SWEAT AND BEERS

The latest in exercise science suggests that maybe you can run off a hangover

- by IAN TAYLOR

You don’t need a scientist to tell you that hangovers are bad. Too much alcohol often leads to headaches, nausea and fatigue, and a body-wide wave of inflammation.

This, of course, is to say nothing of the long-term health risks of alcohol consumption. So, given the bitter toll they exact on us, it’s amazing how little research has been done on hangovers.

“I did a PubMed search for ‘hangover’ and I think it came up with around 600 articles since 1945,” says Prof J Leigh Leasure, referring to the open-access database of biomedical and life science research. “Which means that there’s, like, nothing on this topic. It’s stunning.”

Leasure, a neuroscientist who studies the effects of alcohol at the University of Houston, is one of the researchers trying to improve our understanding of this hazy state.

She notes there’s more anecdotal than clinical evidence about hangovers, so it’s not researchers, but sufferers who have brewed up many so-called hangover cures, from eggs and bacon to electrolytes, vitamin cocktails and caffeine drips.

Others, however, chose to attack them with high-intensity exercise. Some go running, others do spin or kettlebell classes. Whatever the workout, the intention is the same: they use the morning after to sweat out the ‘poison’ of the night before.