Glastonbury may feel like the best weekend of your life but it could be better – if you avoid the headache that comes afterwards – the Mirror speaks to a celebrity doctor to help you avoid the worst of it
When attending Glastonbury feeling rough is far from a suprise, its far from a simple night out – in fact it’s days out. You’re dancing for 12 hours, barely sleeping and chances are you haven’t eaten properly in days and in the midst of the fun, that headache will come creeping in and it’s worse than just a pounding headache.
The Mirror has spoken to Dr Amos Ogunkoya from the Traitors to delve into how to prepare properly, avoid the worst of it and recover like a professional.
The biggest culprit: dehydration (and no, isn’t enough)
Not drinking enough water is something so many of us do and not just during festivals – but this is certainly the place to take dehydration seriously and it goes beyond the usual bottle of water.
“It’s the basics,” he told the Mirror “Dehydration is huge. And I think people don’t realise that hydration isn’t just water. It’s like electrolytes.”
Then it goes beyond thirst – you’re drained and drinking alcohol makes it worse.
“People don’t want to drink water because it’s annoying having to wee all the time but that’s why hydration tablets are key,” he said “they hold the water in and stop you from just peeing it all out and once you wash out the hormone that helps your kidneys concentrate urine, you basically can’t hold on to water.”
You are basically running a marathon – just in a festival
A lot of the symptoms that people describe for hangovers are just fatigue and with your legs and muscles sore from the amount of steps you do – it feels ten times worse.
“A lot of what people describe as hangovers is actually just fatigue,” he explained. “Like you’ve just depleted – It’s similar to just running a marathon. If you look at the step count for people at Glastonbury and compare it to people who run a marathon it’s extremely close.”
Your legs will ache. Your muscles will feel sore. You may not truly have a hangover, look at it in a different sense like “my body’s doing overtime and I’ve fed it nothing but lukewarm Strongbow and crisps.”
The myth of hair of the dog
We’ve all hear the myth ‘hair of the dog’ and for the most part, people know this doesn’t actually help and it is just an excuse for another day of drinking.
“When it comes to hangover cures, there’s lots of misinformation,” they said. “From the hair of the dog to all kinds of information.” he told the Mirror “ I mean, the hair of the dog works mainly because you’re still drunk.. It works as well as an anaesthetic would – it doesn’t actually make you feel better. It just reduces your ability to understand that you don’t feel better.”
Hot weather makes it all worse, Don’t punish yourself afterwards.
The real answer to cure a hangover is to nourish your body and this can be done with just simple household items.
“I’d suggest baked beans in it because I love baked beans – but also, it’s actually quite good for you.” he said, “It’s got a good source of protein in it and I honestly believe there’s nothing wrong with comfort food, you’re just nourishing your body with what it wants.”
There are things we worry about -heat exhaustion. Mainly because when you drink or you’re in an energetic environment, your perception of heat changes. People don’t realise they’re overheating.”
When you’re sweating, dancing, and drinking, you’re losing water fast and getting drunk faster too – this is when you need to be careful “You need to be conscious of hydrating, keeping yourself cool and sunburn.”
Stop seeing recovery as punishment, rather than beating yourself up there are many ways to recover as kindly as possible
“It’s actually changing the narrative from, ‘How do we get over a hangover as quickly as possible?’ to ‘How do we recover as kindly as possible?’” he said.
“There’s no need to go on a juice cleanse or beat yourself up, meet yourself where you’re at – Pamper yourself.”
“If you’re feeling low, it’s not a bad thing to rest, eat good food, and take care of your body.”
And lastly, don’t forget the basics: sunblock, electrolytes, water, and a bit of grace to yourself.
Just Eat has teamed up with Dr Amos, to create Festival Aid Kits – a selection of recovery essentials to get Brits back on their feet
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