Even if you go out without meaning to drink too much, it’s easy to get carried away by trying to keep up with everyone else. Have you ever found yourself holding your friend’s hair back as they’re throwing up or getting them home safely, when you’d rather be dancing? After one too many a night can easily go from good to bad and the next thing you know, you’re subjecting the taxi driver to a rendition of ‘I will survive’ between throwing up out the window, or maybe arguing, getting caught up in a fight or placing yourself in risky situations.
Then there’s the stinking hangover. As you’re lying on the sofa clutching your head, moaning to unsympathetic housemates that you feel like you’re dying, you’re almost certainly feeling sick, dizzy, dehydrated, tired and weak. There’s probably just one question in your mind – why did I drink so much last night?
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What’s the big rush? Drink too much, too early and you’ll miss out
Drinking with your mates before you go out might seem harmless but it can get messy. It’s easy to lose track of how much you’re drinking - pub measures of shots are 25ml. This doesn’t look like much in a glass so you’re likely to serve yourself much more at home. In the end, you might get to the party having had way too much, or you might even get left behind whilst everyone else is having fun!
Next time you have your friends around on or before a night out, try to track how much you drink. Make sure you can tell when you’re getting towards that point where a good night can easily take a turn for the worse and remember to pace yourself. Focus on catching up with friends rather than getting ahead on the drinks.
Eating isn’t cheating
Sadly, there’s no way of escaping the fact that alcohol is fattening. Just one beer has the same number of calories as a slice of pizza. If you’re watching your weight, it’s tempting to skip a meal and ‘use’ the calories on alcohol. Calories from alcohol are ‘empty’ meaning they have no nutritional value so they are not a replacement to food and will make you feel much worse later on.
Food slows the rate at which alcohol is absorbed into the blood stream as well as giving you the energy you need to last until the early hours. If possible include complex carbohydrates like potatoes or pasta. With a good meal inside you, any alcohol you drink will enter your blood stream more slowly, helping you to stay on your feet longer.
If you don’t have time to eat before you head out, you could have a meal with your drink – research suggests that drinking with food is less damaging to your digestive system than drinking on an empty stomach because food prevents alcohol being absorbed too quickly.
Miss a round, not the whole night
It’s much easier to be over-generous when you’ve had a few drinks and you might find yourself making a big hole in your bank account by buying drinks for all your mates! If you end up in rounds the drinks can quickly pile up. Try to pace yourself by doing rounds with only two or three of you who drink at the same pace, spacing out the amount of drinks you have or having a soft drink every so often. It’s important to stay hydrated as alcohol dehydrates you. Tap water is usually free at the bar. It’s a great way to avoid all the extra calories in alcohol too!
Take cash on its own, when it’s gone, head home
Make sure you don’t wake up the next morning regretting how much you spent by taking cash rather than bank cards on a night out. But remember to make sure you and your mates get home safely. Keep enough money on you for the cab on the way home, and take the card from your taxi driver on the way out to make sure you book a licensed cab at the end of the night.