jhc@hou5g.UUCP (Jonathan Clark) (02/12/85)
[] Your mouth and throat and oesophageal tract in general are dehydrated after boozing it up for a very simple reason - ethanol is a desiccant. In other words, it extracts water from the tissues it comes in contact with. These tissues include mouth, throat, stomach and so on. Incidentally, that is the reason you should never drink absolute alcohol - your tissues will get so dried out that they will be severely damaged - a bit like drinking acid. If you want to avoid feeling like this, just drink a pint or so of water before you go to bed. You may wake up at 4 o'clock with a bursting bladder, but you won't get dehydrated. You won't avoid the hangover either. Jonathan Clark [NAC]!hou5g!jhc -- Jonathan Clark [NAC]!hou5g!jhc
mgh@hou5h.UUCP (Marcus Hand) (02/14/85)
Jonathan Clarke says that the reason you shouldn't drink absolute alcohol is it's dessicating affect. In a sense thats true -- it will burst cell walls and all sorts of other nasty things. But, I think that the most compelling reason for not doing it is that alcohol is no mean poison in its own right. When we drink it diluted (as in wine, beer, liquor, etc.) we come out relatively unscathed (to a greater or lesser extent), but if one were to drink it neat the concentration would do you greivous harm. marcus .
franka@hercules.UUCP (Frank Adrian) (02/16/85)
In article <523@hou5g.UUCP> jhc@hou5g.UUCP (Jonathan Clark) writes: >If you want to avoid feeling like this, just drink a pint >or so of water before you go to bed. You may wake up >at 4 o'clock with a bursting bladder, but you won't get >dehydrated. You won't avoid the hangover either. Actually, I'd reccomend about a quart of water. Also, the water loss due to detoxification can cause loss of water soluble vitamins. If you drink about a quart of water and take about three multi-vitamin tabs before bed, you minimize many of the effects of heavy imbibement. faa - mfotn
dlg@philabs.UUCP (Deryl Gaier) (02/19/85)
> In article <523@hou5g.UUCP> jhc@hou5g.UUCP (Jonathan Clark) writes: > >If you want to avoid feeling like this, just drink a pint > >or so of water before you go to bed. You may wake up > >at 4 o'clock with a bursting bladder, but you won't get > >dehydrated. You won't avoid the hangover either. > > Actually, I'd reccomend about a quart of water. Also, the water > loss due to detoxification can cause loss of water soluble vitamins. If > you drink about a quart of water and take about three multi-vitamin tabs > before bed, you minimize many of the effects of heavy imbibement. > faa - mfotn I remember reading somewhere that the vitamin which does the most in this regard is vitamin B. Appearently, if enough vitamin B is taken before you start drinking, the hangover will be significantly reduced or eliminated. I am not recommending this since it is only a dim memory and I can't remember the dosages required. Does anyone else have any information or experience with this? I agree completely with drinking water. It helps greatly.
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (02/22/85)
> I agree completely with drinking water. It helps greatly.
Ditto, to metabolize alchohol you end up consuming water. It's
been a long time since my last biochem class, but the water gets
split up and stuck to the end of the alchohol molecule. All I do
remember is that the teacher had asked what enzyme was responsible
for this dehydrogenation of alchohol and I (being somewhat of a
smart ass) blurted out "alchohol dehydrogenase," not realizing that
it was really the correct answer.
-Ron