Hangover Drink Breakdown: What Actually Works To Detox Your Body After Drinking Too Much
Oops, you did it again … Except, we’re not talking about playing with someone’s heart. Rather, we’re talking about going a little too hard the night before. We’ve all been there, done that, claiming you’ll never do it again. But then, Friday night rolls around and you suddenly find yourself chasing a shot with a seltzer. Was it the best choice? Debatable. But did you have fun? Absolutely.
Now, though, you’re feeling the effects of your overindulgence. While it would be nice to lay around all day and nurse your hangover, there are better ways to beat the nausea, muscle aches and brain fog. One such trick is a hangover detox drink.
Science Behind Hangovers
If you’re like many people, you assume that the hangover is the result of dehydration, sugar overload and lack of sleep. While each of these factors does play a role in your next-day discomfort, they are not completely to blame. Rather, what is going on in your body is much more complex than that. To better understand how a good thing can turn so bad so quickly, it may help to understand the science behind the hangover.
Your Body is Slow to Process Alcohol
One of the main reasons you experience a hangover after a night out is simply because your body is slow to digest the alcohol. When you consume alcohol, your body attempts to metabolize it via the enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase. As ADH breaks down the ethanol, it transforms it into acetaldehyde. Once the transformation is complete, the body quickly attempts to break it down into water and carbon dioxide.
A hangover is what happens between the formation of acetaldehyde and it turning into H2O and CO2. Some people’s bodies can break acetaldehyde down quickly, while others take much longer. The slow breakdown of acetaldehyde — and, therefore, its ability to linger in the body — is what triggers the unpleasant after-effects of overindulgence, which include nausea, feeling flushed and rapid heart rate.
Another factor that contributes to hangovers is high levels of congeners. Some alcohols, such as red wines and distilled spirits, contain more congeners than others. Among other ingredients, congeners contain methanol. Methanol is a byproduct of sugar fermentation and has been proven to exacerbate hangover symptoms. This is because ADH cannot metabolize methanol as quickly as it can ethanol. The longer methanol lingers in the body, the longer it has transformed into formic acid and formaldehyde, neither of which the body tolerates too well.
Alcohol Can Cause Inflammation
Another reason you may feel down in the dumps after a night out is that adult beverages may cause inflammation. Though inflammation is necessary for fighting off germs, too much inflammation — and on too frequent a basis — can cause the immune system to turn on itself. When it does, the symptoms can be uncomfortable. Common signs of chronic inflammation include nausea, vomiting, confusion, headache and tremors.
Alcohol is Dehydrating
Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it increases urination and results in an excess loss of fluids. Even mild dehydration can cause discomfort; if you are majorly dehydrated after an overly-happy happy hour, you may experience dry mouth, fatigue, muscle aches and headaches.
Your Stomach Lining May Protest too Much of a Good Thing
Finally, alcohol increases acid release within the gut and irritates the stomach lining. Symptoms of gut irritation include, among other things, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Benefits of Detoxing After a Big Night Out
So, the damage is done. No amount of studying the hangover is going to save you. What may save you, though, is a morning recovery detox drink.
Though how a detox may save you from the dreaded all-day hangover depends largely on the detox in question, detoxing in general can kickstart your body’s natural cleansing process and push toxins out of your system more quickly than your digestive tract might have otherwise. This is particularly promising for individuals whose bodies are slow to break down acetaldehyde.
Not only does a detox drink jumpstart the cleansing process but also, it fills the body up with much-needed vitamins and nutrients. When you flush lingering alcohol and replace it with beneficial substances, you can power up your urinary detox and circulatory processes, thereby helping you feel much better faster. To top it all off, detox drinks are full of water and electrolytes, both of which can help counteract the effects of dehydration.
Hack Your Hangovers With Herbal Cleanses
At Detoxify, we’re all about helping you cleanse your system and achieve optimal mental clarity, regardless of what’s causing you to feel off your game. We accomplish this objective through a few proprietary products:
- Mega Clean: Mega Clean contains some of nature’s most powerful herbs for digestive health, including Uva Ursi, burdock root, stinging nettle and American ginseng. Together, these ingredients, combined with a few others, help eliminate high levels of toxins in as few as three to four hours.
- XXtra Clean: If a hangover has you feeling all sorts of moody and lethargic to boot, XXtra clean can help. The contents of this detox drink reduce feelings of stress, improve mood and boost energy levels all within three to four hours.
- Ready Clean: If you’re not quite on the verge of being hungover and still experiencing that pesky brain fog, Ready Clean can help. In addition to restoring mental clarity, Ready Clean makes for a great pre-cleanse or tool for everyday toxin exposure.
- Mega Clean NT: If you have no time to waste, you may need to turn to our most powerful cleanse yet — Mega Clean NT. This detox is similar in makeup to Mega Clean except that it contains a metabolic-enhancing capsule and is thereby capable of delivering optimal results in no time.
Take Polisorb (While the Alcohol is Still in Your System) to Reduce Next-Day Hangover Symptoms
A glass of water and a serving of our single, pure ingredient is what you need to combat hangover symptoms, gas and a bubbling gut. If you take Polisorb immediately after returning home from the bar, you can rid your body of toxins almost as quickly as you let them in while enjoying these bonus benefits:
✅ Skip the next day hangover
✅ Relieve nausea & upset stomach
✅ Hydrate faster than water alone
✅ Target and help your circulatory, urinary and digestive systems remove toxins
✅ Replenish the essential vitamins and minerals your body needs
Don’t waste another day hungover. Shop Hangover Bundles
Hangovers don’t have to be a guaranteed side-effect of a good time. With the right detox drinks in your arsenal, you can banish hangover symptoms for good. For more tips on how to detox after drinking, head over to our detox blog.
