You just woke up hungover. Will exercise help you feel better?
By Talya Minsberg
Electrolyte drinks, ibuprofen, a bacon and egg roll – everyone has their own way of nursing a hangover. There are also plenty of products that claim to make the experience less miserable, with little evidence to support them.
But what about exercise? Some people swear that a workout can help cure, or blunt, a hangover. If it can, what type of movement could be most helpful?
“There’s very few settings where exercise is not beneficial,” says Dr Andy Peterson, a team physician at the University of Iowa. It’s “the closest thing we have to a miracle drug in medicine”.
That includes hangovers – with some caveats – he says. Here’s what experts advise if you are thinking about sweating through a rough morning.
If you do want to exercise hungover, staying hydrated is important.Credit: iStock
How does a hangover affect your body?
After a night of drinking, several things happen to your body at once, says Dr Shaan Khurshid, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. You might be dehydrated, and you might experience sleep disturbances, digestive issues or a spike in anxiety.
While hangover symptoms and their severity can vary a lot between people – and even for the same person at different times – no one is going to be at their physical peak after drinking a substantial amount of alcohol, Khurshid says.
Alcohol is a relaxant, which is why it can make you feel less stressed and more at ease. But as those effects wane, they can be followed by what Khurshid called a “compensatory kind of adrenaline surge”. He explains: “That’s why some people will notice that their heart rate is faster, or they are a little bit more anxious or on edge” the next day.
Starting a workout with a higher baseline heart rate could make your go-to routine feel harder than usual. (If you are prone to heart arrhythmias, it’s best to stay away from intense exercise the morning after drinking, Peterson adds.)
Alcohol also has a diuretic effect, meaning it makes you urinate more frequently. It also slows your digestion and irritates your stomach lining, which can cause vomiting or other gastrointestinal issues. All of these factors increase your chances of dehydration.
You also may not be eating as much or as healthily when you’re drinking. If so, come the next morning, you are likely not properly fuelled for exercise.
What type of exercise is best?
There is very little research on exercise and hangovers. Of the small studies that do exist, most have focused on how hangovers might affect athletic performance, rather than the other way around. (For example, one study of hikers in Greece found that hungover participants felt “significantly more exhausted” after a 16-kilometre walk than participants without hangovers. On average, they also smoked many more cigarettes the night before.)
But it is well-established that dehydration has a negative impact on exercise performance. For that reason, experts stress the importance of rehydrating and taking in electrolytes before attempting any kind of workout with a hangover. Khurshid recommends eating a salty snack or breakfast in addition to drinking plenty of water.
Some hangover symptoms, like poor co-ordination and slow thinking, can also put you at increased risk for injury if you choose a workout that demands complex motor movements, such as boxing or rock climbing, Peterson says. For that reason, you are better off trying a low-intensity form of exercise, such as a walk, an easy jog, a gentle swim or a ride on a stationary bike.
But as long as you listen to your body and do not attempt any new, vigorous activities, trying some movement should be safe, Khurshid says.
If the movement feels good, or you start to feel better as you exercise, you can increase the intensity, Peterson says. But if you start to feel worse, it’s time to call it.
If you want to do exercise while hungover, swimming can be a great choice.Credit: iStock
Can a workout help you feel better?
If you don’t usually exercise, a hungover workout probably won’t be a “one-time cure”, Khurshid says, since it will be more difficult for you to push yourself enough to have a productive session when you’re feeling less than your best. For that reason, you are more likely to experience some benefit if you already exercise regularly.
Still, this is not the time to push yourself to the edge. “If you start your workout, and you feel terrible but you don’t feel any worse as you go on, you’re doing the right thing,” Peterson says.
If you do start to feel better afterwards, the experts said, it is probably the regular magic of exercise and endorphins at work. There are far worse miracle elixirs to believe in.
The New York Times
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