2024-2025 Student Resource Handbook

35 DRINKING AND THE HANGOVER Ahighly reputed scientist once made the profound discovery that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is true in physics, and it can be applied to most every other aspect of life including drinking. Here’s an example: Action: A night of carousing. Reaction: In the worst cases the stomach refuses to keep food down, concentration on the simplest things is an impossible task and the only possible activity is hanging your head in your hands while mumbling phrases such as “never again”. In this case, we commonly call the reaction a hangover. Everyone has his or hers own horror story about their worst hangover, and everyone also has their own “miracle cure” for hangovers. Will anything really prevent or cure the dreaded hangover? There is only one real method by which one can completely avoid a hangover. Not to drink in the first place! There are a few things you can do to make your hangover less severe. If you drink to get drunk, keep in mind the popular “liquor then beer and you are in the clear, beer then liquor and you will get sicker” mantra. The carbonation in beer speeds the body’s absorption of alcohol, so drinking first beer then liquor would cause the latter to be absorbed at a quicker rate than it would normally, leaving you sicker. Plus, we drink liquor faster than we do beer, which is more filling. So, switching from beer to liquor is likely to speed up your rate of liquor consumption after you’re already halfway towards being in the bag. And remember, don’t drink and drive! The most important remedy is really quite simple: Rehydrate your body. Drinking lots of fluids is an essential to speeding your recovery. Another thing you can do is eat, even if you don’t feel like it. Eat some greasy food an hour or so before drinking to line your stomach with the fatty grease. This will help slow down the absorption of the alcohol into your system. Some good options for greasy food include burgers, french fries, hot dogs, hash browns and bacon. When your body has exhausted its resources in processing all the alcohol you then will need nutrition of some kind. To deal with the splitting headache that ensues, do not do anything fancy. Drinking more alcohol has potentially dangerous consequences and will only bring temporary relief, but it might ease the headache and the general feeling of wanting to die. You can tackle this the same way you would a run of the mill headache with aspirin and a cold wash cloth. ECSTASY Ecstasy is popular in nightclubs and at raves. It makes users feel like they are free of inhibitions when dancing, and allegedly seems to increases the users awareness of the sights and sounds. Everything just becomes far more intense with a feeling as if they can dance all night while high. Many users describe an intense urge to stretch their limbs, like all their muscles will seize up and stop functioning if they don’t release the energy. When taken at parties or social events, E makes many users feel like they are much more friendly and can chat easily with peers who they wouldn’t otherwise approach. Where as alcohol can cause slurring and unintelligent babble. www.timeout.com MILLENIUM - Division of: UNIGLOBE Enterprise Travel Limited 34 Britain St., Toronto, ON M5A 1R7 Tel: 416-962-2200 Web:milleniumtravel.ca Email:sales@milleniumtravel.ca