Beer And Wine

This question is vital for people who want to avoid terrible hangovers, important enough to catch the interest of researchers.

For this reason, a group of researchers conducted a study to debunk whether drinking beer before the wine is better than drinking wine before beer. So, we now have an answer.

Should you drink beer before wine? What you drink first doesn’t really matter. Whether you drink beer or wine first, the severity of a hangover is determined by how much alcohol you consumed and not your choice of drink.

This post will debunk why terrible hangovers happen to a person who drinks wine or beer first. For those who want to know the remedy for a terrible hangover, stay tuned as that will be tackled at the latter part.

The Drink Order Doesn’t Affect The Level Of Your Hangover

In a laboratory, German and British researchers worked with 90 volunteers and beer and wine to know whether drinking these beverages affects the level of hangover they impose.

Kai Hensel, a senior clinical worker, stated at Cambridge University that drinking wine or beer first is both okay.

During the research, 19 to 40 years old volunteers were given standardized meals customized to their required energy. Then, they were divided into 3 groups. The first group drank about two and a half pints of lager, a kind of beer. Afterward, they drank four large glasses of white wine.

Meanwhile, the second group was given the same drinks. The only difference is that they have to drink it in reverse order, wine first before beer.

On the other hand, the third group only had wine or beer up to the same breath alcohol concentration. Each volunteer drank up to 0.11% to have the same level of alcohol inside their body.

The researchers kept an eye on the volunteers throughout the session and tested them on how drunk they felt. Each volunteer has also given a glass of water before bed, with size according to their body weight.

The following day, the light-headed volunteers were asked about the level of hangovers they have then scored on the acute hangover scale. This scale ranks factors like fatigue, thirst, dizziness, headache, stomach ache, loss of appetite, and fast heart rate.

After a week, the volunteers returned and did the exercise again. However, those of them who drank beer first before wine started on wine first before beer. The other groups also did the same exercise in vise versa.

This time, the participants showed several hangover symptoms, and one out of ten vomited. But according to the results mentioned in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the drink order did not affect “hangover intensity.”

According to Hensel, you will get the same effect regardless of the drink order of these alcoholic beverages. He also emphasized that the research only compared white wine and beer and didn’t involve red wine, dark beers, or spirits.

Jöran Köchling, the first author of the research from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany, said that consuming too much alcohol can lead to hangovers.

You can only guess how intense your hangover the next day is by observing how drunk you feel after drinking and whether you are sick. So, be careful of these warning signs when drinking.

A psychologist from Keele University, Richard Stephens, also said that hangovers usually depend on your drink quantity. He added that consuming darker drinks give more terrible hangovers since they contain compounds called congeners.

These are compounds that add character and flavor to dark liquors like red wine and darker beer. However, they can also impose unpleasant effects on the body.

Hangovers are a combination of dehydration, inflammation, and low blood sugar levels, a combination that screams misery.

What Causes Hangover Symptoms?

Here is a rundown of factors that contribute to hangovers:

Disturbed Sleep – After drinking alcohol, you might fall asleep faster but with poor quality. You may also wake up earlier than when there is no alcohol in your system. As a result, you will feel exhausted and less productive during the next day.

Mild Dehydration – Alcohol can stop vasopressin release, a hormone that the brain produces. It transmits signals to the kidneys that cause fluid retention.

For this reason, alcohol causes excessive loss of fluids and frequent urination, leading to mild dehydration. This issue might also cause other hangover symptoms like headache, thirst, and fatigue.

Gastrointestinal Irritation – Inside your system, alcohol irritates your stomach lining and increases acid release. As a result, you will experience stomach discomfort along with nausea.

Acetaldehyde Exposure – In the liver, alcohol metabolism produces the compound acetaldehyde. This compound is a toxic and short-lived byproduct that contributes to inflammation in the pancreas, liver, gastrointestinal tract, brain, and other organs.

Inflammation – Alcohol surges inflammation levels in the body. Inflammation could lead to the misery that a person feels when they are sick. It indicates that inflammation plays a role when a person is experiencing a hangover.

Mini-withdrawal – Alcoholic drinks like beer and wine make a person feel calmer, euphoric, and more relaxed. However, the brain adjusts to such positive effects too quickly because it keeps your system balanced. As a result, the person will feel anxious and restless than before drinking.

Due to many different factors, since every person is unique, it is hard to guess how much alcohol can cause a hangover. But, when a person drinks so much to intoxication, the chance of having a hangover is high the next day.

Remedies For Hangover

1. Eat A Good Breakfast

When you feel terrible the next day after drinking, eat a healthy breakfast. This remedy is the easiest thing to do, especially for people accustomed to eating breakfast every day.

A good breakfast helps keep healthy blood sugar levels, which is essential even if low blood sugar levels are not the leading cause of a hangover.

Aside from that, low blood sugar levels in the blood could further some hangover symptoms like weakness, nausea, and fatigue.

Studies also show that keeping an adequate blood sugar level in the blood could alleviate some changes in the body associated with alcohol consumption, like acid buildup in the blood.

Eating a healthy breakfast can also supply essential minerals and vitamins to the body. If you’re not planning to quit drinking beer or wine anytime soon, it is vital to help your body keep up with the vitamins and minerals you lose due to excessive alcohol intake.

2. Get Plenty Of Sleep

Alcohol is associated with decreased sleep quality as it causes sleep disturbances and shorter sleep duration in some individuals.

Low to moderate alcohol levels might promote sleep for some. According to studies, higher amounts of alcohol and frequent consumption can result in disturbed sleep patterns.

Lack of sleep might not cause a hangover, but it can make it worse. Irritability, fatigue, and headaches are all symptoms of hangover that could also aggravate due to lack of sleep. Isn’t it like a domino effect?

Knowing this, you should aim to get enough sleep and rest when combating a hangover. It would help let your body recover from the energy loss of staying up all night at a party and the fatigue caused by alcohol.

3. Stay Hydrated

As mentioned earlier, too much alcohol in your system can cause mild dehydration. Alcohol is a diuretic. It forces you to take a bathroom trip many times a day to urinate, resulting in the body’s loss of electrolytes and fluids. It can also trigger vomiting, which makes the situation worse.

Dehydration might not lead to a hangover, but it could worsen other symptoms like fatigue, thirst, dizziness, and headache. Adding more water to your body can help to relieve hangover symptoms and even prevent them at once.

It is an excellent technique to alternate between a glass of water and your choice of liquor. It might not necessarily prevent dehydration, but it helps to reduce your alcohol consumption.

Whenever you feel thirsty, drink water to alleviate hangover symptoms. Then, keep your body hydrated the entire day by consuming enough water.

4. Try Taking Some Of These Supplements

According to studies, the following supplements can help to relieve hangover symptoms:

Red ginseng – Taking red ginseng while experiencing a hangover could make you feel better because, according to studies, it reduces alcohol levels in the blood and reduces the symptoms of a hangover.

Prickly pear – Research shows that prickly pear, a type of cactus, helps with hangovers. Its extract is used to remedy hangover symptoms and alleviate the risk of its severity in half.

Ginger – Mixing ginger, tangerine extract, and brown sugar are said to improve the symptoms of a hangover like vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea.

Borage oil – A study also shows that borage oil, an oil extracted from starflower seeds, reduces hangover symptoms by 88% when combined with prickly pear.

Eleuthero – Also popular with the name Siberian ginseng, a study shows that consuming eleuthero extract helps to reduce several hangover symptoms and their severity.

Conclusion

To conclude, there is no problem with drinking wine or beer first, as your drink order won’t affect the severity of a hangover. When you drink moderately, you could also avoid feeling terrible the next day.

You will only experience a hangover when too much alcohol is in your system. But in case of a hangover, relieve its symptoms by trying the supplements mentioned earlier.