Our BetterMost Community > The Polling Place

Did you wake up with a hangover on New Year's Day?

(1/6) > >>

Kerry:
Did you wake up with a hangover on New Year’s Day?


1940s-era revelers recover from New Year’s Eve
celebrations in New York’s Grand Central Station
Did you wake up with a hangover on New Year’s Day? Tell the truth!

I read the following article in Time magazine and thought “hangovers” might be a good topic for a poll, particularly at this time of year.

Give your response to the poll above and tell us if you have any tried and tested hangover cures.

Here’s the Time magazine article, written by Claire Suddath:

"Whatever your reasons – celebration, loneliness, attempting to figure out what “Auld Lang Syne” actually means – if you drank too much on Dec 31, you probably rang in the New Year with a pounding headache and regular trips to the bathroom. If so, don’t worry; you wouldn’t be the first person to endure a hangover, and although it may feel like it, you won’t be the last.

When the ancient Assyrians felt the painful aftereffects of excess merriment, they consumed a mixture of ground birds’ beak and myrrh. In the Middle Ages bleary Europeans munched on raw eel and bitter almonds. Mongolians ate pickled sheep’s eyes, while the Chinese went with a more palatable dose of green tea. The German ate Katerfruhstuck, a post-binge breakfast of herring, pickles and goulash. Russians don’t eat anything at all; they jump into the sauna and sweat it out. In 1845, Italian Bernardino Branca developed a cure-all he called Fernet – an 80-proof concoction containing myrrh, rhubarb, aloe, peppermint oil and opiates – to treat ailments like hangover and cholera. Fernet is still available (now opiate-free), although it’s usually served as an after-dinner drink. Here are a few more exotic cures:
*  4th Century B.C. – Greek poet Amphis recommends boiled cabbage for overindulgers.
*  1853 – London’s D.R.Harris & Co markets the Pick Me Up herbal tonic, which is still available.
*  1916 – For his first day on the job, P.G.Wodehouse’s famous fictional valet, Jeeves, whips up a curative of Worcestershire sauce, raw egg and pepper, and is hired on the spot.
*  1972 – Kingsley Amis publishes the book “On Drink,” featuring a hangover remedy called the Polish Bison (beef paste and vodka). Actually, many of the book’s suggested cures involve more drinking.

American remedies typically include tomato juice and occasionally a raw egg (for protein), although the past decade has seen the debut of pills that supposedly help the liver by absorbing toxins. But alcohol’s by-products are only part of the problem: dehydration and out-of-whack electrolytes can’t be fixed with a pill. A traditional Japanese remedy, umeboshi (pickled plums), is currently touted by Hollywood nutritionist Esther Blum. But whatever your tonic of choice, remember that it probably won’t work. Hangovers exist for a reason: your body is telling you that you drank too much."

Kerry:
I did not wake up with a hangover on New Year's Day. I had a couple of glasses on Merlot with dinner on New Year's Eve and had no more to drink later in the night, not even at Midnight.

It's a superstition of mine that the more rowdy and celebratory my New Year's Eve, the more disappointing will be the New Year for me. It is my belief that the quieter I welcome in the New Year on New Year's Eve, the more pleasurable and rewarding the New Year will be for me.

Just a silly little superstition of mine.

David In Indy:
I didn't have a hangover, but I didn't abstain either. I got as drunk as hell that night. A few of my friends were not as fortunate.

Anyway, I don't think I'm going to throw a New Year's party next year. Somebody ralphed in my downstairs bathroom and I had to clean it up. :P

serious crayons:
My experience on NY Eve was somewhere between Kerry's and David's. I had a martini, some wine, and some prosecco around midnight. But that was all stretched over about eight hours. I also ate a big meal -- steak, lobster, cheesy potatoes, flan -- and was with my son as well as other family and friends. So it was a festive but not wild night. At 2 a.m. I was really sleepy, so went to bed and got up about 8:30 or 9 feeling good.

My preferred hangover cures, which date back to college days:

1) A giant greasy meal.

2) Lots of coffee.

3) Marijuana.

4) Lots of sleep.

5) A shower.

6) A bloody Mary.

7) Exercise, if you can handle it -- yoga or something not too frenetic is best.

I read that the most effective hangover cures are those that distract your body and get it concentrating on something else. That's why a greasy meal (hard to digest) or spicy foods are said to be effective.

I'm not sure why consuming more alcohol (such as a bloody Mary) is effective, but I can testify that it works, also.

Side note: In my college days, I used to come home from the bars at 2 a.m. and make huge meals, such as potato pancakes or huevos rancheros. I can't say they necessarily prevented hangovers, but they were delicious! Nowadays, though, I wouldn't have the energy.

Kerry:

--- Quote from: DavidinIndy on January 08, 2009, 11:09:51 pm ---I didn't have a hangover, but I didn't abstain either. I got as drunk as hell that night. A few of my friends were not as fortunate.

Anyway, I don't think I'm going to throw a New Year's party next year. Somebody ralphed  in my downstairs bathroom and I had to clean it up. :P

--- End quote ---

 :laugh:

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page