There are many factors when trying to pick the right bar, pub or club to spend your evening. Most likely you’re out with a certain group of your friends and you are probably aware of their likes and dislikes. Afterall, they are your friends. That can be anything from the likes about women, drinks, music, experience, price they can afford and so on.
A Bar Pub or Club Crawl, as we used to call it, can be many things to many people. Usually, it’s selecting a few bars or an area, getting a group of people together, and hitting the town. For me, it was always fun to go into the city we were in at the time, and find the busiest street, then start at the first bar on the street. No planning. But for us, it was about going through a few places until you found one that you wanted to “close down”.
First things first…hit the first place you come to. That is, if you get in. We’ve actually had problems with our buddies not getting in. Sorry for them but the buddy code states that if you are not able to keep up, you get left behind. However the contradicting rule is never leave a buddy behind. However, you just paid ten dollars to get in this bar….he can wait. usually you can ask to get your money back. If it’s a decent place, they will oblige.
So pony up to the bar, get your favorite drink, and step into the Bar Formula to find out what the “Stay Factor” is. (I don’t really expect you to try to do an equation while you are drinking.) This is a natural formula or process you need to go through when you are deciding if a bar or club is worthy to stay at, or move on to the next place.
It’s always a good idea to split up. Usually for us, the whole point of the Bar Pub or Club Crawl was to find a place we wanted to stay; Whether it be good drink prices, good entertainment, or gorgeous chicks. Everyone would take a trip around the place, get acquainted and then naturally make their way back to each other. It shouldn’t take everyone too long to decide if this is a place you want to spend some time in or move on. There’s nothing wrong with buying a couple drinks at a place before you move on. After all, that’s the fun of a Bar Pub or Club Crawl.
So you might be asking “I didn’t follow your tips, and now I’m paying the price. What should I do NOW?” Well, the best thing to do right now is drink a glass of water. Do you have some tylenol, ibuprofen or aspirin? Take one. The day after you drink is a fairly safe time to have an aspirin or pain medication. However, you need to stay hydrated. You may be able to have a bit of food. But I would wait a little while until you get enough water back into your system. If this hangover is about to break out of your head, follow these steps to save your life (not really, but it will relieve you of those construction workers working over time in your head).
Here are my step-by-step instruction on curing a hangover:
Step One
Drink a glass of lightly chilled water right away. Water is easier for your body to take in if its only a little chilled. Your body has to work to cool down hot water or warm up cold water. Do not drink more than one at this point, no matter how thirsty you are. You will over-hydrate (you didn’t know you could do that huh?) and your stomach will let you know that it didn’t like that.
Step Two
After about ten minutes, have another half glass (no more) of water with your aspirin. This will ensure you have enough hydration to help digest your aspirin. Waiting for ten minutes will also ensure that your major organs are hydrated again to start processing a medication and ensure that it doesn’t do more harm than good.
Step Three
When your stomach feels like it can handle it (usually no more than an hour but no less than 30 minutes), have another glass of chilled water. You will want to continue having an hourly glass of water for about three to four hours. You don’t have to down a glass of water every hour. It’s okay if you sip from the glass. Just make sure you finish the glass before the hour.
Step Four
If and when you can stomach it, I would suggest eating a healthy, well balanced light meal of protein, carbohydrates and fruits or vegetables. One of my greatest hangover cure meals was crackers and cheese with some sliced-up fruit. Delicious, light and easy on the stomach. I would stay far away from anything really heavy or greasy. Like burgers or fries, no matter how easy they are to get.
If you follow those steps, I guarantee you will start to feel better almost right away. The aspirin will help. However, I encourage you to follow each step to its completeness. You will need to re-hydrate. So make sure you have all the glasses of water suggested in that time frame. And don’t starve your body of it’s nutrients. You will need to replenish those vitamins and minerals needed by, well, every part of your body. So when you can, eat something. At least, have a vitamin supplement to take care of those needs until you can actually eat something and keep it down.
A nightlife can come with a price. If you don’t want to pay that extra price, pay attention to these tips and suggestions. Your mind and body will thank you. You will be able to take back your weekend and enjoy more than just the nightlife. Although we all know that’s where the exciting things happen. Just remember, drink responsibly!
A nightlife of fun and debauchery has been accused at times of having a life of its own. “The nightlife is a beast all its own. It grabs a hold of you, and doesn’t let go until you’ve satisfied your desires and emptied your wallet. One can’t help but be lured in by it’s promises of fun and fancy. The real scary thing is that it delivers.” The same can be said about the drinks you buy throughout your evening. That first sip is great and that’s where it takes a hold of you (because it’s so delicious). Then they are so good you keep going back to the bar until you’ve emptied your wallet. And it’s fun and fancy at the time, but in the morning, it’s not fun at all.
Preventing a Hangover
I’m sure you know what I’m speaking of. That’s right, a hangover. A hangover that lasts much longer than the amount of time you were drinking. Sometimes the WHOLE next day. It has ruined my weekend before. It almost doesn’t seem fair, does it? You think you’re paying for tasty drinks, but what you’re really paying for is a day after drinking of complete misery. For those of you who have not received a nice day after treat of a hangover, congratulations. You are doing something right. However, for the rest of us who are not so lucky, here are some great prevention tips to keep those pounding construction workers out of your head.
Number one, eat. Eating is an easy tip. This might be a usual thing a lot of people do naturally before and during a night out. Many people I know would want to eat before they went out drinking to prevent getting too sick. They mistakenly think the food in their stomach is “soaking up” the alcohol. So they would just eat a half a loaf of bread and think they were good to go. However, what the food is actually doing is mix with, and help reduce the potency of the alcohol to your system.
Hangover Cures
Remember, the reason you get “drunk” in the first place is because your body can’t get rid of all the toxins in the alcohol. When the alcohol is in less concentration when mixed with food, your body can process it better. So the tip here is: Eat a light meal prior to going out for a night on the town. As you are in the mix of drinking and having fun, try nibbling on some snacks if they have any at the bar, pub or club. Things like peanuts or pretzels are there for a reason. Do not drink water while you are drinking though. This will help speed up the process of absorption of the alcohol and digestion and may make you more intoxicated.
My friends and I made a little ritual out of going out for a dinner before we hit the bar, pub or club. Our favorite place was Hooter’s, but I’m sure you have a favorite place you and your friends like to go. We would order our favorite meals, eat (don’t over eat) and be merry. This way it made our nightlife a much more enjoyable experience and also the next day as well.
Another highly regarded tip is to be hydrated. Many people hear this and many people think they are doing what they need to. But the reality of it is that a lot of people never even get their daily “dose” of water, let alone enough to keep them hydrated throughout the night and into the next day. An average person’s daily consumption of water should be at least eight glasses of water. I consider myself someone who likes to try and stay healthy. For this to happen, I need to drink at least two liters of water daily. Now you might be saying there’s no way you can drink that much. Well, you might be right. I am very active and I also have been doing it for a long time. I rarely drink anything else but water. Only on the nights that I go out is when I have something different. However, anyone can easily drink their suggested daily amount.
The point I am making is this. You can’t expect to drink a glass of water before you go drinking, and want to wake up with no hangover whatsoever. It’s just not going to happen. The main key to waking up after a great nightlife is to be hydrated. The way to do that is to start drinking your water in the morning before. A lot of people have said, “Well I didn’t know I was going out tonight until the last moment.” My response has always been “You should start drinking more water everyday.” The main factor of a hangover is de-hydration right? So being hydrated is going to be your biggest hangover fighting factor. When your nightlife is precluded with food and water, you can greatly prevent a hangover.
Some tips on staying healthy while drinking:
I would highly suggest not taking aspirin, Tylenol or any type of pain medication when you are out on the town. Although this might be a popular idea of hangover prevention, it is the wrong thing to do. Taking any aspirin Tylenol or ibuprofen will not help with your hangover the next day, and can actually cause you more damage to your liver than drinking alone. Taking pain killers are also very dangerous to take prior to your drinking escapades.
Vitamins have been suggested as a hangover cure. Although I couldn’t say yes or no to this (I’m thinking no) working as a hangover prevention technique, I believe that it can only do better for your body than harm. When you drink, you lose nutrients and other things your body needs to work efficiently. Regularly taking vitamins can help in your body’s ability to filter out the toxins you intake while drinking. Remember, you and your tongue might enjoy that wonderfully mixed drink, but the rest of your body is treating it like the plague, and is doing everything in its power to remove the alcohol. So although they won’t be the prime component in preventing your hangover, they could actually be playing a small role.
The most important suggestion I can give you for staying healthy while drinking and preventing a hangover is this; Drink moderately. Your body works in a way which it CAN remove the alcohol from your body, but usually only at a rate of one drink per hour. People sometimes drink more than this, and some drink less. However, you can be assured that if you are drinking no more than one drink an hour (whether it’s a mixed drink, a shot, a pint of beer, or a glass of wine) you will still be able to have a fun and exciting nightlife, while still doing the best for your body. More importantly, you will be doing your head a world of good the next day.