I behaved last night. I took my family to a minor league hockey game, came home and played a card game with the older kids, watched the ball drop, then went to bed. I was up at 7:30 and got the family to 8:30 Mass. For those not so fortunate, the NYT has a hangover piece in today's edition. Excerpt:
But no one knows exactly how large a role each of those causes plays, which means that no one knows exactly how to treat them, Dr. Rosenberg said. Besides, he added, certain aspects of the art of hangover management actually do have some basis in science. Salty food, for instance, is not a bad idea, nor are sugary drinks. "You need water and salt to stay hydrated," he said. "But I wouldn't go drinking seawater." The electrolytes - salts - in sports drinks like Gatorade can be helpful, he said.
Other favored hangover balms, however, would seem worthless, he said. Eggs, which many sufferers swear by, are high in protein and cholesterol, but neither of those seems to have anything to do with hangovers. Spicy food will do nothing more "than make your breath smell really interesting," Dr. Rosenberg added. As for the raw fish Mr. Anante relies on, it is of no apparent value, "unless you're a really drunk polar bear."
Hair of the dog, meanwhile, only prolongs dehydration and replenishes the body with toxins. As for fatty foods, they're "a mistake, because the liver can't process all of these things at once," said Dr. Marc K. Siegel, an internist at New York University Medical School. "You're bombarding your liver with a toxin, then bombarding it with fat."
To him the best bet is a cup of coffee, a dash of Mylanta and a lot of water. "It's not sexy," Dr. Siegel said. "But those things work."
See also: Washington Times Link.
