A hangover refers to the awful feeling you have after waking up from drinking. It’s the reaction your body has from excessive amounts of alcohol. And it’s different for everyone.

 

When alcohol is in your body, it breaks down into acetaldehyde (ass-eh-tall-deh-HYDE), which strips essential vitamins and minerals from your body.

 

The word “hangover” is an American term. It’s said that the word was used in the late 1800s and then later added to dictionaries in 1904.

 

Hangover Preventions

1. Hydration. Alcohol dehydrates your body, so drink a glass of water between alcoholic drinks.

2. Snack while drinking.

3. Drink high-quality alcohol.

4. Take ibuprofen, B complex, and Vitamin C before retiring.

5. Limit the amount of alcohol you put in your body. Drinking for fun isn’t about matching the same amount of alcohol your friends are drinking. Everyone’s body is different. Listen to your body and know your limits.

 

 

Classic Morning-After Hangover Cures

 

1. Hair of the Dog. The “Hair of the Dog” refers to drinking a little more of what you drank the night before.

2. Bloody Mary. Drinking a Bloody Mary with added hot sauce and a raw egg to the mix.

3. Sports Drink. Drinking Powerade or Gatorade will rehydrate the body with essential electrolytes.

4. Hot Bath or Shower. A hot bath helps sweat out the toxins.

 

 

Global Hangover Cures

 

America circa the 1800s: soak feet in mustard and eat Eggs Benedict.

Ancient Egypt: eat boiled cabbage.

Ancient Libyans: drink a mixture of seawater and wine.

Ancient Romans: eat fried canary.

Australia: eat a T-bone steak and drink a chocolate milkshake.

England: eat clam chowder.

France: eat hot onion soup.
Germany: eat pickled herring with a beer chaser.
Haiti: insert thirteen black-headed pins in the cork of the bottle you drank from.
Hungary: drink brandy with sparrow droppings.
Holland: eat herring and onions.
Ireland: eat Ulster Fry (potato bread, fried egg, bacon, sausage, tomato, mushrooms, and soda bread).

Japan: wear a sake-soaked surgical mask.

Norway: drink heavy cream.

Mongolia: drink a pickled sheep’s eye in a glass of tomato juice.
Puerto Rico: rub a lemon under your drinking arm.

Romania: eat tripe soup (made with the lining of a cow’s stomach).
Russia: drink salted cucumber juice and eat black bread soaked in water.

Switzerland: drink brandy with a dash of peppermint.

Wild Wild West: drink jackrabbit-dropping tea.

 

 

Global Hangover Expressions
 

America: “hair of the dog.”

Australia: “hair of the dog” and “cat shat in my mouth.”

Denmark: “timber men in my head,” “carpenters in my head,” and “carpenters hammering in my head.”
Old England: “hair of the dog.”

France: “relight the boiler,” “wooden mouth,” and “ill in the hair.”
Germany: “wailing of cats.”

Holland: “wailing of cats.”

Portugal: “undertow,” “roughness of the sea,” and “that choppy feeling after a night of Port.”

Spain: “a nail in the head.”
Sweden: “pain in the root of my hairs.”

Italy: no direct translation for the word “hangover.”
Slovakia: “to have a monkey.” 

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