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What Happens To Your Body During A Hangover
It's happened. You've gone out with your clients, or you've had a work party, or it's the weekend, and you drank a bit too much.
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The formal name for a hangover is veisalgia. It comes from a Norwegian word that means "uneasiness following debauchery" (kveis) and also the Greek word for "pain" (algia). It occurs when your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) starts to fall after drinking and peaks wen your BAC hits zero.
It's withdrawal people, and it's terrible.
Try any cure you want, but the fact is that for a matter of hours your body is going to go through a painful, debilitating process.
Let's break it down for you.
Vassopressin, also known as the antidiuretic hormone and created in the petuitary gland, is what makes your kidneys absorb water.
So when you drink, any H2O bypasses your kidneys and goes straight to the bladder.
When you urinate excessively, your body releases sodium and potassium and this is what you get.
Your body gets excited as your blood alcohol concentration decreases, so you keep waking up abruptly or you sleep lightly.
This is because the withdrawal from alcohol creates an inflammatory response in your immune system.
Interactions among the brain, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands (i.e., the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis) help regulate the body’s response to stress. The adrenal hormone cortisol plays a key role in stress reduction through its effects on multiple body systems
Too much cortisol, though, and your ability to deal with stressors decreases.
This is an example of some of the biological stressors your body can't fight as well when you're hungover.
Thank goodness it only lasts around 24 hours.
This is because your liver starts to break down glycogen, turns it into glucose, and sends it out of your body when you use the bathroom. That glycogen is supposed to be giving you energy.
Alcohol increases the acid in your stomach, which wares away the lining of you stomach (and irritates it generally) and causes the unfortunate effects mention above.
Due to neurological imbalances caused by withdrawal. These shakes can range in severity from simple tremors to seizures.
Source: Electrophysiological Changes After Repeated Alcohol Withdrawal
It can even make you hallucinate.
This is known as delirium tremens and occurs when the autonomic neurosystem goes into hyperactive mode. Women tend to experience this less than men.
Source: Complications of Alcohol Withdrawal: Pathophysiological Insights
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