Men's Guide to Women

Getting Ready for a Night Out

1. Eat. Preferably a Heavy meal. Your stomach will close the pyloric valve leading to your intestines, and slow the alcohol absorption.
2. Drink water. Alcohol is a diuretic. All that time you spend peeing is water and alcohol leaving your system dehydrating you.
3. Mix up a little magical hangover elixir in advance (see recipe below from soyouwanna.com) so all you have to do is drink when you get home, a drunken man operating a blender is not a pretty sight.

While Out

1. Select your drinks carefully. Besides alcohol there are chemicals called congeners, or impurities, in all fermented drinks. As a rule, the darker the drink the more congeners it will have. Also, as a rule, the cheaper the liquor the more congeners as well. Red wine, brandy, scotch and bourbon all have more congeners than say white wine, tequila, gin and vodka. Red wine also contains an extra poison called tyramine.
2. Carbonation increases alcohol absorption (read Champaign & beer)
3. Avoid Chianti wine and vermouth because of the same tyramine issues
4. Be careful when consuming beer from a tap. If they do not do a good job cleaning and maintaining the tap, Tyramine forming bacteria can grow, and so can your headache.
5. Consume drinks with water, ice or juice throughout the night or mix in the occasional non alcoholic drink, like a big glass of water or orange juice. These types of drinks will serve to rehydrate the body or limit the dehydration.
6. Consume one drink per hour if you can. Your liver can break down the alcohol at a rate of about 1 beer per hour; consuming more will get you loopy and give your liver more work to do.

When You Get Home

1. Drink water. Drink Gatorade. Suck down a Pedialyte popsicle.  I drink two quarts of water before bed, but that is just me (200lb. male)
   
2. Try RU-21. The Russian invented hangover aid.

1. Drink your magical hangover elixir: (Watch this video clip for another hangover recipe)
   

a. Take 2 aspirins (Read the What Not To Do Section Before Popping Aspirin)

b. Take 200mg cysteine (available at specialty food stores)

c. Take 600mg vitamin C

d. Take 1 tablet vitamin B-complex

e. Mix the following ingredients together in a blender:

1 banana

1 small can V-8

6 large strawberries

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup orange juice

1-2 cups milk (or soy milk), to desired consistency

¼ tsp. salt [1]

dash of nutmeg

f. Drink it all up. [2]

What you should not do

• Eat the peanuts/snacks at the bar. It has been estimated that only one in three men wash their hands after a trip to the bathroom.
• Do not take analgesics (aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, etc.) Aspirin upsets stomachs and you have enough of that possibility headed your way as it is. One thing you REALLY ought to be aware of -- if you plan on living very long -- is that acetaminophen (Tylenol) in combination with alcohol does HORRENDOUS liver damage. Alcohol alone damages the liver; and acetaminophen (Tylenol) does a little damage to the liver; but if you mix the two, the damage you incur is EXPONENTIAL. Aspirin is a blood thinner, just like alcohol, and can intensify its effects and Tylenol (or acetaminophen) can cause more damage to your liver. Ibuprofen can also cause stomach bleeding. So be cautious when going for the quick relief. [3]
• Drink Coffee. That cup of Joe might perk you up a bit, but coffee is a diuretic which will aggravate the dehydration.

[1] www.soyouwanna.com, (nd). Soyouwanna Cure a Hangover? [online] Available: http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/hangover/hangover.html [accesses 31 December 2007]

[3] www.about.com, (nd). How to Cure a Hangover [online] Available: http://cocktails.about.com/od/healthsafety/ht/hngovr_rmdy.htm [accessed 31 December 2007]