How to Avoid a Super Bowl Hangover

February 1st, 2013 | 1 Comment

The Super Bowl is a crazy time, with almost every person in the U.S. having at least a couple of drinks but there are many out there that go a little overboard while rooting for their team. According to the International Business Times, “On the day after the Super Bowl last year, 1.5 million Americans called in to work and another 4.4 million were late to their jobs.” These numbers are unmistakably due to hangovers. There are hundreds of ways and tricks to avoid a hangover, but do any or all of them really work? Here are some of the most trusted and recommended ways to avoid a hangover and whether they really work.

1. Eat, Eat, and eat some more. Drinking on an empty stomach will allow alcohol to absorb faster, so try getting in a good meal or snacking on foods with lots of healthy carbs before and during the game. Some research even confirms that a food-filled stomach may help keep blood alcohol content at a lower level. This research is not conclusive and there are other studies that show a food-filled stomach can make your hangover worse, because it temporally postpones the sensation of being drunk, which can lead the person to drink more alcohol.

2. Drink water while consuming your alcohol. Alcohol can lead to dehydration, so make sure to continuously drink water throughout the night. If your able to, attempt drinking a glass of water after every alcoholic beverage to avoid any next-day head poundage. This has proven to be relatively successful, but it requires a lot of dedication and frequent trips to the rest room. There is also research that shows this to be an ineffective way to prevent hangovers, because each time we urinate we are also loosing vital nutrients that could lead to dehydration.

3. Take a multivitamin. Drinking depletes nutrients in the body, including vitamin B12 and folate. Try popping one of those little hangover cures to reload on what’s been lost from a night of drinking. Like most of the hangover cures we have found this one requires you take a lot of these multivitamins in order for it to have any effect.

4. A pickle for your thoughts, well for your hangover. Pickles while partying? Snacking on a few of them could help out a dehydrated body and get rid of a hangover. Pickles contain vinegar, water, and most of all sodium, an electrolyte that we lose after a night of excessive drinking. While it true that the ingredients of a pickle helps lesson the possibility of a hangover; one would have to consume a very large amount of pickles in order to have any significant effect on their body.

5. The lighter the better. Darker drinks such as whiskey, rum, or red wine contain congeners, which are chemicals produced during fermentation that may contribute to worse hangovers. While it is true that sticking to light beer, vodka, or white wine will reduce the severity of a hangover it can not prevent you from having one.

6. Between game-time get some fresh air in to those lungs. It sounds crazy but oxygen increases the rate that alcohol toxins are broken down. According to Oxygen4Energy.com, “drinking alcohol causes hypoxia, a state of oxygen deficiency in the brain, and impairs the brains ability to use oxygen. Although hangovers are believed to be mainly caused by dehydration, this deprivation of oxygen is also a main factor.” The only issue with this remedy is that it takes three Oxygen Molecules to break down one Alcohol Molecule. This means you would have to take in an abnormally large amount of oxygen to make any difference.

7. Don’t Drink. The best and most surefire way to get rid of a nasty morning hangover is to simply not even pick up a drink during the big game. If you choose to abstain from drinking, Monday morning will be a breeze. While all of your co-workers are struggling to keep their eyes open, you can coast through your day and possible “WOW” your boss.

While there are thousands of hangover remedies out their not drinking is always the best. If you are worried that you will be missing out on the full Super Bowl experience because you are not drinking alcohol; fear not! Hundreds and thousands of people enjoy the Super Bowl sober each year. Just because you are choosing to not drink on Super Bowl Sunday, does not mean you can not attend parties. It just means that you will be able to remember the commercials, people you met and score of the game come Monday. Hope you have a happy and safe Supper Bowl Sunday!

Work Cited

1. Schwecherl, Laura. “13 Legit Ways to Stop a Hangover.” Greatist. GREATIST, INC., 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 1 Feb. 2013.