Yes, rehydration is one of the best ways to reduce hangover symptoms. Alcohol restricts blood vessel dilation and increases heart rate, which explains why drinking can cause arrhythmia and elevated blood pressure. Heavy drinking will cause dehydration, no matter what preventative strategies you are using. Dehydration occurs when fluid loss is greater than fluid intake.
General Health
While it’s well known that drinking too much alcohol can lead to a hangover, even moderate alcohol consumption can lead to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. In severe cases of dehydration, drinking water alone may be insufficient. If you are dehydrated to the point that you are experiencing symptoms like weakness or loss of consciousness, you may need intravenous (IV) fluids administered in a healthcare setting. In addition to water loss, drinking alcohol can also lead to electrolyte imbalance—especially sodium. Alcohol consumption lowers your sodium levels, primarily because of low solute (protein and salt) intake as compared to free water intake. Under normal conditions, the kidneys require solute to excrete free water.
How can I drink alcohol without dehydrating?
Similarly, taking certain medications, such as diuretics or antihistamines, can exacerbate alcohol’s dehydrating effects. Alcohol’s diuretic effect stems from its ability to inhibit the secretion of vasopressin, also known as antidiuretic hormone (ADH). This hormone helps the kidneys manage the amount of water in the body.
Why do I feel weird for several days after drinking?
It is a known carcinogen and a highly toxic molecule (citation). The good news is that you are exposed to a lot less of it than alcohol when you drink. “Stronger alcohol might provoke more dehydration, but it truly has not been studied enough to know for sure,” she says, pointing to a 2017 study published in Nutrients. That paper summarizes that research into whether stronger alcohol is linked with increased dehydration is inconclusive. Alcohol dehydration occurs because alcohol causes you to lose too much fluid from your body.
I’ve spent the last seven years researching and understanding alcoholism, addiction, and how people get sober. Additionally, I examine the way mental and physical health as well can alcohol be dehydrated as our relationships with others impact the reasons people drink and their role in maintaining sobriety long-term. Remember, alcohol dehydration has both acute and chronic effects. Dehydration can also impair cognitive function, including memory, attention, and decision-making abilities. Studies have shown that being dehydrated by just 2% can lead to impaired performance on tasks that require attention and psychomotor and short-term memory skills.
- Thanks to alcohol’s ability to trip up the pituitary gland, a person could lose more water through excessive urination than they would normally.
- However, due to how alcohol affects the production of ADH, you will still become dehydrated after drinking beer.
- This can prematurely age you as you gain more lines and wrinkles on your face.
- But many experts were critical of the study, calling it flawed.
Apart from intoxication – which is well characterized for obvious reasons – it turns out that alcohol’s effects on the body are quite complicated, elusive, and variably dependent on several factors. There’s been a lot of good characterization of general bodily responses, but we have yet to truly understand https://ecosoberhouse.com/ the whole picture – especially as it relates to the day after drinking. “You can’t entirely prevent it, but if you go into drinking well-hydrated, you are less likely to feel the negative effects of dehydration,” she says.
Factors that Increase Alcohol-Related Dehydration
While the amount of alcohol you consume is the main determinant of how dehydrated you’ll eventually become, you’re better off starting a drinking session well hydrated as opposed to already dehydrated. Alcohol works as a diuretic largely because it suppresses the release of a hormone called vasopressin, which is also known as antidiuretic hormone. With less vasopressin in your system, the body excretes more water, which in turn causes you to pee more (2). Your body uses vitamin B12 to eliminate alcohol from your body and aids in breakdown of carbs. Many carbs in alcohol turn to sugar that will spike your blood sugar levels.
Contents
Remember that list of things that makes alcohol-related dehydration worse? Other lifestyle factors, such as exercise, climate, and medication use, can also impact alcohol’s dehydrating effects. The frequency and duration of drinking can also impact the dehydrating effects of alcohol. drug addiction treatment In this article, we will discuss the relationship between alcohol and dehydration, the negative effects of dehydration on the body, and practical tips for staying hydrated while consuming alcohol. Here we see a single drink administered, followed by a single spike in blood alcohol (the solid line), and a single spike in urine flow (the black bars). This outcome makes sense and aligns with our common beliefs about alcohol’s effect on the body.