2023-12-29 11:44:30
December 29, 2023
It is a symptom of a lack of moderation… The aptly named hangover occurs following excessive alcohol consumption. What follows is a difficult night and waking up and some very unpleasant symptoms. What exactly are they due to? Here are our answers.
A hangover is a form of alcohol intoxication. While symptoms may vary between people, they generally include fatigue, feeling weak, thirst, headache, muscle pain, nausea and stomach pain, abnormal sweating, dizziness, sensitivity to light and noise. Or even anxiety and/or irritability…
Physiologically, this excessive alcohol consumption leads to mild dehydration. Because alcohol suppresses the release of vasopressin, a hormone produced by the hypothalamus and stored in the pituitary gland. Its mission in this context? Send signals to the kidneys, telling them to retain fluid. As a result, urination increases, which causes slight dehydration. And therefore feelings of thirst, fatigue or even headaches.
An unwanted molecule
On the gastrointestinal level, excessive alcohol consumption tends to irritate the stomach lining and thus increase the release of stomach acid, which can lead to nausea and discomfort at this level. Finally, a molecule called acetaldehyde also plays some very bad tricks. Under the effect of alcohol, it is produced mainly in the liver, thus contributing to the inflammation of the latter but also to that of the pancreas, the brain and even the digestive tract.
In its dictionary, the National Academy of Medicine warns: “ Acetaldehyde is a highly toxic compound believed to play a major role in the occurrence of liver disease in excessive alcohol consumers. Its odor is perceptible in the breath of a subject who has consumed a large quantity of alcoholic beverage. ».
Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism – Dictionary of the National Academy of Medicine. Sites consulted on January 21, 2023
Written by: David Picot – Edited by Emmanuel Ducreuzet
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