Encore: Hangovers Explained: How Alcohol Affects Your Brain and Body | Dr. Mark Hyman

Hey everyone, it's Dr. Mark Hyman. Thank you so much for being a loyal listener to the Doctor's Pharmacy. For the holidays, I've decided to give my team a little break to rest up and prepare for more content in the new year ahead. So the Doctor's Pharmacy will be replaying some older episodes for the next two weeks. But don't worry, we'll be back with more content and brand new episodes starting Tuesday, December 31st. So for now, here are some of my favorite past episodes of the Doctor's Pharmacy and see you next year. Coming up on this episode, there are no benefits to alcohol consumption. There is no health benefit, there's no heart benefit. The data is really clear that it's bad for you, especially cancer. It does increase the risk of cancer. So I don't think alcohol should be considered a health promoting substance in any way. However, having a drink or two once in a while, is not gonna kill you and it's not a bad thing. Before we jump into today's episode, I'd like to note that while I wish I could help everyone via my personal practice, there's simply not enough time for me to do this at this scale. And that's why I've been busy building several passion projects to help you better understand, well, you. If you're looking for data about your biology, check out Function Health for real-time lab insights. If you're in need of deepening your knowledge around your health journey, check out my membership community, Hymen Hive. And if you're looking for curated and trusted supplements and health products for your routine, visit my website supplement store for a summary of my favorite and tested products. Welcome back to another episode of the Doctor's Pharmacy and Health Bites, where we take juicy little bites into current health topics. And today I want to tackle a topic that many of us have experienced, but few truly understand. Hangovers. Whether it's after a night of celebrating with friends or an unexpected overindulgence, hangovers kind of leave us feeling drained, anxious and downright miserable. In this episode, I'm going to unpack the science behind hangovers and explore what happens for bodies during this really unpleasant aftermath and discuss effective strategies to prevent and manage them if you need them. Maybe you won't need them if you take care of yourself, but just in case you have a fun night, how do you get over this? Well, hangovers are more than just a headache and fatigue. They're a complex physiological response to alcohol consumption that affects our brain, our liver, our gut, and our overall health. In fact, alcohol is a poison and the dose makes the poison. I'm going to delve into how alcohol disrupts our sleep, dehydrates our bodies, messes with our electrolyte balance and leaving just feeling pretty out of sorts. Obviously all this is a bummer. No one likes a hangover. So how do we prevent it? Quite frankly, the best way to avoid a hangover, don't drink. Okay, now we know, just to be clear, there are no benefits to alcohol consumption. There is no health benefit, there's no heart benefit, the data is really clear that it's bad for you, especially cancer. It does increase the risk of cancer. So I don't think alcohol should be considered a health promoting substance in any way. Just to be clear, the data doesn't support it. However, having a drink or two once in a while is not going to kill you and it's not a bad thing. Of course, don't drink is easier said than done, I know, but here's the facts. The standard recommendation is one drink per day for women and two drinks a day for men. That's way too much, right? According to the WHO, the World Health Organization, there is no safe consumption of alcohol for human health. Say that again. According to the World Health Organization, there is no safe consumption of alcohol for human health, period. Alcohol is a neurotoxin, it's psychoactive, and it can cause dependence and addiction. Now, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the IARC, has classified alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen, which is the highest risk group, along with asbestos, radiation, and tobacco. Just saying, nobody's got asbestos anymore in their house. You don't really want to get radiation if you can avoid it, and certainly, we know tobacco and cigarettes cause cancer. Now, according to study in the journal of the American Medical Association, even light to moderate consumption has consequences. It also increased risk for dementia and Alzheimer's. And why? Because it shrinks your brain and reduces neuroplasticity. If you see an alcoholic's brain on a brain scan, I used to see it all the time when I was in the ER. They just like shriveled and shrunken up brains. It was pretty sad. Alcohol increases the risk for cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, as I mentioned, and the alcohol free movement is gaining popularity and the younger generations catching on to the harms of alcohol. In fact, I just went to a party, 40th birthday party, and there was no alcohol, there was no alcohol, and I just had an office party for my office, no alcohol. I think people are kind of coming wise to the dangers of alcohol. So more and more people are kind of just stop drinking and turning to mocktails. However, if you do drink, and I'm going to give you a few things that might help. One, pace yourself, right? Go slow. This is going to help your body metabolize alcohol more effectively. Remember, I can only deal with one ounce an hour. right? One ounce an hour of hard liquor, probably five ounces of wine an hour or 10 ounces of beer an hour. You drink more than that and you are just, you know, upping the toxic load your liver has to deal with and it just can't keep up. The speed at which you drink plays a huge role. Your body can process, like I said, about one standard drink per hour. You know, I want you to keep in mind though that this can vary based on the type of alcohol you drink, right? Your physical health and your genetics. Now drinking more than this is likely going to increase the risk of a hangover. Also, you can avoid congeners. Now, what are those? Those are byproducts of alcohol fermentation that are found in higher concentrations in darker liquors, whiskey or things like that. These are found in cognac, whiskey, bourbon, and red wine. It creates methanol, tannins, histamine reactions, all kinds of stuff. So not great. Now, these compounds, these congeners, give these types of alcohol their distinct flavors, but they hang around in the system long after you drink. which can make the hangovers a lot worse. Now, research shows that high congeners are darker colored liquors, which is a bummer, 'cause those are the ones I like. They lead to more severe hangovers than lighter colored clear liquors like vodka, gin, rum, sake, and even maybe white tequilas. But also note that I'm not recommending these types of alcohol either. The more distilled the spirit is, the lower the congeners. This is why drinking top shelf liquors doesn't result in as much of a hangover to some people as lower priced alternatives. I found that true. It's also worth noting that the amount of alcohol consumed is more critical than the type of alcohol in determining the severity of your hangover. So while the congeners are important, it's really the amount of overall alcohol. Now drinks with higher alcohol concentrations, like shots of liquor, put a greater burden on the liver and are more likely to cause hangovers. Congeners add complexity to the detox process too. They stimulate the release of stress hormones, they cause an inflammatory response and they worsens your hangover symptoms. Now, some people actually may be very physiologically sensitive to specific congeners. For example, those with histamine intolerance, which is more and more common, experience worse hangovers from red wine, which is high in histamine compared to clear liquor. So I noticed that when I have red wine, I don't feel good. If I have white tequila, I'm fine. Avoid sugary mixers, which is all sugary mixed drinks. When you combine sugar and alcohol, bad news. So stay away from those sugary mixed drinks. The other thing you want to do is stay hydrated. Drink water and electrolytes before, during, and after drinking. Drink at least half your weight in ounces of water with a sugar-free electrolyte powder such as E-Lyte or Element, which contains a balance ratio of sodium, potassium, magnesium, really important, or sugar-free coconut water can needs natural electrolytes and help hydrate you as well. There's something called Liquid IV and Gatorade, they're big no-nos. They're loaded with unnecessary sugar, dyes, flavors, enhancers. Just stay away from all that colorful sports drink crap and that's terrible. Basically you want to drink a glass of water and at least for every drink you have, right? For every alcoholic drink you have just one, maybe two glass of water with electrolytes. And you can bring individual travel electrolyte packets with you. I do that all the time. It's really great. Also, eat before you drink. And why do you wanna do that? Well, a balanced meal actually slows the absorption of alcohol. Fat, protein, fiber, slows the emptying of your stomach, and that actually can help reduce the effect and the speed of alcohol and reduces toxicity on your system. Things like guacamole or a phytonutrient salad, chicken, steak or fish, all that's gonna be great. It's also gonna help you prevent low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. and you also want to eat hydrating and micronutrient rich plant foods like non starchy veggies, cucumbers, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, fruit and lots of fruit, bananas, avocados, guava, grapefruit, which is full of magnesium, potassium and sodium, really important. So make sure you get water and electrolytes for hydration. You also want to potentially take some minerals like zinc and also niacin, which is a B vitamin, vitamin B3, critical co-factors. in alcohol metabolism. So when you have to make those enzymes work, you need these co-factors like zinc and niacin to actually make them work to detoxify the alcohol. Now research suggests that they could lower hangover severity, although we need to do more research on it. Still seems promising and it's low risk to do. You can eat zinc-rich foods, right? Meat, shellfish, legumes, pumpkin seeds, oysters, nicotinic acid-rich foods, meat, nicotinic acids, niacin, like meat, fish, poultry, avocados, mushrooms are full of niacin. The next thing you want to do is feed your gut bacteria. We're gonna load up in the early parts of your day with fermented foods like yogurt, pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi. Get your microbiome healthy. Eat a polyphenol rich diet for your microbiome and immune system like blueberries, apples, cherries, raspberries. Also include vitamin C rich foods, great antioxidant, red bell peppers, kiwi, citrus fruit, and don't eat all those inflammatory foods. They really are bad for you in general and they make the alcohol problem worse. So fried foods, refined carbohydrates, sugars, processed, ultra-processed food, all that's gonna irritate your gut even more and won't slow down alcohol absorption. That's diet, lifestyle, hydration. Okay, what can you do to actually help you support detoxification and take the right supplements that have the right nutrients that are commonly depleted with alcohol consumption. So, what I like is an herb called milk thistle, before and after drinking, and a B complex vitamin. Milk thistle is an herb, which is great. It helps liver detoxification. B vitamins are depleted when you drink alcohol. Alcohol like thiamine, I mentioned that, B6, niacin or B3, B12, and folate. All these can cause headaches and fatigue. so if you preemptively supplement, you can actually reduce the effects of alcohol on your system. Zinc, magnesium, you can also take something called N-acetyl cysteine or NAC. N-acetyl cysteine helps your body make glutathione. Now what is glutathione? Glutathione is our master detoxifier, our master antioxidant, and our master anti-inflammatory compound. Now research shows that low dose NAC can help with nausea and weakness and hangover symptoms. in women, but more research is needed. But it's promising. There's even actual research on this. And we know it can have a lot of toxins. For example, if you have liver failure from Tylenol overdose, the treatment is NAC. If you're getting an IV contrast dye for a kidney study, for example, it can cause kidney failure. If you give NAC beforehand, it prevents the kidney damage from the dye. Also, stop drinking at least three hours before you go to bed, which minimizes alcohol's negative impact on your sleep. It gives your body enough time to detoxify. The half-life of alcohol, through the half-life, which means how much time it takes for half of the alcohol to get out of your body, is between four to five hours. Now, the effects of alcohol can still affect your sleep up to six hours after you stop drinking. Okay, so once you've had a little too much drink, now you're really feeling the next day, here's what not to do. Do not drink more alcohol. Don't have the eye opener in the morning, right? The hair of the dog approach. It just delays and worsens the hangover. Coffee, don't drink it. It dehydrates you more. Use ibuprofen sparingly, your Advil, it can kind of affect your GI tract and your kidneys. But here's what you should do to deal with your hangover symptoms. One, hydrate. But not just any hydration, drink clean water with electrolytes. Now it doesn't guarantee you'll get over a hangover faster, but it's going to help restore hydration. Also eat a balanced meal, eggs and nutrient dense foods with protein and fat and fiber are really important. Now eggs are also rich in something called L-cysteine, which actually gets made into N-acetyl cysteine, made into L-thionine, which helps the liver detoxify acetaldehyde. Also, high fiber carbohydrate foods like vegetables, nuts and seeds, beans, whole grains, they really help stabilize blood sugar levels. Also, there's sometimes herbs and vitamins and supplements that can help. So we'll talk about those. So what are those? Ginger can be good for nausea. Chamomile tea helps anxiety is calming. Red ginseng helps acetyl aldehyde metabolism. and B complex replenishes the depleted vitamins and helps energy. Now, red ginseng will not cure a hangover, but it can help reduce its symptoms when it's taken soon after drinking by increasing acetaldehyde metabolism. So you can get red ginseng and have it with your drink, basically. Now, randomized crossover study, that means they basically, you know, gave the same group of people different things at different times. so they took 25 guys, they gave them red ginseng, that reduced plasma alcohol and also expired alcohol, as well as hangover severity consuming after consuming whiskey. Now, the study concluded that red ginseng positively affects alcohol metabolism and alleviates hangover symptoms. That's cool, but I think more research is needed on that. Cold shower is gonna make you feel more alert or a cold plunge, that's good. Now, cold shower might help you feel alert, also increases some of your adrenaline hormones, and increasing adrenaline can make you more alert and speed up alcohol metabolism and even clearance of alcohol from the brain and from the blood. Also, get some rest. Make sure you get sleep, and that mitigates hangover symptoms. An observational study of 578 college students found that reduced total sleep time was associated with more severe hangovers. And students who slept more than seven hours consumed more alcohol and experienced longer hangovers. but their hangovers were less severe compared to those who slept less than seven hours. So overall reduced total sleep time was associated with more severe hangovers. In the end, time is really the best medicine, right? It's the best cure for hangover. Your body needs time to process and eliminate the alcohol and all those toxic byproducts. So that's a lot, okay? Alcohol, we know is a toxin. There's no safe dose. If depleting vitamins and minerals, It affects your liver, affects your brain, affects your hormones, your microbiome, your immune system. But, you know, occasional drinks, okay, just be careful and understand that there's things you can do to mitigate its harmful effects, like eating beforehand with lots of high fiber, fat protein foods, drinking more slowly over time, having water and electrolytes after each drink, and having the right vitamins and minerals, including B complex zinc. and magnesium, as well as also herbs like milk thistle, all that can help. So I hope you found today's episode enlightening and packed with useful good information to help you better understand and manage hangovers. We covered a lot of ground from the science of how alcohol impacts our bodies to those practical tips I mentioned on how to mitigate those horrible symptoms. But remember, the key to healing hangovers starts with prevention. Don't drink too much. Hydrate. proper nutrition goes a long way in making sure your next morning isn't a total write off. Now, if you found these tips helpful, I encourage you to start incorporating them into your routine. And of course, always listen to your body and make choices that support your overall well-being. Our health is for sure a precious asset and taking care of it means we can enjoy life celebrations without paying a hefty price the next day. Thanks again for joining me today on the Doctor's Pharmacy. And don't forget to rate, review and follow the Doctor's Pharmacy wherever you get your podcasts. stay healthy, stay informed, and I'll see you next Friday for another juicy episode of Health Bites. Thanks for listening today. If you love this podcast, please share it with your friends and family. Leave a comment on your own best practices on how you upgrade your health and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and follow me on all social media channels at Dr. Mark Hyman. And we'll see you next time on the doctor's pharmacy. For more information on today's episode, please check out my new video and audio podcast, Health Hacks. It airs every Tuesday and includes a more detailed breakdown of these Friday Health Bites episodes. I'm always getting questions about my favorite books, podcasts, gadgets, supplements, recipes, and lots more. And now you can have access to all of this information by signing up for my free Mark's Picks newsletter at drhyman.com/markspicks. I promise I'll only email you once a week on Fridays, and I'll never share your email address or send you anything else besides my recommendations. These are the things that have helped me on my health journey and I hope they'll help you too. Again, that's drhyman.com/markspicks. Thank you again and we'll see you next time on the Doctor's Pharmacy. This podcast is separate from my clinical practice at the Ultra Wellness Center and my work at Cleveland Clinic and Function Health where I'm the Chief Medical Officer. This podcast represents my opinions and my guests' opinions and neither myself nor the podcast endorse the views or statements of my guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only. This podcast is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This podcast is provided on the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. If you're looking for your help in your journey, seek out a qualified medical practitioner. You can come see us at the Ultra Wellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Just go to ultrawellnesscenter.com if you're looking for a functional medicine practitioner near you, you can visit ifm.org and search find a practitioner database. It's important that you have someone in your corner who is trained, who is a licensed healthcare practitioner, and can help you make changes, especially when it comes to your health. Keeping this podcast free is part of my mission to bring practical ways of improving health to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to express gratitude to the sponsors that made today's podcast possible. Don't forget, there's a way to listen completely ad free with Hyman Plus on Apple Podcasts. You can enjoy every episode without any breaks. Just open Apple Podcasts and tap Try Free to start your 7-day free trial.