Alcohol and heat: How to drink in the summer
Summer is the season of outdoor parties, and it is better to know in advance about the pitfalls that may lie in wait for them. The issue of alcohol is one of the most significant. It is really harmful to get drunk, especially in the heat, but sometimes it is better to miss a couple of glasses of punch than to worry or be angry about the inability to afford a sip of alcohol. In case you have no idea how to drink in the heat with the least damage to the body, we wrote a short instruction.
How does heat affect the body?
The heat is dangerous for the human body by itself: the heart begins to beat faster, and the vessels dilate to deliver more blood to the upper, “cool” layers of the skin. When this is not enough, the body begins to sweat - this is the most effective method of thermoregulation, which, however, is fraught with dehydration. Overheating can cause dizziness, headache and fainting. Nothing special such conditions are not treated: in themselves you will rest in a cool place, peace and plenty of non-carbonated water. A heatstroke, in which, besides all the above, clarity of thinking is disturbed, and the body temperature rises to 40 degrees, on the contrary, it requires sensible medical assistance.
At how a person will feel in a hot climate, humidity is also strongly influenced. If it is high, perspiration will not even evaporate from the skin and the natural mechanism of thermoregulation will not help out. In general, the ability to sweat is an encouraging indicator: with the same heat stroke, the body stops sweating and becomes very hot. If it came to this, it is necessary to cool down immediately, literally.
Why alcohol is dangerous in heat
Alcohol increases blood pressure, creating an additional burden for the blood vessels and the heart, and disrupts thermoregulation. It acts as a diuretic and contributes to dehydration: a large amount of fluid is excreted through the urine, so there is no longer enough water for sweating, and the chances of getting heat stroke increase dramatically. The main danger of drinking in the heat is that being drunk is more difficult to separate the symptoms of overheating (headache, dry mouth, nausea) from the classic alcoholic "helicopters", and if you quickly get drunk, you may not notice the symptoms at all. As a result, the body is bad from all sides: it is not easy to recycle alcohol, and here it is also necessary to do it at elevated temperatures.
Separately, we note typical summer activities, in front of which many people like to skip a glass or two: drinking always influences coordination, breathing and a sense of balance, so swimming becomes not only more difficult, but also more dangerous. The disappointing statistics of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that about half of the deaths on beaches could have been avoided if the victims had not drunk before bathing.
Many people think that a small amount of alcohol (ice-cold beer or cider on the beach, well, you know yourself), on the contrary, helps to cool down. Scientists at the Japanese University of Waseda were not too lazy to check it and found out that after a conditional glass of wine, the body temperature actually drops - however, after it increases slightly due to this very wine. It is not only the expansion of blood vessels and increased perspiration, which provokes alcohol, but also in human behavior: when it gets hot, he unconsciously looks for ways to cool down (removes outerwear or looks for a windy place, for example). So, the “cooling” effect of alcohol is mainly due to behavioral patterns, and not to the healing properties of beverages.
If you really drink, what drinks
It is useful to know about all the dangers, but it is doubly useful to not fool yourself, so you should know in advance exactly what kind of alcohol is better to drink in the heat. The formula is offensively simple: try to use less alcohol by all means. A large amount of ice in summer punches and cocktails is drunk only on hand: yes, the taste will change because the ice will melt, but one glass will be enough for a long time, and the water will only benefit the body. Ice can be added not only to cocktails, but also to clean drinks. Wine snobs can fairly ignore this advice, but sometimes it’s better to sacrifice taste and drink wine with ice than instantly hobble and miss everything. In general, it is better to drink weak alcohol: "fizzy", savory wines, beer and simple combinations of alcohol with juice or savory soda will be just right. From shots, strong cocktails and undiluted heavyweights, run to the other end of the bar.
By the way, if you are sure that in any situation it is better to drink dark drinks, because they contain more antioxidants than light ones, we hurry to disappoint: in addition to useful antioxidants, there are a lot of compounds in them that increase hangover. So, red wine not only does not cure (like golden tequila, dark beer, and rum, and in general all colored drinks), but on the whole is more ruthless than white. In the heat, you should not drink cocktails with coffee: in extreme temperatures, you need to listen more carefully to the body, and caffeine will only stimulate it artificially - you may not notice creeping nausea or headache. Again, caffeine dehydrates, and with this, and alcohol copes. Well, the good old recommendation that it is better to drink at nightfall, in the summer can be very useful.
How best to drink in the heat
The universal rule for drinking in any setting is one standard drink per hour and no more than three or four per evening. The only problem is to find out what this notorious standard drink is. Fortunately, there have been long-time calculators that not only show how many drinks are contained in the usual Martini or Screwdriver, but also allow us to determine the strength of an unfamiliar drink. Not that we hope that you will calculate the safe amount of Negroni right in the bar, but to estimate at your leisure how much you usually drink and how it compares with the recommendations will be useful. The most conscious one can buy a beautiful Lapka BAM breathalyzer or download the free application Wise Drinking, it will help determine the degree of intoxication and record the statistics of libations in the diary, which can also be analyzed in free hours.
Dehydration strongly affects cognitive abilities and the brain in general, so the less water in the body, the faster you will get drunk and the worse it will be the next morning. Due to the fact that alcohol is a diuretic, it is best to drink a glass of plain water after each glass or stack. Yes, the toilet will have to go more often, but the likelihood that the next day will disappear from life, significantly reduced. If the party was not up to it, try to drink as much water as possible before going to bed - you can’t get back to sober up, but the body's moisture level will at least come close to healthy. Another important thing: along with the water from the body are washed out the B vitamins, so that before the hangover it would be good to eat something containing them, and drink a sports drink like Gatorade (less sweet can be done the most). We don’t scoff: electrolytes don't care, you sweat from jogging or from the fifth cocktail, so in any of these situations it will be useful to restore the ion balance.
How to fix yourself in the morning
Sometimes a hangover is unavoidable. Treatment methods depend on the severity of the poisoning, but simple mechanisms usually help. If it is possible to sleep through all the unpleasant symptoms, it is better to do this (after drinking a couple of glasses of water at the time of awakening). If sleep is an unaffordable luxury and you need to function normally, you still should not neglect water. In addition to her, you can drink some kind of cocktail from the list of anti-hog classics, like "Virgin Mary"; the main thing is that it is not cloying - sugar will give a quick boost of energy, which will subside just as quickly, but then it will want to be sweet again. Nutritionists advise not to lean on fatty foods (even though it’s exactly what you want), but to eat a little, drink more - ideally plain water, but any other non-alcoholic drink will do.
It is better to ignore crutches like “Alka-Seltzer”: soda in its composition will balance the acidic environment in the stomach, while aspirin will act aggressively and act as an irritant. On the other hand, Enterosgel, activated carbon and other absorbing agents will help to quickly remove the remaining alcohol from the body: it is best to drink them before bedtime, but it will not hurt in the morning. Coffee is not a good idea (it dehydrates, constricts blood vessels and increases pressure), but if you can’t cheer up without it, don’t forget to drink a glass of water. Well, if yesterday’s painfully shameful, you shouldn’t compensate for the unhealthy body for the evening morning workout: the body struggling with a hangover needs strength to process harmful substances, and only take them away.
Photo: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 via Shutterstock
