10 mitos sobre a ressaca

A música é animada, a companhia é fantástica e as bebidas estão caindo bem. Muito bem. Você não percebe, porém, porque você está se divertindo muito. E quando você percebe que provavelmente bebeu um pouco demais, não se importa. Porque agora você está bêbado. Bêbado. Blotto. Na manhã seguinte, você se arrepende de suas ações porque acorda com uma dor de cabeça latejante , estômago enjoado e sede insaciável. Sim, você está com uma ressaca desagradável .

Nos EUA, as ressacas custaram US$ 224 bilhões em 2006 devido ao absenteísmo relacionado e ao baixo desempenho no trabalho, de acordo com os Centros de Controle e Prevenção de Doenças. E, curiosamente, são os bebedores leves a moderados responsáveis ​​pela maior parte desse custo, não os bebedores problemáticos [fonte: Wiese et al .]. Se você já sofreu de ressaca, seus amigos provavelmente lhe deram muitos conselhos sobre como mitigar seus efeitos desagradáveis. Ou talvez todos vocês tenham discutido maneiras de evitar uma ressaca antes de começarem a festejar. Mas quanto desse conselho é válido e quanto é apenas boato? Antes de sair para sua próxima bacanal, continue lendo para aprender a verdade versus a ficção quando se trata de ressaca.

1. Desidratação causa ressaca
2. Apenas bebedores compulsivos ficam de ressaca
3. Homens e mulheres estão igualmente em risco
4. Vinho ou cerveja é uma escolha mais segura
5. Comer alimentos vai absorver um pouco de álcool
6. Tylenol diminuirá a ressaca de amanhã
7. Um banho frio ou café preto irá aliviá-lo
8. O 'pêlo do cachorro' apagará sua dor
9. Remédios de ervas curam ressaca
10. Ressaca não é grande coisa

É verdade que você pode ficar desidratado se consumir muito álcool. Beber álcool faz você urinar mais, o que, por sua vez, desidrata você. No entanto, não é a desidratação em si que causa a ressaca. Depois de uma noite de bebedeira, você pode beber alguns copos de água e se reidratar completamente, mas ainda assim acordar com uma dor de cabeça e um estômago azedo. Isso porque vários fatores se combinam para criar uma ressaca, principalmente uma queda de açúcar no sangue (que pode causar tremores, mau humor e fraqueza), excesso de irritação no estômago (dor de estômago, náuseas e vômitos), má qualidade do sono (que deixa você cansado) e sangue dilatado navios (aqui vem a dor de cabeça) [fontes: National Public Radio , Nordqvist ].

As pessoas podem dizer para você beber muita água antes de começar a beber, por exemplo, ou alternar bebidas alcoólicas com água. Ou se você esquecer de fazer isso, eles podem aconselhar a tomar um grande copo de água antes de ir para a cama. Estar desidratado pode causar tontura e sensação de sede – então definitivamente beba um pouco de água antes de dormir e ao acordar – mas saiba que não é a fonte de sua ressaca.

Beber compulsivamente, ou ingerir uma quantidade excessiva de álcool em pouco tempo, é definitivamente uma maneira de quase garantir uma ressaca no dia seguinte. No entanto, você certamente não precisa ser um bebedor compulsivo para experimentar um. Na verdade, algumas pessoas podem ficar de ressaca depois de apenas um pouco de bebida. Como isso é possível?

Se você vai ter uma ressaca depois de beber depende de vários fatores, incluindo o tamanho do seu corpo e sexo. O homem médio terá algum tipo de ressaca depois de beber de cinco a oito bebidas, enquanto uma mulher só terá que beber de três a cinco para o mesmo efeito [fonte: Johns Hopkins Medicine ]. Além disso, sua etnia pode influenciar na propensão a uma ressaca. Os japoneses, por exemplo, tendem a desenvolver ressaca depois de menos bebidas porque seus corpos são geneticamente menos capazes de quebrar o acetaldeído , o principal subproduto do álcool. Sofre de enxaquecas ? Então você provavelmente está mais propenso a ressaca também, assim como aqueles que estão tomando certos medicamentos que afetam o fígadoenzimas. Ironicamente, aqueles que bebem bebidas alcoólicas regularmente têm menos probabilidade de ficar bêbados ou de sofrer de ressaca na manhã seguinte [fontes: Hudepohl , Johns Hopkins Medicine ].

Se você é mulher, cuidado. É mais provável que você seja recebido com uma dor de cabeça lancinante, dor de estômago e boca de algodão no dia seguinte à bebida do que um homem, mesmo que tenha a mesma altura, tamanho e peso. Como isso pode ser?

Os corpos dos homens contêm uma porcentagem maior de água do que os corpos das mulheres – 55 a 65 por cento para homens, 45 a 55 por cento para mulheres – o que ajuda a diluir qualquer álcool consumido [fonte: Cornell University ]. Os homens também têm mais álcool gástrico desidrogenase em seus corpos, uma enzima que ajuda a metabolizar o álcool. Isso significa que os homens são capazes de quebrar a bebida quando ainda está no estômago – antes que ela atinja a corrente sanguínea e comece a afetar a concentração de álcool no sangue, ou BAC.

Another contributing factor? Women have a higher percentage of fat in their bodies. And fat can't absorb alcohol. Finally, female hormonal changes can affect their BAC. Studies show women will maintain their peak degree of intoxication longer than normal if they're taking oral contraceptives and during the week before they menstruate. All of these factors combined mean a woman will pretty much always become more intoxicated than a similarly sized man, even if she ingests a smaller amount of alcohol [sources: Cornell University, Hudepohl, WebMD].

Many people swear it's better to drink wine or beer than hard liquor. There's even a little ditty to help you remember what to do when you might want to drink several different alcoholic beverages in one evening: "Beer before liquor, never sicker. Liquor before beer, never fear." So many misconceptions!

First, you can get drunk on any type of alcohol -- wine, beer, hard liquor and diet cocktails. And it doesn't matter in which order you've consumed them, it just matters how much total alcohol you've ingested into your system. That being said, there are a few things to keep in mind:

If only this were true! How nice it would be to be able to drink as much as you wanted, then negate any nasty aftereffects by downing a juicy burger or some hot, salty fries. (Is that why we like a greasy spoon after a night of drinking?) Food can definitely help prevent a hangover. But you have to eat before you start drinking for this to occur. If you've eaten first, your stomach will be busy digesting your meal once you start knocking them back.

Fatty foods like pizza take the longest time to digest and are your best choice. Any alcohol you ingest will thus reach your bloodstream more slowly. This means you'd have to drink quite a bit of booze and/or drink for a long time to become drunk and develop a hangover. Haven't eaten much since lunch? Then it won't take too many martinis to become inebriated. Rather than gobbling down some tacos or pancakes afterward, though, it's best to drink some water before turning in for the night [source: Hudepohl].

There are two errors in this common-but-mistaken belief. First, you should never take acetaminophen (brand name Tylenol) when you've been drinking. Acetaminophen is an over-the-counter pain-relief medication that is processed by your liver -- the same organ responsible for metabolizing any alcohol you consume. After a lot of heavy drinking, since your liver is busy metabolizing the alcohol, any acetaminophen you take (whether Tylenol or a prescription drug containing it like Percocet or Darvocet) is processed by a different metabolic pathway, which can become toxic. You may experience liver inflammation, swelling and even permanent damage. It's much safer to take a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) such as aspirin or ibuprofen [sources: Cicetti, Hudepohl].

But don't take that aspirin or ibuprofen right after drinking. That's the second mistaken notion. When you take one of these medications, it provides the most relief over the next few hours, when you'll likely be asleep and not feeling any pain anyway. Far better to take the pain reliever in the morning. Both of these drugs, by the way, will combat both headache pain and any inflammation in your body [source: Peterson].

You had one too many last night. You're exhausted and hungover and just can't get out of bed this morning. But it's time to get going, you have to be somewhere. One of your friends starts making a pot of strong coffee while the other turns on the shower, cranking the dial to cold. Without further ado you're shoved into the shower for a few minutes, then handed a cup of hot coffee. This will surely chase away your hangover and get you up and at 'em.

It's true a cold shower and hot, caffeinated coffee might perk you up a bit. But neither one will cure that hangover. That will only happen once all of the alcohol is out of your system and your body resets itself. Drinking coffee, by the way, could actually make your hangover worse. Alcohol dehydrates you, and coffee exacerbates dehydration since it's a diuretic . So swap out the coffee for water, especially if you've been vomiting, which is yet another cause of dehydration [sources: Peterson, WebMD].

In medieval times, people believed that if you were bitten by a rabid dog, you'd be cured if you plucked some hair from said nasty canine and applied it to your wound. Around this same time, people also began to profess that if you suffered from a hangover, you could cure it by drinking a little more hooch – i.e., partaking of "the hair of the dog that bit me." This phrase was actually recorded as far back as 1546 by John Heywood in "A dialogue conteinyng the number in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue" [source: Martin].

Unfortunately, this longstanding belief is inaccurate. It's true that if you sip a bit of alcohol the day after you over-imbibe, you won't have a hangover -- not right away, at least. Hangovers start knocking on the door when your blood-alcohol level begins to drop; the pain is the worst when there's no alcohol left in your system. So if you pour a little more down your gullet, you'll prop up that level and forestall the hangover. But at some point you'll have to face the music and stop drinking. Your blood-alcohol level will then drop, and the hangover will hit. Rather than reaching for the bottle, you'll be better served guzzling some water or a sports drink, the latter of which can help you replace lost electrolytes as well as rehydrate you [source: Hudepohl].

You may have seen them in the store: Drinkin' Mate. PreToxx. RU 21. Their premise sounds appealing. Simply pop one of these pills in your mouth, or dissolve the tablet in water, and you'll prevent or cure your hangover. These aids typically contain natural ingredients the manufacturers claim thwart hangovers. Drinkin' Mate, for example, contains guava leaf extract that supposedly will combat the toxins and increased free-radical activity caused by consuming alcohol. PreToxx, a vegetarian capsule with prickly pear extract and milk thistle, purportedly helps prevent hangover symptoms and, if taken daily, helps ensure healthy liver functioning.

But researchers say none of the hangover pills that have been studied are effective; at best they combat just a portion of your hangover (e.g., just cotton-mouth). So if you're trying to avoid a hangover or help your body by replacing nutrients lost by excessive alcohol consumption -- the claim some of these remedies make -- it may be better simply to take a multivitamin [sources: Harding, The BMJ].

Fifty percent of Americans say they've gone to work hungover, according to a study by Blowfish for Hangovers, maker of an anti-hangover dissolvable tablet. And another 20 percent have called in sick because of a hangover. That's a lot of people. So that must mean getting a one is a pretty typical thing, and not a big deal at all. Au contraire, mon frere.

When you develop a hangover, your body is crying for help. Basically, you've contaminated it with too much booze. That pounding headache? It's the alcohol messing up your central nervous system and brain chemicals. Your queasy stomach? The hooch has irritated and inflamed the lining in your gut [source: WebMD]. Sure, you may recover quickly. Or maybe you won't mind spending one day in misery after having a lot of fun. But the bottom line is that overdoing it is always risky. If you drink too much, you may develop alcohol poisoning and fall into a stupor, develop seizures or begin to breathe irregularly. You could even die. And no drink or party is remotely worth that.

Author's Note: 10 Myths About Hangovers

Yes, I've had a hangover or two in my life. Luckily, they were back in my youthful days. I agree with the experts who say the best advice on dealing with a hangover is not to get one in the first place.

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