transform even the scariest of morning hangovers into a memory almost as distant as half of the things that we had done the night before. What is the best way to feel better fast? Is it truly possible to push the limits and not feel it the next day? Some believe so.

The true definition of a hangover:
Hangovers vary from person to person, and can range from a simple early morning headache to an entire day long urge to vomit and feeling of “blah.” All of this is a result of your body going through a state of dehydration, and strangely enough even a little withdrawal from all of the alcohol that was recently in your blood stream (which is why sometimes drinking more occasionally makes you feel better). Physical symptoms of a hangover include fatigue, headache, increased sensitivity to light and sound, redness of the eyes, muscle aches, and thirst.

Quick ways to help avoid hangovers:

• Know your limits. Don’t drink too much.
• Eat before you go out, and snack throughout the night.
• Drink a bottle of water in between drinks.
• Drink some AH+ Hangover drink before or after drinking. It helps.
• Take a couple of Ibuprofen before going to sleep.

Avoid coffee early on.
The first thing a lot of people do after a night of drinking is to head right over to Starbucks and grab a coffee to help “energize them and make them feel better.” If you are really feeling bad, this isn’t a good idea. Caffeine will only dehydrate your body more, and if there are any dairy products in your coffee, you might make your stomach feel even worse.

Drink plenty of water.
To put things into perspective: If you were stranded in the middle of the desert about to die from dehydration, it would pretty much feel like a really bad hangover. In spite of the fact that you have been consuming a ton of liquid, alcohol crosses your body’s wires and dehydrates the hell out of you. Drinking water (or similar fluids) is absolutely the most important thing you can do to help relieve hangover symptoms. Start drinking water before you go to sleep, and drink A LOT of it throughout the day.

Drink Powerade.
If you see someone walking around in the middle of the day that looks bitchy, is wearing sunglasses, drinking Powerade, and they don’t have any track pants on; it’s a pretty safe bet that they partied their ass off the night before. As everyone is quick to point out about this particular remedy, drinking Powerade or Gatorade helps to replenish your body of electrolytes. Everyone says that, but nobody actually knows what the hell an electrolyte is. They just know that our bodies need them, and these drinks have them. Personally, I'm fine with just knowing that. UPDATE: It was just brought to my attention that the electrolytes in Powerade take a full 12 hours to take effect in your body. Gatorade...more like 24 hours. Ouch!

Try a Hangover product.
A few months ago I started occasionally receiving several promotional packages of various hangover remedies in the mail. I didn't request any of them, and I don't know if someone was trying to imply something by sending them to me or what (haha), but I laid those questions to rest and began trying the different products one-by-one. The first I tried came in the form of a pill that you were supposed to take just before a night of drinking. As the instructions requested, I popped one on the way to work (going out) and went about my night. I woke up in reasonably good shape, but had the absolute worst case of dry mouth! No matter how much water I comsumed, nothing seemed to help. This was especially a bit of a problem seeing as how I had to interview Kid Rock and my tounge was quite literally stuck to the roof of my mouth! After botchingly working my way through an interview with one of the world's most notorious celebrities, I decided that I had endured enough of the "pill form" remedies and next decided to try some of the case of Hangover Drinks that had come in, the first being AH+. This stuff was a total Godsend, and worked for everyone around me lucky enough to get theirs hands on it.

In the time since, AH+ corporate has kindly sent me a few more cases of their product, and I can barely keep it in stock. Everybody I know swears by it. Just drink a bottle before going out, and you're golden. You'll still need to drink plenty of water the next day, but for the most part won't have any of the nasty headaches and overall soreness that you would endure without. Check it out: http://www.tasteAH.com.

Take a couple of Ibuprofen.
These products are for headaches and soreness, and obviously will help to relieve your headaches and soreness. Take with food and if you think you might still have any alcohol in your system, you will want to AVOID taking anything with Acetaminophen in it (usually found in Tylenol). This can be a dangerous mix and could in extremely rare cases cause your liver to explode straight out of your body. We don’t want that now do we?

If you can keep it down, eat something.
It might be 2 or 3pm before you can even think about eating a meal, but you should try and get something in your system as soon as you can. Toast, fruits, or anything with some protein in it is a good start. It kind of goes without saying that if you are still feeling at all queasy, take it slow or you will puke your brains out. Again.

Sleep some more.
Depending on why you are in Las Vegas (in this case Vancouver), this may not be entirely possible….but nothing is more refreshing then a nice mid day nap. You go to bed with a headache, fall into a very deep sleep, dream about someplace better, and wake up feeling just as good as you did when fell out of your mother’s womb. Doesn’t that sound relaxing?