Even though we, ideally, want to wake up feeling refreshed and energized, not every morning feels like a blessing. Some mornings feel very much like a pain in the butt! You’re not ready to emerge from the bed and get dressed for work. You feel too tired to function. You can hear the unbearable tick-tock of the clock in the kitchen, even though you never notice it. But today the clock is louder than ever. It’s so loud it’s given you a headache. Your typical cup of coffee doesn’t even manage to cut through the fog in your mind. It’s as if you had left your brain in bed. You already know it’s going to be an especially hard day.
You know, however, that you can only blame yourself for your misery. Last night has been a good night. You can’t quite remember how much you drank, but the pallid face in the mirror can give you a rough approximate. It was one too many of many. You can only hope your coworkers will be patient with you today – and hopefully quiet. Thankfully, most people are understanding. We’ve all had a rough night once in a lifetime. But you don’t have to become the victim of your partying choices for the rest of the day. There are a few tips and tricks you can deploy to make sure that you can go through the day, feeling, thinking and looking the best that you can.
Your skin needs care
Regardless of how cute and elegant some cocktails look like, the effect on your skin is far from being pretty. Indeed, alcohol is your worst enemy if you have naturally oily or greasy skin. If you’re the kind of person who struggles with acne outbreaks after a night of binge-eating junk food and chocolates, it’s a sign that it doesn’t take much to open your skin pandora box. As alcohol naturally dilates the pores, oily complexions are more likely to wake up with a head full of pimples! Additionally, alcohol actively dries your skin. If you haven’t been drinking sufficient water to counter the phenomenon, you can experience feelings of tightness and itchiness on the next day. Some people can even experience dryness to the point of scaliness. Finally, as your body processes the alcohol and tries to eliminate it from the body, you need to use the toilet more – alcohol is a known diuretic. Ultimately, you may end up enhancing the feeling of dryness as your body expels more liquid. As a result, your skin cells can also lose a lot of their natural moisture, causing your face to appear less plump. You look tired because the cocktails have drained the moisture from your face. If you want to get your glow back, you need to hydrate the skin cells. Drinking water is not sufficient. You have to on products that give you everything you need. A luxurious balm can help you to target dry and scaly skin and repair superficial damages. You should also use a gentle scrub to cleanse your pores and avoid any breakout. Finally, a powerful serum that locks the moisture inside your cells can give you back your youthful appearance.
What does your liver need?
Your liver produces an enzyme while the body is metabolizing alcohol. The enzyme, however, has a harmful byproduct which is toxic to the body. As a result, it’s not uncommon to feel sick after a binge night. Don’t try to combat nausea. It’s your way for the body to get rid of harmful toxins. Ultimately, you can leave it to the body to know what’s best. And, as painful as it is, being sick is sometimes the best thing you can do for your liver.
However, you should also be looking at other ways to support your liver. Admittedly, drinking less or not at all would be the best solution. But it’s not going to help you to cope the morning after. A strong coffee can reduce the risk of liver disease by up to 70%. It’s not a magic pill, but it can make a great deal of difference to how you feel during the day. You can also encourage your liver to push out the toxins with detox-friendly foods. Green tea, for instance, actively reduces the inflammation that occurs during the alcohol metabolizing phase. It can also eliminate nausea. Anti-inflammatory spices such as turmeric and ginger have a similar effect. You can also cook meals with cruciferous vegetables which help the liver to break down chemicals
It wasn’t just one night
One partying night doesn’t make a big difference. However, if you find yourself regularly struggling with temporary withdrawal symptoms in the morning after, it might be an indication that your partying habits have got the better of you. For most people, drinking is more than a social hobby. It’s a coping mechanism. You drink because the prospect of not drinking is worse. This is especially the case if you find yourself in a difficult situation, such as hectic work life or stressful relationship problems, for instance. Quitting cold turkey could do more harm than good! As a rule of the thumb, you need to understand why you drink with the help of a therapist. For some, the after-hours binge is all about forgetting the stress of the day. You need to acknowledge the pain to be able to move past and transform your habits effectively.
For others, drinking is nothing more than a ritual. If they started as a way to find emotional support, they’ve long forgotten the reason. However, they haven’t managed to get rid of the habit successfully. Sometimes, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center can help you to face your demons safely. It’s easier to go through a painful withdrawal phase when you’re not on your own, which is where the supportive community of a center could make a significant difference.
Transform your social life
You may not be a heavy drinker, but you find yourself attracted to alcohol in social situations. You can’t imagine going out without drinking. Don’t blame yourself; alcohol makes you friendlier! For people who naturally feel anxious in a social context, drinking can provide the confidence and sympathy you need to connect with others.
Indeed, after a first glass, the alcohol boosts the activity of a chemical called GABA, which increases the levels of dopamine. In short, you feel happy. Your social anxiety is gone, and you can interact with people. Should you quit drinking? Ultimately, the problem is not what happens after the first drink, but how several drinks affect your brain. High quantities of alcohol compromise your ability to recognize threatening situations and to control risks. Additionally, the more you drink, the least you can connect to others as alcohol affects your reading of somebody’s emotions and motivations. In other words, have a strict one drink rule if you want to enjoy the evening.
But don’t avoid your friends
Admittedly, not drinking or drinking moderately doesn’t mean you should become a hermit. On the contrary, there’s a close link between loneliness and alcohol, which means that isolation could push you to consume more alcohol than you should – because what’s the point of being reasonable when there’s nobody else to tell you what to do? You need a social bubble that encourages you to meet others and build meaningful relationships. If you choose to reduce social meetups, you incur the risk of affecting your perception of reality. Indeed, without any set of reference, it’s easy to drink at home without questioning quantities or addiction.
Learning triggers to avoid them
Drinking as a coping mechanism has multiple layers. A therapist can help you to identify and face a crisis, such as a tearful breakup or a stressful money problem. But where the therapist is no support is when you respond to routine triggers. For instance, the typical after work drink is ultimately triggered by the end of the day at the office. For many, the triggering factor has nothing to do with the work pace or the complexity of a project. It’s a case of Pavlov’s dogs. The clock marks 5 PM, you need a drink. Others have other Pavlovian triggers, such as putting the kids to bed or sitting in front of the TV. You need to unlearn the Pavlovian pattern by switching your glass of wine or your beer against an alcohol-free replacement, such as a glass of kombucha for instance. Alternatively, you can break the pattern by bringing in a new activity, such as hitting the gym.
Do you need to drink to have fun?
Ultimately, alcohol is designed to revive an otherwise dull evening. If you want to avoid the issue, it’s simple: Discover a new sense of fun that respects your body. At first, it might be tricky to introduce the idea to your friends on a night out, but gradually, you’ll refocus your energy on yourself.
Our relationship with alcohol is complicated. For some, it’s the happy go lucky drink that marks the beginning of a social event. For others, it’s an ingrained habit they can’t live without. Ultimately, you need to control how the relationship affects your mood and your body in the long term. Staying youthful and happy is as much about being active than being a mindful drinker who values pleasure in moderation than euphoria in abundance.