Ayurveda Remedies,Anti-hangovers and Binge Drinking
Keywords: Anti-hangover, Ayurveda remedies, millennials and drinking, hangover, blood sugar levels, Binge drinking
Anecdotally you may drink a glass of pickle juice or rub lemon in your armpits before drinking. Such anecdotes have not been tested scientifically. In fact testing hangovers, behaviors and anti-hangovers are tricky.
In the western world, drinking millennials are getting smarter than baby boomers or generations X and Y. A huge number of millennials are recognizing the benefits of nature cure for many ailments including binge drinking,hangovers and wellness. You all are more active gym-goers and probably spiritual too. The Eastern world is in turn recognizing the worth of their own ancient Ayurveda science and value of their plants, herbs, and roots.
According to ‘Heartbeat’ published by Harvard Medical School binging or over-drinking may lead to your heart beating faster, blood pressure shooting up or vertigo, so a good bet is plenty of hydration from water. “Alcohol can trigger migraine (alcohol-induced migraine) which drinkers may not associate with”.
“Hangover begins after the blood sugar level drops and the worst-case scenario is: when they reach ZERO”.
“Drinking problems can be genetic, a family history of alcoholism: such people may have worse hangovers, so they drink more as anti-hangover”. Most doctors don’t recommend it and call it “Hair of the dog”. Talking of hair of the dog or the hair of the dog that bit you, Dr. Swift advises against more drinking as anti-hangover or remedy saying: “the hair of the dog just perpetrates a cycle,” and “it doesn’t allow you to recover”
It is worth noting that the millennials are popping less allopathic pills than their mum and dad. Old practices and advice whether it is from ‘Heartbeat’ the Harvard Medical school top health magazine or from mum & dad are not holding much weight. The millennials want quick results-oriented and practical anti-hangover ‘stuff’, for their binge drinking rituals, if I may. Ayurveda Sciences have stepped up to rescue the binge drinkers specifically and everyone else who needs to be rescued him/her self with natural herbs.
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Ayurveda giant pharma’s like Himalaya and Dr. Vaidya in recent years have been supplying ‘party packs’ of herbal capsules for Us $ 8-10 as anti-hangover pearls. Himalaya’s ‘Party Smart’ anti-hangover capsules are available for you in the US. Another company Akiva sells ashwagandha shots of Triphala and amla in the US and the UK. There are other newbies on this nascent but fast-growing territory of anti-hangovers: anti-hangover capsules, powders, fizzy drinks or shots. Ayurvedic health systems have stepped up and are there to support you all, in your youthful challenges like ‘ who can drink more?’ or ‘ who can remain sober and not have a hangover?’. Some of you are binge drinkers, others are gym-goers, into workouts, and still, others who are spiritual and into meditation. Finally, there are the baby boomers who are partying hard at home with dark rum, vodkas, and Scotch.
Dr. Vaidya, a smart company sells ‘Livitup’ anti-hangover capsules and ‘hangover kits’ to weddings’ and event planners. They bundle together products like band-aids, some other Ayurveda basic medicines for headaches & fever, as well as gloves and sanitizers into the ‘hangover kits’. ‘Livitup’ are retailed in the US, UK, and Middle East markets. They are serving binge drinkers and hard-core drinkers, with anti-hangover natural products.The same purpose is being supported and served by other companies like The Auric, Dotshot, and Akira set up kiosks outside Gyms, Parks, and health cafés.
Dotshot sells anti-hangover shots that have’ turmeric’ as the basic ingredient. The Dotshot’s parent company “K Patel Phytochemicals” claim their anti-hangover Ayurveda shots to be clinically effective and safe. Dotshot is currently exporting these anti-hangover shots to Sweden and Mexico.
Most Ayurveda companies add sweeteners (like coconut water) to make the bitter ayurvedic anti-hangover herbal shots more attractive. The sweetners make the anti-hangover products less effective. Will millennials be able to acquire and appreciate the original bitter taste of Ayurveda herbs in the shape of anti-hangover stuff? Very few of you, I think, but maybe I’m wrong. Time will soon tell. It is said by the Ayurveda medicos that: any real Ayurveda treatment is effective if the naturalness of herbs is maintained, as it produces more saliva and helps indigestion.
Image Credit: The Economic Times, India
Ashwagandha infused anti-hangovers are readily available for you, the lovers of fizzy drinks. It is possible to mix these with hard drinks to make cocktails. The fizz is supposed to be less harmful than the sweeteners in the shots. ‘Shunya’ (means zero in Sanskrit) is a functional fizzy drink doing brisk business. These anti-hangover drinks are growing in business at an increasing ratemainly because of binge drinking.
In 2018, a century-old Baidyanath group of herbal products introduced an anti-hangover product branded as ‘Armr’. This mature company wants to make anti-hangover and Ayurveda “cool and exotic” for millennials.
The Auric is catering herbal shots or herbal infused drinks for gym-goers and meditational intellectuals. The Auric adds some different ingredients to the shots to induce ‘skin radiance’ and ‘body defense’. The ingredients that are added are scientifically proven e.g. saffron, ashwagandha, nutmeg, grape seeds, etc.
The gym lovers and millennials who believe in quality lifestyle usually consume ashwagandha or stevia infused fizzy drinks. And this lot cannot think of buying similar products from a ‘not so flash’ brand like Patanjali. Generally speaking, all of us mostly associate lower prices, poor packaging, and ancient style of marketing and vocabulary that doesn’t resonate well with ‘modern lifestyles’, not worth our time. We are in the age of digital and influencer marketing which today's youth is very familiar with. Don’t we all want everything on the go? Lower prices in lifestyle products like anti-hangover drinks, shots, or capsules reek with suspicion about quality - even to the baby boomers. Up until the financial year-end 2019 the estimated market for these anti-hangover or functional drinks was estimated at approximately 300 million US dollars.
7 Traditional but Scientifically Backed up Anti-hangover Tips
- Avoid drinks with Congeners (chemical constituent, especially one that gives a distinctive character to a winner spirit and is responsible for some physiological effects). In study 95 young adults were given a higher concentration of alcohol 0.11% that resulted in worse hangovers than drinking low congener vodka, gin, rum. The hangover with lower alcohol content was much less severe.
- Eating a good Breakfast when you reach home is a great anti-hangover; what we call a hearty breakfast. This is good for your heart as it maintains blood sugar levels, provides vitamins and minerals to reduce hangover. Having Eggs will provide good amino acids/ proteins.
- Get plenty of sleep for yourself
- Stay hydrated to overcome your thirst, fatigue, headache, and dizziness.
- Have a drink the next morning (myth or not). This is totally ruled out by the Harvard medical school. Having said that it is said,” having more alcohol prevents the conversion of methanol Formaldehyde which may reduce hangover symptoms or become an anti-hangover.
- Red ginseng: try some supplements like Red ginseng, Prickly pear, Ginger with brown sugar and tangerine extract as an anti-hangover. You can also use Borage oil (from seeds of Starflowers) and Eleuthero (Siberian ginseng) also reduce hangover symptoms and decrease the severity.
- Drink alcohol in limits and try to avoid dark color alcohols.
Most of the above is doable, but you need proper planning before drinking.
Image credit: Adaptogens.EU Red Ginseng -Korea
Ayurveda home remedies to overcome binge drinking' hangovers
Binge drinking millennials and heavy drinking baby boomers are not much different, and a hangover is a hangover- degrees may vary. The millennials mostly drink in bars and pubs, whereas the baby boomers mostly drink at home or friend’s places or clubs. In both cases, the result is a hangover, ranging from a pounding headache, migraines, nausea, queasiness, dizziness, fatigue, muscle ache, or general irritability. Ayurveda has natural anti-hangover remedies, and they are not as heavy on the pocket as the branded ‘Shunya’ or ‘party packs’ or other such anti-hangovers discussed earlier in this blog. Here is a long list of natural anti-hangovers which you will mostly find at home.
- Munch an apple on an empty stomach for fast relief.
- Banana shake with honey – this resumes a lot of blood sugar and makes up for depleted minerals like potassium.
- Cabbage is a very effective anti-hangover. You may eat large quantities of cabbage leaves before drinking. Ancient Romans and Greeks had great faith in the anti-hangover power of cabbage. Cabbage with vinegar is a great after remedy. Cabbage and tomato juice also have anti-hangover properties.
- Honey is also an anti-hangover substance that aids digestion and adds fructose to your system. You may increase the frequency and quantity of honey intake depending on the acuteness of your hangover.
- Lemon: Lemon tea without sugar
- Lime: helps queasiness, dizziness, muscle-ache, and adds vitamin C as an antioxidant into your system.
- Tomato: or tomato juice contains fructose. This helps to boost your metabolism. For faster relief, you may mix tomato juice with lemon juice.
- Ginger: is an established treatment for nausea and sickness (also seasickness). It is probably the best anti-hangover and fast relieving Ayurveda root. Chew some ginger or have some ginger tea for soothing your stomach faster.
Recipe: add slices of ginger to 4 cups of water. Boil for 10 minutes and then add the juice of 1 orange, ½ lemon and ½ cup honey. Blend together and see how quickly it stabilizes your blood sugar levels.
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- Peppermint herb tea: will relax your intestines. Car amative (a drug that releases flatulence) removes gas from the stomach and intestines.
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10. Anti-acids can act as an anti-hangover to relieve your queasiness. You can also take Vitamin B or multivitamin capsules to relieve you from the night of binge drinking or carousing.
11.Water: drink plenty of water in between and after your drinking.
12. Cinnamon: is a Car amative and helps digestion of fats. Cinnamon acts as an anti-hangover by settling your indigestion and stabilizing your blood sugar and lowering cholesterol. If you have had plenty to drink and had a heavy meal full of meat, beef, cheese, etc. to have a full and exciting night, cinnamon tea is probably your best bet.
13. Turmeric water or golden milk is top-notch home anti-hangovers. The powerful anti-inflammatory herb will help you overcome the mental and physical adverse effects of alcohol and hangover. Turmeric will also help you from the toxic effects of alcohol by reducing oxidative stress on the liver.
(adapted from TNN. Entertainment times an online magazine of Economic Times, India. April 17, 2017 (TOI).