Why Hangovers Worsen As We Age

When we're in our twenties, hangovers tend to not be as big of a deal. Two martinis, glass of champagne and a beer to wash it down, sure we can handle that and not be out of commission the next day. Move into your thirties and maybe we start to skip the martinis but then we hit our forties and alcohol might be gone from your life because of its after effects. If this is the case, what can you do to beat that feeling? The good news is the side effects the next day are the result of an accumulation of toxins that occur when we get older, making it more challenging to process and eliminate alcohol. The result-the more toxic we are, the more intense the hangover. 

Consume Less Toxins And Your Body Will Work More Efficiently: By simply putting less toxins in your body, you will feel less of a hangover the next day. For every glass of wine consumed, ethanol makes a hundred passes around the body before it's completely eliminated. A healthy liver gets rid of one drink per hour. More than that, increases the risk of a hangover. 

What Color Is Your Liver? A healthy liver is a shiny red, while an alcoholic or fatty liver looks bruised and darker red. Almost all people who consume two drinks per night have a fatty liver. A fatty liver elevates triglyceride levels, impairs glucose regulation and makes it more challenging to clear toxins from the body. Your liver is most active at 3am. Alcohol-free days and using nutritional support will help rejuvenate the liver. 

Boozing At Brunch Vs. Dinner: Alcohol dehydrogenase is the enzyme responsible for breaking down ethanol. It tends to spike in the evening and stay lower at lunchtime. This is why a glass of wine at lunch makes you drunker than an evening glass of wine. Genetics also determins how much of this enzyme you produce. People of Asian descent often have less of this enzyme. 

Food sensitives can also contribute to a hangover. There's a common reality of drinking for some called Brewer's yeast sensitivity. They're actually acquired not genetic, so with age they can increase. The more exposure to a food, the more likely you are to develop a sensitivity to it. 

Bottom line: If you are going to drink, limit the amount of other work the liver has to do!