Why does drinking wine, beer or any other alcoholic drink give you a headache the next day?

Answer 1

If, while nursing a horrific hangover, you've ever asked yourself, "How a couple of seemingly harmless drinks could have led to such misery?" consider this: "Alcohol is poison. The hangover is your body recuperating from being poisoned by alcohol and its metabolites," Aaron White, PhD, assistant research professor at Duke University Medical Center, tells WebMD. Symptoms vary, but can include one or all of the following:

Raging headaches. "Alcohol intoxication seems to produce dilation of the blood vessels that surround the brain, which may contribute to the headache in some people. Alcohol also has an effect on some neurotransmitters, increasing levels of serotonin or histamine that may trigger headaches," says Bruce Hetzler, PhD, psychology professor at Lawrence University.
Dehydration. Ever wake up after a night of heavy alcohol consumption and wonder why your tongue is stuck to the roof of your mouth? Dehydration, also partly to blame for headaches and nausea, is the culprit. It causes excess urination by stopping the release of a hormone that helps the body hold on to fluid. Also sweating, vomiting, and diarrhea that sometimes accompany excess drinking can cause a person to become dehydrated. The signs of dehydration can be dizziness, lightheadedness, thirst, and weakness -- symptoms that are felt during a hangover.
Fatigue. The day after a night of drinking and revelry, you're probably wiped out. That's because alcohol disrupts sleep. Alcohol can work as a sedative to help promote sleep. But alcohol has an effect on sleep quality. "People who drink alcohol tend to have sleep maintenance insomnia -- you wake up too soon and then you can't get back to sleep," White says. That's not the only problem.
"You don't spend as much time in 'slow wave', or REM, sleep," White explains. Vital for normal emotional and physical functioning, REM sleep (the dream phase) typically comprises between 20% and 25% of total sleep time.

Answer 2

alcohol is a poison. There is a percentage on the bottle. Larger 4-5% wine 7.5-13% Vodka 37-40% (the stronger stuff you usually dilute). If you drank 100% alcohol it would kill you. Your body can develope a tolarance to this poison. When you drink what your body can tolerate youre ok. When you drink more than your body can manage you have poisoned yourself. A hangover is a withdrawral from alchohol, youre getting rid of the toxins. (the darker the colour of the beer that gave you a hangover the worse the hangover can be,(ive not understood that but through experience i no its true).. I have a skinful on a saturday night. on sunday i feel ill i know if i have a pint about 4-5 pm then i feel better . The best thing is to take alcohol in moderation, a small glass of something is benificial to health it can relieve stress.

Answer 3

Depends on the quality and quantity of alcohol you drank. Wine, for example, has a substance that can cause headaches, even if you have 1 glass, specially red wine.
Scotch, for example gives me a headache, whichever and whatever quantity, except Johny Walker's Gold Label.
Or if you drank too much, it can be that you are dehydrated, which is one of the causes of hangover. Sometimes, if you get too drunk, the liver will be depleted of B complex vitamins, since alcohol is a diuretic, and you can help by drinking orange juice.

Answer 4

Hangovers are multi-causal. Ethanol has a dehydrating effect (such substances are known as diuretics), which causes headaches, dry mouth, and lethargy. Dehydration causes the brain to shrink away from the skull slightly. This can be mitigated by drinking water after consumption of alcohol. Alcohol's impact on the stomach lining can account for nausea. Due to the increased NADH production during metabolism of ethanol by alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases, excess NADH can build up and slow down gluconeogenesis in the liver, thus causing hypoglycemia.

Another factor contributing to a hangover is what results from the breakdown of ethanol via two chemical reactions, aided by enzymes produced by the cells of the liver. Ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, and then from acetaldehyde to acetate by the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. Acetaldehyde and acetate are both mildly toxic, contributing to the hangover.

The two aforementioned reactions also require the conversion of NAD+ to NADH. With an excess of NADH, the lactate dehydrogenase reaction is driven to produce lactate from pyruvate (the end product of glycolysis) in order to regenerate NAD+ and sustain life. This diverts pyruvate from other pathways such as gluconeogenesis, thereby impairing the ability of the liver to supply glucose to tissues, especially the brain. Because glucose is the primary energy source of the brain, this lack of glucose contributes to hangover symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, mood disturbances, and decreased attention and concentration.

Finally there are various nervous effects. The removal of the depressive effects of alcohol in the brain probably account for the light and noise sensitivity.

In addition, it is thought that the presence of other alcohols (such as methanol and fusel oils), by-products of the alcoholic fermentation also called congeners, exaggerates many of the symptoms; this probably accounts for the mitigation of the effects when distilled alcohol, particularly vodka, is consumed.

The amount of congeners in the drink may also have an effect. Red wines have more congeners than white wines, and some people note less of a hangover with white wine.

In alcohol metabolism, one molecule of ethanol (the primary active ingredient in alcoholic beverages) produces 2 molecules of NADH, utilizing Vitamin B12 as a coenzyme. Over consumption of ethanol may cause vitamin B12 deficiency as well.

Some people believe that sugar (often found in sweet cocktails) worsens hangovers.

Nicotine poisoning can often worsen hangovers, as smokers tend to smoke much more than usual while under the influence of alcohol.

Genetics also plays a part, as some people seldom, if ever, suffer hangover symptoms no matter how much they drink.

The psychosomatic nature of hangovers shouldn't be ignored either. If people expect a hangover, they tend to feel one.

Answer 5

just like alcohol dries out your skin or other things, it also dries out your insides, (dehydration) and since we don't normally replenish the water we lose, ta daa! hangover. And no, drinking water while you drink your alcohol does not mean you won't get a hangover. It may help, but it probably won't!The alcohol acts a lot faster than the body can compensate.

Answer 6

The alcohol dehydrates you causing the headache. All a hangover really is, is dehydration. If you equal your alcohol and water intake you will wake up feeling fine.

Answer 7

Don't ever take the sleeping pills route!!

1. They will damage your liver big time and you can get into serious health problems.

2. You will get hooked up on them and you won't be able to have a normal life any more if you don't take your pills everyday.

The sleeping pills industry is damaging our health by capitalizing on our ignorance, and by distracting people from effective and natural ways to deal with this problem. I had been taking prescription sleep medications [Ambien] for over 5 years. It stopped working and I simply took more. Still did not work. Nights were very difficult - medication put me to sleep but I would wake up after 2–3 hours with a strong sympathetic response (fast pulse, pounding heartbeat, wide awake alert). It was a very difficult cycle to break. I was really in bad shape due to lack of sleep.

After years of struggling I was able to cure my insomnia naturally and pretty fast. I followed the Sleep Tracks sleep optimization program, here is their official web -site if you want to take a look: http://www.insomniacure.net

Ohhh..and Good Luck!

Answer 8

No, you're not the only one. It happens to me if I drink cheap beer or draft beer, particularly on an empty stomach, so I stopped doing that. Since I switched to micro-brewery ones and never drinking without eating, no problem.

Answer 9

Your body converts the alcohol to acetaldehyde first, then to acetic acid. Acetaldehyde is what causes most hangover symptoms, including a headache.

Answer 10

It causes you to be dehydrated. Drink lots of water.