While everyone loves a good beer (everyone who likes beer that is…) it is certainly one of those things that is best enjoyed in moderation and it is definitely possible to have too much of a good thing. However while we all know that, most of us would admit to occasionally having too much of a good thing ourselves and waking up with a splitting headache to remind us of our exploits the previous night. This is a very visceral example of the pleasure pain principle – you enjoy a few delicious glasses of beer and have a good time with your friends, and then you have to pay your penance the next day in the form of a splitting headache and stomach pains to match.

We know this as a ‘hangover’, a word spoken in hushed and scared tones, but it is something that can be avoided. Here we will look at what you need to do to avoid a hangover and still enjoy a good night out with your friends.

Eat First:

It’s very important that you line your stomach the night before by eating a good amount and that you don’t start drinking when you’re hungry. If you neglect this step then you’ll find that the alcohol gets absorbed into your blood stream much more quickly and more thoroughly and this will cause you to quickly become drunk. And should your excesses result in your being sick then you will find that you end up hurting yourself more if you don’t have anything to bring up.

Drink Lots of Water:

This is the other crucial step – by drinking lots of water throughout the night you will avoid the dehydration that causes you to develop a headache. Meanwhile it will also help to dilute the alcohol concentration in your blood and encourage you to continually ‘flush’ your system with even more frequent trips to the toilet. It’s also a good idea to have a big drink of water before you go to bed.

Pace Yourself:

As soon as you start drinking beer, your body will begin to try and remove the alcohol from your blood stream. It then becomes a race between you and your liver – if you slow the pace of your drinking down a little then it will mean your body removes the alcohol as quickly as you take it in. In fact if you drink slowly enough it is even possible to sober up while still drinking due to the water content in the beer and the function of the body.

Don’t Mix:

Different alcoholic beverages affect us slightly differently, and so mixing them can cause them to become more potent and make you drunk a lot faster. You can avoid this by sticking mainly to the same drink (beer in this case), and by mixing sensibly when you do. Remember: wine before beer will make you feel weird, but beer before wine and you’ll feel fine.

Know When to Stop:

Of course this is the obvious solution to preventing a hangover, but because alcohol affects us differently depending on lots of factors it can sometimes be easier said than done. The solution then is to…

Know Your Body:

By noting when you get hangovers and what you had eating/had to drink the night before it is possible to spot correlations and thereby avoid getting ill in future. You may find that certain drinks are more likely to give you a headache than others, or that you get hangovers on days when you’re very tired. By knowing how your body reacts, you can know when and what you should be drinking and how to avoid the repercussions.

Get Lots of Quality Sleep:

When you’re asleep your body will be working in over-time to undo the damage you’ve caused and you won’t be aware of the headache at the same time. If you get a good night’s sleep in other words, you can look forward to waking up after the hangover.

Jeet is working for 1001BeerSteins.com and has recently launched new types of Glass mugs which he is trying to advertise with the help of his blog.