The morning after a particularly heavy night is often a brutal, unforgiving experience.
Your head may be pounding and you’re feeling a smidgen fragile. You think back on all the conversations you can recall and then cringe at the absolute shite you were talking.
Many people choose to spend this day afterwards eating and drinking copious amounts of sugary and junk foods such as cans of coke and pizzas. It’s comfort food after all.
It’s not really your fault though as morning – after alcohol hunger is a real thing.
And it can be explained by our friend Science
“The metabolism of alcohol can alter blood sugar balance by depleting your storage of glycogen, or carbohydrates,” says gastroenterologist and weight management physician Nitin Kumar, M.D speaking to Men’s Health.
Glycogen is what your body likes to fuel itself off, so when you use your glycogen stores to metabolise the alcohol, your body demands you give it more by making you feel hungry.
You get glycogen from carbohydrates which is why sugary foods and drink seem hugely appetising.
Alcohol reduces the levels of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) in the bloodstream. When there’s less ADH in the blood, your kidneys do not reabsorb as much water and as a consequence, your body produces more urine. This is why you’re often dehydrated the morning after drinking alcohol.
The dehydration adds to our cravings and can make you want salty foods, so when all of this is taken into account, it’s hardly surprising that you binge on bad food the day after drinking alcohol.
Solutions vary, you can obviously reduce the amount of alcohol you drink or drink plenty of water both during your night out and the next morning.
We’re not saying this will eradicate the hunger completely but it may help reduce the cravings…
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