Bartending Tips to Cure Hangover

It happens to all of us. OK, maybe not to all of us, as some never drink alcohol (fitness, religion, abstinence) while others drink moderately. But it does happen to many of us. Too much alcohol and the morning after is ruined. You probably remember the symptoms of a hangover: dehydration and incontrollable thirst, vertigo, muscle aches and redness of the eyes and let?s not forget tiredness and sensitivity to light. In some cases, to complete ?the fun? you might add to the list diarrhea, trembling and difficulty to sleep.

To avoid all these problems there are some bartending tips that you should know. Bartenders are familiar with what types of alcohol cause what types of hangovers. For example red wine and dark liquors cause the strongest hangovers because they have the largest amount of toxins. White drinks (wine, vodka, gin and white schnapps) lead to lighter hangovers. Because of its impurities and the carbonation, beer might cause really nasty hangovers. Many beer drinkers say that there?s nothing worse than a beer hangover. The carbonation in drinks (including sparkling wines) speeds up the absorption of alcohol. This is why, after drinking champagne or sparkling wine women get easily drunk, despite the low concentration of alcohol (compared to vodka, bourbon and other strong drinks). One of the reasons why bartenders know so much about the different effects of each drink on your body is that they need to mix up drinks to create those tasty cocktails that crown an exotic evening. What you don?t know (but should learn from bartending) is that combining drinks leads to the worse possible hangovers you can imagine.

And here are the most important bartending tips to cure your hangover:

- Don?t drink more. Many alcohol consumers believe that a small drink (or a beer) will act as a remedy. Well it doesn?t. It might give you the illusion that you feel better, but in truth you will only cause unnecessary aggression upon your liver.

- Coffee is no remedy either: it is a diuretic and a vasoconstrictor. It will only increase the severity of the hangover, so avoid drinking it.

- A popular remedy is eating raw eggs. This is indeed a remedy, if you can take it. If not, here is a bartending tip: separate the yolk from the white. Put the yolk into a coffee cup, add one teaspoon of sugar and mix till you form a creamy paste. That won?t taste so bad. The reason why the yolk works as a remedy is that it contains cysteine ? a very important antioxidant and a substance fundamental to help the liver produce glutathione (and fight against the toxic effect of the alcohol).

- Eating bananas or kiwis will work too. These are rich in potassium and eating them will make up for the loss of potassium caused by the diuretic effect of the alcohol.

- Last but not least, drink water and juices. Sugar is important to leverage your body?s energy so you might want to add some sugar into the water.

And these are some of the tips known by any professional bartender. If you want to know the best tip to prevent hangovers, here it goes: don?t drink.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Bartending