Hangover

[Wispy68]

Which alcoholic drinks are least likely to give you a hangover? I've heard that as vodka and Becks (consumed separately!) are the 'purest' drinks, they will give you less of a hangover.

[Obo]

I understand that the clearer the drink the less severe the hangover, so if you stick to Vodka you will get less of a hangover than drinking Guinness all night. There is a particular kind of Vodka which I can't remember the name of (it'll come to me!) which is quadruple distilled to remove all the impurities and so give you no hangover at all. I have only tried it once (at a hotel in Edinburgh) and can't say it works, but that might be more down to the variety of other drinks I consumed that evening. On the other side of the scale in my opinion the one single drink that produces the worst hangovers is Tequila... why do we do it?!

[Obo]

it's called Skyy vodka

[Moog]

Preventing a hangover is not as simple as just drinking the purest alcohol. A hangover is caused by 4 effects:

Firstly, alcohol upsets your body's water balance, so you become dehydrated - side effect of dehydration... headache.

Second, when alcohol is metabolized, it causes your blood to become more acidic than normal (this is called acidosis) which can cause tinnitus, blurred vision, vertigo, visual disturbances, photophobia (turn that god damn light off!) nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Third, alcohol alters the normal daily rhythm of certain body functions including your sleeping and dietary patterns.

Fourth, alcoholic drinks contain certain impurities called congeners which can be toxic (I understand that the manufacturers of Skyy vodka claim to remove all of these)

So simply by drinking a drink with fewer congeners in does not mean you will not get a hang over. Combining this with drinking drinks with a high water content, or alternating alcoholic drinks with water plus that most dreaded of words...moderation. Chin chin!

[xyzzyplugh]

Astounding Moog. You got a doctorate in Alcohol?

[WendyW]

Champagne ..

[Moog]

thank you... if they were a doctorate in alcohol I suspect the years of training I have put into the subject would stand me in good stead to achieve a qualification... prvifing I don't oversleep prior to the final exam as a result of over indulging! Or perhaps that's how you get a 1st?!