Tuesday 18 November 2014

The morning after the night before

It’s a characteristic of alcohol that if you enjoy it a bit too much you will be made to pay later on in the form of a hangover. Different individuals are affected to different degrees of severity, which is what I was rather imperfectly trying to get at with this poll. Several people made the comment “it depends how much I drink”, which is a statement of the obvious really, but the same amount will affect some much worse than others, even if they are both experienced drinkers.

I’ve heard it suggested that being immune to hangovers can be a factor leading people to alcoholism as they are never made to pay for over-indulgence. There’s certainly a drinker of my acquaintance noted for his heroic consumption over many years who claimed that he never got hangovers. On the other side of the coin, if you suffer particularly badly it may lead you not to bother much with alcohol at all.

The results of the poll seem to bear this out, with a heavy weighting towards the “only slightly” category. As you grow older, you tend to learn what is enough, and what too much, but even then you might occasionally be inclined to say “oh, sod it” in full knowledge of what the following morning will bring.

10 comments:

  1. You don't jet hangovers from pure cask conditioned CAMRA approved ambrosia.

    Hangovers only come from that keg chemical fizz that the ignorami drink.

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  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ERILwYZ-GA

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  3. No no, that brown stuff which is sent out with bits floating in it is a guaranteed hangover (amongst other things.)

    If you stick to pure Czech and German brews however, you will wake refreshed with a song in your heart and a spring in your step.

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  4. I know I'm perhaps preaching to the converted but I don't suffer from acute hangovers if I stick to good beer. It is generally only if I've been forced to drink cheap lager, or worse start drinking spirits that I'll be in a poor state the next day. I managed a 15 mile run the morning after 10 pints of German lager last weekend. It wasn't pretty, mind.

    With all types of beer though, I find it quite difficult to get smashed to the point of a bad hangover. After about six pints it becomes self limiting because of the full and bloated feeling and consumption rapidly drops off.

    I'm no medical marvel of course, my performance the next day will always be sub par after a night on the pop, but I'm usually able to function pretty well, if I force myself to get up. It's the days where you have nothing to get up for that they can drag on.

    My tip, down a bottle of water with a High5 hydration tablet in before bed. You can pick them up from Holland and Barrett, but avoid the flavour with caffeine in it!

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  5. Professor Pie-Tin18 November 2014 at 15:59

    I'm on a one day a week drinking regime at the moment in preparation for a ten day drinkathon in foreign climes.

    Whenever I do this healthy malarkey I always feel better the morning after a feed of drink than on all the other mornings after an abstemious night.

    Fact is after all these years my body knows I'm a pisshead and has adjusted itself accordingly.

    A hangover without having drunk an booze is just God having a laugh.

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  6. The only hangovers I have these days is if I go on a CAMRA pub crawl. Some of the ropey pubs and dodgy beer you end up necking does your insides no good.

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  7. Martin, Cambridge18 November 2014 at 23:55

    Come on then Curmudgeon, how many pints of Unicorn does it take to give you a hangover ? Do you drink pints on those S&SM crawls ?

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  8. how many pints of Unicorn does it take to give you a hangover?

    I'd generally restrict myself to a maximum of four on a school night. I actually do get bad hangovers if I overdo it.

    Do you drink pints on those S&SM crawls?

    In general, no, and neither do most others. Maybe at the first and last pub.

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  9. An interesting question would be: how many pints in a given time frame would give you a hangover?

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  10. I usually don't suffer too bad from hangovers. Handy really, when your job is professional piss head. It helps to be able to wallop a fair bit of neck oil before writing it up for CAMRA. I did have a heavy night and feel well rough recently.

    It was when I turned up in your neck of the woods and had a skin full with you and Clarkey. Good God, you lot can sink it, big style. I've not been that rat arsed for yonks. I wasn't even going that mad, just trying to keep up with you both. I swear Clarkey was even getting slotters in. Woke up that morning dog rough. Was picking kebab meat out of my teeth for days. Still, happy days. You gotta have a skin full from time to time. What happened to them dwarfs Clarkey was throwing in the beer garden? Hope he didn't hurt 'em.

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