A Sure Cure for Hangover

Another year nearing its end and weekly, if not daily, get-togethers over drinks in full swing all over in Japan, there's always this problem of hangovers - you see, the Japanese are built with one enzyme less than westerners to keep alcohol a due company. In a nutshell, they can be dead drunk easily.

So has many a remedy offered every so often to deal with the most popular symptoms like nausea, languor, headache ....what amounts to be called "hangover". Now, Shinichi Asabe M.D. at Jichi Medical School Hospital in Saitama has come up with a sure cure for hangover. It is a package of 5 keywords which, if properly followed, should relieve most victims of this worrisome sickness.

Dr. Asabe suggests you to mark these 5 keywords:

1 Supply water; sports drinks and miso soup are also recommended
2 Supply of amino acid and vitamins (mainly B1); also supplements
3 To control headache, caffeine is worth trying if water supply doesn't help.
4 Stomach medicine for quick‐acting remedy; also antacid, lactic acid bacteria beverages, anti‐nausea drug,etc. 
5 If none works, consult your doctor.

Hangover is an expression of dehydration, says Dr. Asabe. Sake is watery but only temporarily, he says, as alcohol has diuretic effect and takes water out of the body as urine in no time. "Besides", he adds, "those things you nibble with your drink are often salty and they take their share of water of your system".

"When you wake up in the morning with a hangover, trust me your body is practically waterless", warns Dr. Asabe. Dehydration causes headache and dizziness.

The first glass of water on such a morning should be lightly salty or sweet, he recommends. Salty water is tenderer to your stomach than pure water and better still, if not offending, he advises a bowl of miso soup with a pinch of salt.

News Source: Nikkei Shimbun