Can Marijuana Help Get Rid Of That Alcohol Hangover?
Did you booze it up at a New Year’s party last night? Maybe you started with one drink. One drink became two drinks. Two drinks became many drinks, and so on. Hopefully you didn’t blackout, and whether you did or didn’t, hopefully you didn’t do anything you will regret because you drank too much. How do you feel today? Stomach a little queasy? Head hurt? If so, you are in the middle of a battle with an alcohol induced hangover.
A couple of years ago I wrote an article asking if marijuana could help cure a hangover, and I thought it would be worth revisiting this New Year’s Day. There’s always a spike in traffic to that article this time of year, and the reason for the spike is obvious. Let’s start by looking at what an alcohol hangover is, per the Mayo Clinic:
- Alcohol causes your body to produce more urine. In turn, urinating more than usual can lead to dehydration — often indicated by thirst, dizziness and lightheadedness.
- Alcohol triggers an inflammatory response from your immune system. Your immune system may trigger certain agents that commonly produce physical symptoms, such as an inability to concentrate, memory problems, decreased appetite and loss of interest in usual activities.
- Alcohol irritates the lining of your stomach. Alcohol increases the production of stomach acid and delays stomach emptying. Any of these factors can cause abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting.
- Alcohol causes your blood vessels to expand, which can lead to headaches.
There’s only one thing on the list above that marijuana doesn’t help – dehydration. To fix that you need to consume as much fluid as possible to replenish your body and flush out the toxins that are ravaging your body from the inside out. But, marijuana can help with everything else found above. Marijuana is great at treating neuroinflammation. Marijuana will help increase your appetite too. It is well known that marijuana can help treat nausea, which is one of the most common symptoms of an alcohol hangover. The other most common symptom is a headache, which marijuana can also help.
Probably the best thing that marijuana can help with is tolerating the hangover itself. Consuming marijuana will relax you, and provide euphoria, which will help you deal better with the hangover while fluids and cannabis work their magic. If you have a savage hangover, then you are likely learning the hard way why marijuana is safer than alcohol. Hopefully you don’t drink anymore in the future, but if you do, make sure to have some marijuana ready the next day to help you get over the lame after effects!
