We can all get slightly carried away with drinking alcohol over the festive period. However, excessive drinking can have a negative impact on your health. Alcohol can make your skin look tired, causes overeating, hurts your immune system, upsets your sleep, damages your brain and causes liver disease.
We aren’t suggesting giving up alcohol all together, but incorporating some new habits into your Christmas life. This will keep your body hydrated, healthy and looking good.
Drink lots of water throughout the day
Water is essential to keep your body working properly. Along with helping the function of your body temperature, it aids brain power, kidneys, blood pressure, heart rate, and keeps skin looking good. One of the main causes of hangovers is dehydration, which is caused by alcohol stopping vasopressin from doing its job. Vasopressin keeps the balance of fluids in your body right and when you drink alcohol you need to urinate more, thus causing dehydration. Make sure you drink lots of water throughout the day! Keep a bottle of water on hand to ensure you drink if you are out and continue to drink water the day after over-indulging on alcohol.
Eat something
There is nothing worse than drinking on an empty stomach. You should always stock up on food before consuming alcohol as you get drunk quicker when you don’t eat. Eating before going out can slow down the rate that alcohol is absorbed and lines your stomach.
When drinking alternate between alcohol and water
For every glass of alcohol you drink you should drink a glass of water. It will help you pace yourself, keep you hydrated, flush out toxins through the kidneys and minimise hangover symptoms the next day. It takes your body around one hour to digest one unit of alcohol, so try to be mindful of how much and how fast you consume your drinks. If you dilute your drinks that will also help slow down the intoxication process and could save you calories.
Don’t excessively drink everyday
It takes the liver eight hours to break down one measure of alcohol and in the process hindering your body’s ability to deal with other toxins. You should try to give your body a couple of days off in between drinking as it allows your liver to detoxify and recover.
Read more: Make a change and try Dry January
Avoid coffee after a night out
Alcohol dehydrates you therefore you should avoid drinking coffee the next day as it will only dehydrate you further due to it being a diuretic. Coffee can also cause blood cells to swell and could end up worsening a headache. Why not try coconut water instead the next day as it will hydrate you and top up your electrolytes levels avoiding pesky headaches.
Read more: Change your unhealthy habits this New Year
