Hangover - Metabolic Changes In The Body

Alcohol is a cellular poison. It is absorbed in a significant percentage and relatively quickly by the gastric mucosa into the bloodstream.

Through the blood, ethanol spreads throughout the body and causes systemic reactions in the body.

The most popular organism-wide manifestation is the hangover.

Distinctive signs of this condition include headache, dizziness, thirst, nausea, vomiting, general weakness, abdominal and muscle pain .

Each of these symptoms has its own biochemical explanation, based on knowledge of the effects of ethanol and the body's attempts to deal with it.

Alcohol is neutralized in the liver. There are enzyme systems that gradually convert it into acetaldehyde, acetic acid and acetyl CoA. The latter is included in the Krebs cycle in the mitochondria. The end result of the decomposition of one molecule of ethanol is 2 molecules of carbon dioxide and 4 molecules of water, ie. the body releases alcohol by converting it into much simpler molecules such as water and carbon dioxide.

Dehydration is the most significant cause of a hangover, in terms of explaining fluid metabolism when drinking alcohol, and is clinically manifested by its main manifestations such as headache, dizziness, decreased tolerance to strong light and noise, thirst and general weakness.

The dehydrating effect of alcohol can be illustrated by the following example:

Beer contains 95% water and only 5% alcohol. When taking 200 milliliters of beer, 190 ml of water and 10 ml of alcohol are introduced into the body. The latter is metabolized to the same amount of water in the liver. Therefore, the volume of water introduced is 200 ml and the amount of urine excreted, instead of being equivalent, is 320 ml. This indicates that alcohol has a diuretic effect before being deactivated in the liver.

Part of this extra 120 ml is normal hourly diuresis. A sixty-kilogram woman excretes an average of 60 ml of urine per hour, an 80-kilogram man - 80 ml per hour, etc. However, an additional amount of liquid remains, which is responsible for the action of ethanol.

It has been scientifically proven that alcohol interacts with certain brain structures. Its effect on the hypothalamus and the posterior part of the pituitary gland is specific.

The latter are involved in maintaining the water-salt balance of the body. Then, when the volume of blood, respectively of water and electrolytes, is reduced, these brain structures register the changes and secrete anti-diuretic hormone into the plasma. As its name suggests, it reduces the secretion of fluids to store them for the blood and maintain its normal volume.

Alcohol suppresses this function of the hypothalamus and posterior pituitary gland and thus indirectly stimulates the excretion of more urine. The result is dehydration of the body.

Dehydration is at the root of the main clinical symptoms of a hangover!

The reduced volume of circulating blood reflects on a drop in blood pressure and general fatigue.

Impaired cerebral perfusion, dilation of cerebral blood vessels, and acetaldehyde, which is incompletely detoxified by the liver, are responsible for the headache.

The decrease in the total amount of water in the body leads to a relative increase in the concentrations of the substances dissolved in the plasma, as well as to increased blood viscosity. Altered relative concentrations are recorded by other brain structures, including the thirst center in the brain.

Here's how the body activates a whole chain of regulatory processes to compensate for dehydration through the simple action of drinking fluids!

Fluids are the main counteraction to a hangover! It is recommended to be taken both in the process of alcohol consumption and in the process of sobriety and hangover.