Where are the times when I could party the whole night and get up full of energy the next morning just with a light headache? I tell you where they are – gone, bye bye, not coming back. With all those cool things that happen after you turn 30, the lower immunity to hangover is definitely not one of those. Well, the last three years were quite intense when it comes to partying. Think I’m catching up on that as during university I didn’t party as much as other students. It doesn’t mean however that I stayed dry through the whole university period. Well, once during a night out with colleagues I got wasted and got up the morning after at 5 am to catch a train to Warsaw to then catch a flight to Singapore. The worst point was at Warsaw airport but during the stopover in Helsinki everything got better. If I did the same now, I would probably suffer until touchdown in Singapore. Not to mention that I would have difficulties getting up in the first place. Now after a whole night of partying I feel like crap the next day. Although not always! Noticed couple of situations where the hangover wasn’t as bad as expected.

Eat a proper meal before drinking

If you know that you won’t have time to eat before going out for drinks, try to eat something at the place where you meet with friends for drinks. Order food before you start with the booze.

Drink lots of water between drinks

A magic trick to not feel like shit the day after is to drink lots of water between drinks. Ideally one drink one glass of water, one drink one glass of water. Yes, you will probably be running to the toilet more often but it’s worth it. Now that hint is not recommendable to people who generally need to use the toilet frequently anyway. One of my friends, when she visits me, she needs to use the toilet at least once every 30 minutes. After a couple of glasses of prosecco, it’s even more frequent. Once she asked me, Alice why don’t we ever travel somewhere together? Told her that my itenary usually doesn’t consider ten restroom visits during a sightseeing day 😛 However, drinking water in-between alcoholic drinks helps a lot. If your bladder doesn’t take that you can always drink a liter of water after a night out, before going to sleep. That should also linger the pain the morning after 😉

No tequila shots

No, no, no… tequila is bad… It’s a satan’s invention. As my friend Monique says, tequila makes your clothes fall off. Well, that’s maybe an advantage but generally tequila gives me weird dreams. One time I was dreaming that I’m running around the jungle with a machete trying to kill mosquitos. Besides, if you are having a nice night out at some point somebody comes up with the idea to order tequila shots. Most probably that person will be me <evil> If that happens you should say NO! If the person (me) insists you should say – fuck no! That usually helps. Anyway, resist the temptation to have tequila shots, that is pure evil. It makes you do crazy things and gives you surreal dreams. There is however a funny story associated with tequila. When I was living in Hong Kong, my friend came over for a diving slideshow. I still had some gin left just enough for two drinks. The evening was supposed to be cultural… yeah right. After the gin finished, we went to the supermarket nearby to get another bottle. Problem was, the store didn’t have gin. We got a bottle of tequila instead. Big, big mistake. As I didn’t have shot glasses in my apartment my friend poured it into drink glasses. Told him that this is much more than a usual shot. In reply I heard – come on Alice, you’re Polish you can handle that. Well, after two of those I went to bed my friend stayed on the sofa. The morning after he called me asking how I am feeling.

Don’t mix

There is the golden rule of drinking DON’T MIX. If you start with wine, stick to wine. However, another golden rule of drinking says if you want to mix you should start with the beverage that has a lower concentration of alcohol and work up. It would then be, start with wine, then maybe have a gin and tonic and finish with a shot. I made the mistake of mixing a couple of times. The most memorable one was in Shanghai for Chinese New Year. Was visiting my bestie PRS and together with her friends we went to a bar where drinks for ladies were for free. The curious beast inside me wanted to try all of them. And I did… and I regretted it later. Which means after the fireworks I had to leave Bar Rouge earlier than others. Till now PRS is reminding me about that situation and is laughing her guts out… not blaming her for that 😛 Since then I try not to mix but if I do, I stick to the second golden rule of drinking. Trust me that helps. Hangover the day after is still there but goes away quickly. 

Have a mix of friends

Not sure about you but when I meet some of my friends it usually ends up being drunk at the end of the evening. On the other hand, I have friends who don’t drink so when I meet with them there is no alcohol involved. With that said it’s kinda important to have a balance in your friend’s circle. When you go out all together the possibility of getting wasted is much less, meaning no hangover the next day 😛 Besides if by any chance the evening will go sideways, and you end up completely wasted there will be somebody to help you order an uber 😛

There is another correlation I noticed between drinking and getting older. Yes, the hangovers are worse after you turn 30 BUT also you can handle more alcohol after you are 30. Interesting, isn’t it. In your 20’s you get drunk quicker with less alcohol than in your 30’s. Maybe that’s why the hangovers after 30 are worse… because you need more booze to get into the drunken mood. Only what to do when everything goes pear-shaped and you end up with a massive hangover? Remediation tips in the next post so stay tuned