How To Recover From Last Night's Party

By David O'Brien

It's the morning after and you feel like you've just been through a highball hurricane. Did you have a little too much to drink last night? Is your head throbbing like a bitch? There are a million remedies out there. Here's the best way to clear your head and fix that hangover.

Deep Breaths
Your lungs are probably congested with tiny smoke particles. Blow them out by taking a deep breath and holding it for five seconds, then exhale completely. Do this about fifteen times to allow oxygen to flow into your body.

Drink Up
Any consumption of alcohol or tobacco can reduce mineral levels in your body. Drinking water may help you flush out the toxin; but a better choice is a sports drink. Sport drinks such as Gatorade and PowerAde are chalked full of electrolytes that help replenish and restore muscular and nerve function to their normal levels.

Anti-Up
Your body is full of harmful toxins and a good way to fight them is with a does of anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are natural substances that destroy free-radical molecules that are attacking and weakening your body. Taking grape seed extract tablets and multi-vitamins will help your body return to normal functioning.

Chow down
If you don't feel queasy, try eating a meal or a mild snack. The food doesn't actually absorb the alcohol, like many believe. Instead, it may just help you to stay energized and help the remaining alcohol metabolize at a faster rate.

Coffee Bad
Stay away from any caffeinated beverages (this includes coca-cola), since they are diuretic (A substance or drug that tends to increase the discharge of urine) and will aggravate dehydration. So put down the java and opt for orange juice.

Get Physical
Your body needs some blood flow to help break down the toxins. Start by doing 5 minutes of light aerobic. Light jogging, sit-ups, jumping jacks, even stretching will increase your circulation and metabolism.

Get Rest
Call in sick. Tell them you have the stomach flu; they'll believe you because you sound horrible. There's no sense suffering at work, besides your body needs the rest. Stay and bed and try to sleep for a couple of hours.

Cold Cleansing
Get your muscles to contract with a nice cold shower. It awakens the nervous system and pushes toxins out from your contracting muscles.
Avoid hot showers. Heat is the enemy when you're hungover. Though it may sound soothing, the hot water can cause your blood vessels to swell, making your already painful headache extremely agonizing!

Preemptive strike
If you know you're going to be hitting it hard at the bar. Here are a few things you should do to prevent the future pains.

Take a tablet
Popping 400mg of ibuprofen or 650 mg of aspirin an hour before the beer bash will help suppress headache-inducing hormones.

Eat Smart
Before you hit the club, have a high protein meal with some fat. Foods such as nuts and soybean products are proven to slow down alcohol absorption.

Drink Smart
Your liver can breakdown alcohol at a rate of about one drink per hour, so try to space them accordingly. You're body weight plays a factor too. If you're a 150 lbs guy, don't have more than 6 drinks during 6 hours of partying. Follow each alcoholic beverage with the same amount of water.

Alcohol flushes fluids, dehydrating the body and magnifying other hangover symptoms like headache and tiredness. Try to drink water the night before, both as you're drinking booze and before you go to bed. This will help lessen the pain of the next day's hangover.

Until the next hangover…