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Does coffee take the edge off the rawness? Myth or reality? Although a cup has always been recommended to lower the effects of alcohol, it may not be the best idea to have while you are in that state.
Just as there are foods you can eat before you start partying to avoid a hangover the next day, there are also home remedies that involve food to make the hangover less of a problem once you have it.
Some tips that have been passed down from generation to generation to get rid of the cruda are the famous hot broths, there are even those who say that drinking a beer “to cure it” is also valid. But one of the most popular is coffee.
You may even have been in that position where you want the alcohol in your system to pass quickly and you are recommended to drink coffee “to get rid of it”. So, does coffee really take the edge off?
What is hangover?
According to information from the NIAAA, hangover is defined as an ethyl intoxication in which the body is damaged and inflamed, resulting in headache, thirst, tiredness, nausea, muscle pain and even irritability.
Why do we get cruda? Whether or not you get a hangover the day after drinking alcohol depends on three factors:
- How quickly you ingested the alcohol.
- The amount of alcohol you drank
- The physical and genetic characteristics of the person.
Alcohol is digested in our organism by a process in which it passes through the stomach thanks to dehydrogenase-alcoholic-gastric dehydrogenase (this enzyme is present in greater quantities in men than in women); it then reaches the blood in the form of acetaldehyde, the cause of the hangover.
When the alcohol levels in our body start to decrease, it is the moment when you start to feel bad due to the withdrawal syndrome because the body asks for more alcohol.
Coffee takes away the hangover: truth or myth
In reality, coffee does not take away the hangover, but what it causes is a decompensation in our nervous (and digestive) system to make us believe that we are no longer drunk. If you ingest it while you are still under the effects of alcohol, your body (which felt tired because of the adenosine) receives a stimulant (caffeine) to produce more dopamine and keep the party going because you are alert again.
But if you are already in the raw process, the only thing that coffee will cause will be some of these problems:
Double dehydration
Alcohol already dehydrates you, now drink coffee the next morning to cure the cruda and you will end up worse because this drink is a natural diuretic: instead of restoring the liquids you need, you will have less.
Anxiety and stress
When the effects of alcohol wear off, the nervous system needs to recalibrate itself and that is exactly why symptoms such as irritability or anxiety may appear while you have cruda.
If you add coffee to the mix, you are likely to end up amplifying your anxiety due to the caffeine ingested.
Sensitive stomach
Alcohol irritates the stomach, a reason why nausea and vomiting are often present in the raw. Coffee will only further irritate the gastric mucosa, leading you to experience stomach pain, more nausea and vomiting, or even diarrhea.
So now you know: coffee does not get rid of hangovers, no matter how much the experts in eliminating hangovers tell you so. Maybe it can help you with some symptoms such as headaches… As long as it doesn’t amplify others, it’s your decision.