Research shows that if consuming the same number of drinks, women are more prone to a hangover than men. It wasn’t bad enough that we menstruate, painfully push 3.5 kgs of a tiny human out and endure hot-flashy menopause, now the whiny women have something else to complain about, bad hangovers. No wonder the movie had an all-male main cast; except the monkey.
Every drinker has; at one point in his/her life, said the famous words ‘I am never drinking again!’. But give it a few days; or a few hours for some, and we happily drown in an ocean of intoxication whilst discreetly thinking ‘screw it, let’s poison ourselves with beverages that will make us violently ill again’.
After all, who doesn’t love 12 hours of nausea, swelling, headaches and binge eating the next day? There is, however, a fine line between a regular drinker and an alcoholic. Majority of the times we are unaware of which side we fall on with the easy accessibility of beverages, to consumption becoming part of our daily lives. A drink after work, a weekend brunch, just because it’s the first day of the week, just because there are still two days left to the weekend, just because I had to work late, just because I need to survive a kid’s birthday. Just, just, just. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes one does need an evening dosage of vino to overlook the day and at times just to live, laugh and celebrate a night. Ultimately, doesn’t a glass a day keep the doctor away? Wine is after all, way quicker and cheaper than therapy.
Whatever reason you have, indulge because you want to, not because you have to. Do it freely and not based on how others may perceive you. Most importantly if you do or do not decide to pick up that glass (or bottle, box and a keg in some cases), always remember to hydrate. I learnt that very late in life.
I have varying hangover cures, but my heartbreak cure is as follows: Take 24 hours to mourn. Eat, drink, destroy yourself; your body does not have to be your temple for that day. The next day, wake up and try to start a new chapter, because your heartbreak is a bigger problem than 1000’s of others, but remember that it’s also smaller than millions who are heartbroken over hunger, lack of clean drinking water, shelter, education, affected by natural disasters, discrimination, inequality and can’t fit into their old jeans anymore.
If you can’t conquer it today, do it tomorrow; like how we postpone dieting and gym visits. But in the end, push yourself to do it, because there will be a time you will look back and regret the time lost, the words unspoken, things unactioned, chances unused and maybe even the blackouts unrecalled.
