The Dr. Hyman Show
Encore: Hangovers Explained: How Alcohol Affects Your Brain and Body | Dr. Mark Hyman
Fri, 27 Dec 2024
We’ve all been there: one too many drinks and the next morning feels like a nightmare. But why does alcohol make us feel so terrible? In this episode of “The Doctor’s Farmacy,” I’m uncovering the surprising reasons behind hangovers and how you can avoid them. Get ready for expert tips on hydration, supplements, and the real truth about that ‘hair of the dog’ myth. View Show Notes From This Episode Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman Sign Up for Dr. Hyman’s Weekly Longevity Journal This episode is brought to you by Rupa University, Wonderfeel, and AX3. Rupa University is hosting FREE classes and bootcamps for healthcare providers who want to learn more about Functional Medicine testing. Sign up at RupaUniversity.com. Head over to getwonderfeel.com and experience the science of feeling younger. It’s more than wonderful—it’s Wonderfeel. Get 20% off your first order of AX3's astaxanthin at ax3.life/hyman with code HYMAN at checkout.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
Hey everyone, it's Dr. Mark Hyman. Thank you so much for being a loyal listener to The Doctor's Pharmacy. For the holidays, I've decided to give my team a little break to rest up and prepare for more content and the new year ahead. So The Doctor's Pharmacy will be replaying some older episodes for the next two weeks.
But don't worry, we'll be back with more content and brand new episodes starting Tuesday, December 31st. So for now, here are some of my favorite past episodes of The Doctor's Pharmacy and see you next year. Coming up on this episode. There are no benefits to alcohol consumption. There is no health benefit. There's no heart benefit.
The data is really clear that it's bad for you, especially cancer. It does increase the risk of cancer. So I don't think alcohol should be considered a health promoting substance in any way. However, having a drink or two once in a while is not going to kill you. And it's not a bad, bad thing. Hey everyone, it's Dr. Mark here.
Now, I've recently found a new drink that fits into my pegan diet, and it's honestly something I always look forward to when I need a nourishing pick-me-up. It's Sun Goddess Matcha Green Tea from Peak, and it's the best-tasting, smoothest mixing matcha I've ever tried. I'm sure you heard me talk a lot about using food as medicine, and matcha is a great example of this.
It's full of polyphenols, which are especially helpful for our good gut bugs, and also other antioxidants that it contains that support healthier aging, balanced blood sugar, improved digestion, and a strong immune system. Matcha makes a great alternative to coffee because it provides sustained clean energy without the jitters.
L-theanine is a powerful amino acid in matcha that helps you feel calm, focused, and clear, so you can get a boost without the crash. Peak Sun Goddess Matcha actually contains more theanine and chlorophyll because they shade their matcha plants 35% longer than any other brands. I really do feel awake, focused, and balanced after enjoying my matcha every morning.
Right now, get up to 15% off on Peak Sun Goddess Matcha plus a complimentary beaker and rechargeable frother when you shop my link peaklife.com forward slash Dr. Hyman. That's P-I-Q-E... L-I-F-E dot com slash Hyman and use the code Hyman. And now let's get back to this week's episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy.
Before we jump into today's episode, I'd like to note that while I wish I could help everyone via my personal practice, there's simply not enough time for me to do this at this scale. And that's why I've been busy building several passion projects to help you better understand, well... you. If you're looking for data about your biology, check out Function Health for real-time lab insights.
If you're in need of deepening your knowledge around your health journey, check out my membership community, Hyman Hive. And if you're looking for curated and trusted supplements and health products for your routine, visit my website, Supplement Store, for a summary of my favorite and tested products.
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Chapter 2: What are the health risks associated with alcohol consumption?
The next thing you wanna do is feed your gut bacteria. We're going to load up in the early parts of your day with fermented foods like yogurt, pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi. Get your microbiome healthy. Eat a polyphenol-rich diet for your microbiome and immune system like blueberries, apples, cherries, raspberries.
Also include vitamin C-rich foods, great antioxidant, red bell peppers, kiwi, citrus fruit. And don't eat all those inflammatory foods. They really are bad for you in general, and they make the alcohol problem worse. So fried foods, refined foods. carbohydrates, sugars, processed, ultra-processed food, all that's gonna irritate your gut even more and won't slow down alcohol absorption.
That's diet, lifestyle, hydration. Okay, what can you do to actually help you support detoxification? and take the right supplements that have the right nutrients that are commonly depleted with alcohol consumption. So what I like is an herb called milk thistle, before and after drinking, and a B-complex vitamin. Milk thistle's an herb, which is great. It helps liver detoxification.
B vitamins are depleted when you drink them. Alcohol like thiamine, I mentioned that, B6, niacin or B3, B12, and folate. All these can cause headaches and fatigue. So if you preemptively supplement, you can actually reduce the effects of alcohol on your system. Zinc, magnesium. You can also take something called N-acetylcysteine or NAC. N-acetylcysteine helps your body make glutathione.
Now what is glutathione? Glutathione is our master detoxifier, our master antioxidant, and our master anti-inflammatory compound. Now research shows that low-dose snack It can help with nausea and weakness and hangover symptoms in women, but more research is needed. But it's promising. There's even actual research on this. And we know it can have a lot of toxins.
For example, if you have liver failure from Tylenol overdose, the treatment is NAC. If you get an IV contrast dye for a kidney study, for example, it can cause kidney failure. You give NAC beforehand. It prevents the kidney damage from the dye. Also, stop drinking at least three hours before you go to bed, which minimizes alcohol's negative impact on your sleep.
It gives your body enough time to detoxify. The half-life, which means how much time it takes for half of the alcohol to get out of your body, is between four to five hours. Hey everyone, it's Dr. Mark here. Now, I've recently found a new drink that fits into my pegan diet, and it's honestly something I always look forward to when I need a nourishing pick-me-up.
It's Sun Goddess Matcha Green Tea from Peak, and it's the best-tasting, smoothest mixing matcha I've ever tried. I'm sure you heard me talk a lot about using food as medicine, and matcha is a great example of this.
It's full of polyphenols, which are especially helpful for our good gut bugs, and also other antioxidants that it contains that support healthier aging, balanced blood sugar, improved digestion, and a strong immune system. Matcha makes a great alternative to coffee because it provides sustained clean energy without the jitters.
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