So Why Does Homebrew Never Give Hangovers?

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Yeah people who say its anything other than stuff in a commercial brew are conspiracy theorists, where's the emoticon for go have a toss?
 
Sorry about the techspeak.

Dehydration is not enough water in the system. But not just before you go to bed. You'll notice if you skull a big drink of water (as often recommended), it'll go straight into your bladder. That's because so much water drunk at once essentially thins your blood and your kidneys are going to get rid of it (into your bladder) pretty much straight away. Keep in mind you're going to spend several hours while you're asleep digesting that alcohol and using enormous amounts of water to do so. Water that's gone into your bladder is out of the loop. You'll just pee it out and it can't be reabsorbed. So a big drink next to the bed from which you take sips once in a while might work, but you're going to probably be dead to the world (and not up to sipping water) if you've had enough to drink :)
That is essentially why dehydration is hard to avoid. It happens while you're passed out, and after the big water you skulled has already entered your bladder.

Hypoglycaemia is not enough sugar in your bloodstream. Was once thought to be one of the main causes, now I'm not sure that it's more than just a contributor. Vitamin B won't help, unless you coat it in sugar... 'a little bit of sugar makes the medicine go down... :)

Acetaldehyde is an intermediate product in the breakdown of alcohol by your liver. Essentially a protein (enzyme) in your liver will do the first step of breaking down alcohol and make acetaldehyde as a by-product. A second protein will break down acetaldehyde, which is toxic, into acetone, which is less so. Problem is the first step is carried out faster than the second, and the concentration of acetaldehyde in your blood can get high enough to make you feel like crap until the second step is finished. You'll often notice when a person's had a big night their bedroom smells like acetone in the morning. Acetone is volatile and evaporates through your lungs, hence the smell.

Cheers,

MFS
 

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