Quizzes & Puzzles3 mins ago
Roughly how much water does the human body lose after a night of hard drinking???
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When you have a hard nights drinking the next day you're inevitably dehydrated but no matter how much you drink you still feel the same way for a long time is the human body bad at reabsorbing lost water, if so why?
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I am not a scientist and you may well get a better answer from" Lazygun" or "the prof" two Abers who are scientists.
As I see it, there is no answer to your question, but there are two scenarios.
1) You are drinking shorts all night.
2) You are drinking beer all night.
The greatest diuretic is water itself...the more water you take in, the more you pee.
Alcohol compared with water is a weak diuretic.
1) drinking shorts all night will only marginally exceed what you would have drunk if you hadn´t had a night of drink....so you would not pass an abnormal excess of fluid say 100 mls more at the very most.
2) Drinking pints of beer is a different ball game in that you may drink a litre of fluid and this has to be got rid of, so in that case, you would pass at least 1lire of fluid, ten times the amount had you been on shorts.
Hangovers are not just a matter of dehydration, but also the effect of alcohol on the brain.
As I see it, there is no answer to your question, but there are two scenarios.
1) You are drinking shorts all night.
2) You are drinking beer all night.
The greatest diuretic is water itself...the more water you take in, the more you pee.
Alcohol compared with water is a weak diuretic.
1) drinking shorts all night will only marginally exceed what you would have drunk if you hadn´t had a night of drink....so you would not pass an abnormal excess of fluid say 100 mls more at the very most.
2) Drinking pints of beer is a different ball game in that you may drink a litre of fluid and this has to be got rid of, so in that case, you would pass at least 1lire of fluid, ten times the amount had you been on shorts.
Hangovers are not just a matter of dehydration, but also the effect of alcohol on the brain.
Ask this question again when you have sobered up. If you drink a litre of water you will weigh 1Kg more. If you lose a litre of water through peeing, sweating, defaecating, breathing, etc. you will weigh 1Kg less so weigh yourself before and after and tell us the answer.. It may be that the brain tells you to drink more water to flush all the alcohol and breakdown products out of your body so that you do not die of poisoning or to replace the water that you have lost having already done this.
Hmm.... Listening to people describing their hangovers, you do get the impression that they view the process of dehydration as somehow reducing the size of the brain down to about the size ( and texture) of a walnut! :)
Firstly, Not sure that I would agree with the statement that water is a diuretic - although it can elicit diuresis, which is the increased excretion of urine to remove excess fluid. A diuretic elicits diuresis through an active ingredient, if you will, which means that it would elicit diuresis even if your body wasnt excessively hydrated. Alcohol inhibits the natural release of anti-diuretic hormone, which is the bodies own fluid balance regulator.
A hangover is rather more than just dehydration.It is usually a mix of symptoms, of which a headache is just one, and this mix of symptoms derives from a variety of causes.
Alcohol is a poison and can have a profound effect on the Central Nervous System. It promotes excessive sweating, which further speeds up the process of dehydration. It or its breakdown products effect prostaglandins in the body, which are ,amongst other things, part of the bodies pain regulation system. Its causes dilation of blood vessels, which in the brain can put pressure on pain sensors.The breakdown products of alcohol also have a number of toxins, all of which will adversely effect a variety of the bodies essential systems.
Then you have the other effects of alcohol or acetaldehyde poisoning on the body - the shakes, nausea, diarrhoea, hypoglycaemia - the list goes on :)
Absolutely the best way to combat many of these effects is to drink a couple of pints of water prior to sleep - that or drink a bit less alcohol :)
Firstly, Not sure that I would agree with the statement that water is a diuretic - although it can elicit diuresis, which is the increased excretion of urine to remove excess fluid. A diuretic elicits diuresis through an active ingredient, if you will, which means that it would elicit diuresis even if your body wasnt excessively hydrated. Alcohol inhibits the natural release of anti-diuretic hormone, which is the bodies own fluid balance regulator.
A hangover is rather more than just dehydration.It is usually a mix of symptoms, of which a headache is just one, and this mix of symptoms derives from a variety of causes.
Alcohol is a poison and can have a profound effect on the Central Nervous System. It promotes excessive sweating, which further speeds up the process of dehydration. It or its breakdown products effect prostaglandins in the body, which are ,amongst other things, part of the bodies pain regulation system. Its causes dilation of blood vessels, which in the brain can put pressure on pain sensors.The breakdown products of alcohol also have a number of toxins, all of which will adversely effect a variety of the bodies essential systems.
Then you have the other effects of alcohol or acetaldehyde poisoning on the body - the shakes, nausea, diarrhoea, hypoglycaemia - the list goes on :)
Absolutely the best way to combat many of these effects is to drink a couple of pints of water prior to sleep - that or drink a bit less alcohol :)
Sorry, just meant to add - It is unlikely that you will feel amy kind of quick beneficial effect of drinking water or fluid hours after you have binged - By then, alcohol has made its effects felt, as have the breakdown products of alcohol in the body. What you really need to do is to dilute the alcohol in the body and provide some excess fluid to combat dehydration before you sleep - so a couple of pints then can ameliorate the effects.
It’s not so much that the body is bad at reabsorbing water, rather it depends on the rate of metabolism of alcohol and the elimination of alcohol by-products from the body.
First of all, the ethanol content of alcoholic beverages is expressed by volume percent or by proof. Proof is a measure of the absolute ethanol content of distilled liquor, and is calculated by determining its specific gravity at an index temperature. In the United Kingdom, the Customs and Excise Act of 1952, declared proof spirits (100 proof) as those in which the weight of the spirits is 12/13 the weight of an equal volume of distilled water at 11 degrees C (51F). Thus, proof spirits are 48.24% ethanol by weight, or 57.06% by volume. Other spirits are designated over or underproof, with the percentage of variance noted. In the United States, a proof spirit (100 proof) is one containing 50% ethanol by volume
For a typical 70-kg person, a “standard drink” (15 g of ethanol),defined as 1 oz (30 mL) of 100 proof liquor, about a 4-oz (120-mL) glass of wine (12% ethanol), or about a 10-oz bottle (300-mL) of beer (5% ethanol), could raise blood ethanol concentration by 43 mg/dL (9.35 mmol/L). However, this is the theoretical maximum ethanol concentration, based on instantaneous and complete ethanol absorption and no distribution or metabolism following a “standard drink” by a typical 70-kg person.
Following complete distribution, ethanol is present in body tissues in a concentration proportional to that of the tissue water content. The concentration in the blood is maintained by back diffusion, which occurs whenever the concentration in the blood falls below that of the tissues.
First of all, the ethanol content of alcoholic beverages is expressed by volume percent or by proof. Proof is a measure of the absolute ethanol content of distilled liquor, and is calculated by determining its specific gravity at an index temperature. In the United Kingdom, the Customs and Excise Act of 1952, declared proof spirits (100 proof) as those in which the weight of the spirits is 12/13 the weight of an equal volume of distilled water at 11 degrees C (51F). Thus, proof spirits are 48.24% ethanol by weight, or 57.06% by volume. Other spirits are designated over or underproof, with the percentage of variance noted. In the United States, a proof spirit (100 proof) is one containing 50% ethanol by volume
For a typical 70-kg person, a “standard drink” (15 g of ethanol),defined as 1 oz (30 mL) of 100 proof liquor, about a 4-oz (120-mL) glass of wine (12% ethanol), or about a 10-oz bottle (300-mL) of beer (5% ethanol), could raise blood ethanol concentration by 43 mg/dL (9.35 mmol/L). However, this is the theoretical maximum ethanol concentration, based on instantaneous and complete ethanol absorption and no distribution or metabolism following a “standard drink” by a typical 70-kg person.
Following complete distribution, ethanol is present in body tissues in a concentration proportional to that of the tissue water content. The concentration in the blood is maintained by back diffusion, which occurs whenever the concentration in the blood falls below that of the tissues.
Ethanol is primarily (90%) eliminated by the liver via enzymatic oxidation, with 5–10% excreted unchanged by the kidneys, lungs, and sweat. Ethanol is metabolised via at least three different pathways: the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) pathway, located in the cytosol of the hepatocytes; the MEOS (CYP2E1), located on the endoplasmic reticulum; and the peroxidase–catalase system, associated with the hepatic peroxisomes.
The ADH system is both the main pathway for ethanol metabolism in the body and is the rate-limiting step. ADH is a zinc metalloenzyme that uses oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) as a hydrogen ion acceptor to oxidize ethanol to acetaldehyde. In this process, a hydrogen ion is transferred from ethanol to NAD, converting it to its reduced form, NADH. Subsequently, a hydrogen ion is transferred from acetaldehyde to NAD. Under normal conditions acetate is converted to acetylcoenzyme A (acetyl-CoA), which enters the Krebs cycle and is metabolized to carbon dioxide and water. The entry of acetyl-CoA into the Krebs cycle is dependent on thiamine.
The MEOS (CYP2E1) is responsible for very little ethanol metabolism in the uninitiated drinker, but becomes more important as the ethanol concentration rises or as ethanol use becomes chronic. CYP2E1 uses oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) as an electron acceptor to oxidize ethanol to acetaldehyde. In this process, electrons are transferred from ethanol to NADP, converting it to its reduced form, NADPH. Subsequently, acetaldehyde is further oxidized to acetate, as a hydrogen ion is transferred from acetaldehyde to NADP. ADH is saturated at relatively low blood ethanol concentrations. As the system is saturated, ethanol elimination changes from first-order to zero-order kinetics.
The ADH system is both the main pathway for ethanol metabolism in the body and is the rate-limiting step. ADH is a zinc metalloenzyme that uses oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) as a hydrogen ion acceptor to oxidize ethanol to acetaldehyde. In this process, a hydrogen ion is transferred from ethanol to NAD, converting it to its reduced form, NADH. Subsequently, a hydrogen ion is transferred from acetaldehyde to NAD. Under normal conditions acetate is converted to acetylcoenzyme A (acetyl-CoA), which enters the Krebs cycle and is metabolized to carbon dioxide and water. The entry of acetyl-CoA into the Krebs cycle is dependent on thiamine.
The MEOS (CYP2E1) is responsible for very little ethanol metabolism in the uninitiated drinker, but becomes more important as the ethanol concentration rises or as ethanol use becomes chronic. CYP2E1 uses oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) as an electron acceptor to oxidize ethanol to acetaldehyde. In this process, electrons are transferred from ethanol to NADP, converting it to its reduced form, NADPH. Subsequently, acetaldehyde is further oxidized to acetate, as a hydrogen ion is transferred from acetaldehyde to NADP. ADH is saturated at relatively low blood ethanol concentrations. As the system is saturated, ethanol elimination changes from first-order to zero-order kinetics.
In adults, the average rate of ethanol metabolism is 100–125 mg/kg/h in occasional drinkers and up to 175 mg/kg/h in habitual drinkers. As a result, the average-sized adult metabolises 7–10 g/h and the blood ethanol concentration falls 15–20 mg/dL/h (3.26–4.35 mmol/L/h). Tolerant drinkers, by recruiting CYP2E1, may increase their clearance of ethanol to 30 mg/dL/h (6.52 mmol/L/h). Studies of ethanol-intoxicated patients indicate that although the average ethanol clearance rate is about 20 mg/dL/h (4.35 mmol/L/h), there is considerable individual variation (standard deviation of about6 mg/dL/h [1.30 mmol/L/h]).
Ingestion of water prior to sleep will assist in eliminating ethanol, its by-products and the congeners in the beverage from the body more rapidly than if no water is consumed. As LazyGun implies, this will counteract the dehydration during sleep. The benefit of water consumption the morning after is negligible.
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