Hello, I'm Emma Hammett from First Aid for Life and onlinefirstaid.com. Today, I want to talk about alcohol, and alcohol poisoning and hangovers, as well. It's really important that we're all sensible with our alcohol and how we approach it, and try not to overdo it because there is so much evidence that says it's not good for us. However, sometimes it all goes a bit wrong, and we can end up feeling rotten the following day.
So here are my seven proven top tips and hangover cures that might make things a little bit easier. So, number one, is a really simple one, limit your alcohol intake. How much or how severe your hangover is or the concentration of alcohol there is in your blood is dependent on all sorts of things. So, your fat to muscle ratio. So, fat absorbs more alcohol than muscle. And your body weight, as well. Your gender, men can drink more than women, generally. When you last ate. The type of alcohol you're drinking and the time you spend drinking it. So they will all affect how drunk you feel and how rotten you feel the following day.
Number two, drink water, keep hydrated. An awful lot of the hangover feelings and effects you have is due to dehydration. Alcohol is a diuretic, it will actually make you pee more. So, we all know that, if you are sitting there drinking, that you will visit the loo far more often. What that will do is be taking, as well as the alcohol, all your water out with you, and you can end up quite severely dehydrated. So match drinking water with drinking alcohol as you go. And start with having preloaded with a bit of water in your system, as well. If you have really overdone it and you are being sick, you will lose even more water. So you are likely to get even more dehydrated, so you will need to replace that fluid.
Three, line your stomach before you go out. It's not a myth, it does make a difference. So, if you have eaten and you have proper food in your stomach before you go out and drink, or if you're drinking with a meal, then you will find that you will get less drunk, and you will feel less rotten the following day. How much sleep you've had also affects your propensity to be able to tolerate alcohol and how rotten you'll feel the next day, as well. So, if you have got sleep deprived, you are likely to have a worse hangover. So, if you could build up your sleep bank before a really heavy night, you are likely to survive it and enjoy it more.
Pres, think very carefully about how you drink and when you drink. I know both my children are quite fond, they're at uni, they're quite fond of going round and having pres, which is basically preloading cheap alcohol from the supermarket before you go to a club, so that you don't have to buy drinks at the club because they'll be more expensive. So you get that drunk feeling before you go out. It's not good for you, and it can lead to people being incredibly drunk. I mean, 337,870 people were admitted to hospital from alcohol, overdoing it on the alcohol, last year, and 5,843 of those died. So, alcohol is serious and overdoing alcohol can have serious repercussions.
I'm going to go into a little bit later what you do for alcohol poisoning, and how to help if you find someone that's unconscious. We run first-aid courses for young people and teenagers, in particular, where we teach them how to help each other if somebody has overdone it at a party. It's not just a young person problem, but it's often young people that don't know how to help each other, and they don't know how to put them properly in the recovery position and why that's important. So, think about how you drink it.
Now this is the interesting one, think about what you drink. Have you heard of congeners? Well congeners are byproducts of the process of breaking down the alcohol, or making the alcohol rather than break it down. So, when you formulate alcohol or you make it, you end up with these byproducts called congeners. One of them is methanol. And they are more prolifically found or readily found in darker alcohols, so like brandy, bourbon, red wine, and that's why, they think, that you end up quite often with a heavier hangover if you've been drinking those sort of drinks. They are not as heavy in gin and rum and in lighter beers, and vodka has hardly any of them.
Now, what happens is that they break down, so methanol, in particular, breaks down into formaldehyde and formic acid. And it's thought that those two byproducts, in particular, actually worsen and prolong a hangover because they make it harder for you to metabolise and break down the alcohol in your system. So the alcohol stays around for longer and can make you feel worse. Now the last one is interesting. It's interesting, it's not something I recommend, but it's saying that actually there might be some truth in that hair of the dog, having a second drink the following day.
From a scientific perspective, if you have these congener byproducts in your system, actually taking an additional drink the following day, they think, may mean that, instead of the methanol breaking down into formaldehyde and formic acid, that actually it inhibits that process, and you then excrete methanol straight through your system, which may mean that your hangover lasts less long. Now, drinking the following day is never recommended because it can lead to very unhealthy relationships with alcohol. So, it's not something I'm recommending, but it is saying that actually there might be some science behind it. So maybe, in time, they will find something that replaces taking another drink but does the same effect.
Now last thing I want to cover very quickly is if you're with someone who has collapsed from drinking too much. So, we've all been there where we've seen people who are absolutely off their head. They have drunk far too much and, if they've been combining it with other substances, well it's really serious. Now one of the most serious elements is dehydration. So, if they are still with it, they should be encouraged to drink some water. So they should be encouraged to rehydrate. If, however, they're out and they're out for the count, and they're really in such a bad state that they're unable to look after their own airway, it's really important you put them in the recovery position. If they are outside, you need to make sure they're warm enough.
Alcohol inhibits your ability to be able to keep yourself warm. So people that have been drinking are far more likely to develop hypothermia. So really important you keep them warm, you put them in the recovery position. You're putting them over enough so that the contents of their stomach will drain out, their tongue will flop forward, and their airway will remain open. If they are being sick, you need to stay with them and make sure that their airway remains open, and that they don't asphyxiate on their vomit.
People do die from drinking too much, and it's really important that somebody is with them and there to help them. I hope that's been helpful. Please come and join one of my first-aid courses, as well. And, if you are a parent of a young person, please send them on our first-aid courses, too. Our next one's in January, and we will make sure that they have the skills to keep each other safe.
7 Proven Hangover Cures and How to Help
So here are my seven proven top tips and hangover cures that might make things a little bit easier. So, number one, is a really simple one, limit your alcohol intake. How much or how severe your hangover is or the concentration of alcohol there is in your blood is dependent on all sorts of things. So, your fat to muscle ratio. So, fat absorbs more alcohol than muscle. And your body weight, as well. Your gender, men can drink more than women, generally. When you last ate. The type of alcohol you're drinking and the time you spend drinking it. So they will all affect how drunk you feel and how rotten you feel the following day.
Number two, drink water, keep hydrated. An awful lot of the hangover feelings and effects you have is due to dehydration. Alcohol is a diuretic, it will actually make you pee more. So, we all know that, if you are sitting there drinking, that you will visit the loo far more often. What that will do is be taking, as well as the alcohol, all your water out with you, and you can end up quite severely dehydrated. So match drinking water with drinking alcohol as you go. And start with having preloaded with a bit of water in your system, as well. If you have really overdone it and you are being sick, you will lose even more water. So you are likely to get even more dehydrated, so you will need to replace that fluid.
Three, line your stomach before you go out. It's not a myth, it does make a difference. So, if you have eaten and you have proper food in your stomach before you go out and drink, or if you're drinking with a meal, then you will find that you will get less drunk, and you will feel less rotten the following day. How much sleep you've had also affects your propensity to be able to tolerate alcohol and how rotten you'll feel the next day, as well. So, if you have got sleep deprived, you are likely to have a worse hangover. So, if you could build up your sleep bank before a really heavy night, you are likely to survive it and enjoy it more.
Pres, think very carefully about how you drink and when you drink. I know both my children are quite fond, they're at uni, they're quite fond of going round and having pres, which is basically preloading cheap alcohol from the supermarket before you go to a club, so that you don't have to buy drinks at the club because they'll be more expensive. So you get that drunk feeling before you go out. It's not good for you, and it can lead to people being incredibly drunk. I mean, 337,870 people were admitted to hospital from alcohol, overdoing it on the alcohol, last year, and 5,843 of those died. So, alcohol is serious and overdoing alcohol can have serious repercussions.
I'm going to go into a little bit later what you do for alcohol poisoning, and how to help if you find someone that's unconscious. We run first-aid courses for young people and teenagers, in particular, where we teach them how to help each other if somebody has overdone it at a party. It's not just a young person problem, but it's often young people that don't know how to help each other, and they don't know how to put them properly in the recovery position and why that's important. So, think about how you drink it.
Now this is the interesting one, think about what you drink. Have you heard of congeners? Well congeners are byproducts of the process of breaking down the alcohol, or making the alcohol rather than break it down. So, when you formulate alcohol or you make it, you end up with these byproducts called congeners. One of them is methanol. And they are more prolifically found or readily found in darker alcohols, so like brandy, bourbon, red wine, and that's why, they think, that you end up quite often with a heavier hangover if you've been drinking those sort of drinks. They are not as heavy in gin and rum and in lighter beers, and vodka has hardly any of them.
Now, what happens is that they break down, so methanol, in particular, breaks down into formaldehyde and formic acid. And it's thought that those two byproducts, in particular, actually worsen and prolong a hangover because they make it harder for you to metabolise and break down the alcohol in your system. So the alcohol stays around for longer and can make you feel worse. Now the last one is interesting. It's interesting, it's not something I recommend, but it's saying that actually there might be some truth in that hair of the dog, having a second drink the following day.
From a scientific perspective, if you have these congener byproducts in your system, actually taking an additional drink the following day, they think, may mean that, instead of the methanol breaking down into formaldehyde and formic acid, that actually it inhibits that process, and you then excrete methanol straight through your system, which may mean that your hangover lasts less long. Now, drinking the following day is never recommended because it can lead to very unhealthy relationships with alcohol. So, it's not something I'm recommending, but it is saying that actually there might be some science behind it. So maybe, in time, they will find something that replaces taking another drink but does the same effect.
Now last thing I want to cover very quickly is if you're with someone who has collapsed from drinking too much. So, we've all been there where we've seen people who are absolutely off their head. They have drunk far too much and, if they've been combining it with other substances, well it's really serious. Now one of the most serious elements is dehydration. So, if they are still with it, they should be encouraged to drink some water. So they should be encouraged to rehydrate. If, however, they're out and they're out for the count, and they're really in such a bad state that they're unable to look after their own airway, it's really important you put them in the recovery position. If they are outside, you need to make sure they're warm enough.
Alcohol inhibits your ability to be able to keep yourself warm. So people that have been drinking are far more likely to develop hypothermia. So really important you keep them warm, you put them in the recovery position. You're putting them over enough so that the contents of their stomach will drain out, their tongue will flop forward, and their airway will remain open. If they are being sick, you need to stay with them and make sure that their airway remains open, and that they don't asphyxiate on their vomit.
People do die from drinking too much, and it's really important that somebody is with them and there to help them. I hope that's been helpful. Please come and join one of my first-aid courses, as well. And, if you are a parent of a young person, please send them on our first-aid courses, too. Our next one's in January, and we will make sure that they have the skills to keep each other safe.
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