LIFE HACKS
Story by Miles King // Photos by Brendan Laird & Ryan Weier // Design by Hannah Brooks
Sunlight burns your eyes and your head is pounding. Phone? Check. Wallet? Check. You think, “Why am I sleeping in my clothes? Who ordered a pizza?” You had a few too many last night, and now you’re regretting it today. Greasy cheeseburgers, water and Aspirin, mysterious hangover fixer-elixir or the “hair of the dog”; we all have our means of beating a hangover. But what actually works and what doesn’t? Scrolling through a website like WebMD, you’ll find answers a doctor may give you. A student may respond with something more exotic or unorthodox. Whatever your method, the best way to get over a hangover: rehydration. “Most hangover symptoms are from dehydration,” says Doug Fulp, assistant director of wellness at CWU. According to Fulp, the human body loses 125 percent of its fluids when intoxicated, leading to dehydration and hangover. It takes about 72 hours to completely rehydrate after a night of drinking, he adds. We have all heard some interesting hangover cures and questioned if they truly work. For junior Film Major Carl Oswald, he has heard everything from drinking several cups of coffee to the “hair of the dog” method, which means drinking more
alcohol to put off a hangover. Personally, he just tries to replenish fluids. “I try to drink something with electrolytes,” says Oswald. He recommends Pedialyte, an electrolyte replenishing solution mainly used for children suffering from cold symptoms. Oswald’s hangover method consists of three or four Ibuprofen, about a half-gallon of water and a hot shower; no blended, oddly-colored hangover fixes. “Eat foods that have a lot of sodium like Saltine crackers; they make you more thirsty,” suggests Oswald. As for other remedies like coffee, showers and sweating it out, Fulp says they will only dehydrate you further. “Caffeine masks the effects of the alcohol,” says Fulp, adding that hydration over time is the best way to get over a hangover. The most obvious way to get over a hangover is to avoid them in the first place. But phrases like ‘liquor before beer, you’re in the clear,’ or ‘beer before liquor, never sicker,’ are believed by many. “The saying ‘beer before wine and you’ll be fine,’ while a catchy phrase, doesn’t have much truth to it. Regardless of the order, both beverages in excess—or paired together—can cause a hang-
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