Many Brits will today be nursing a sore head following a boozy night seeing in the new year.
But with the holiday falling mid-week this year, there’s little time to recover – with many back to work within 48-hours.
So will your mind and body have remedied the effects of alcohol by then?
Speaking to MailOnline, experts have revealed exactly how long it takes the brain and body to return to normal equilibrium in the average person – and offered tips to speed up the process.
Surprisingly, the remedies you might usually reach for are not proven to make you feel better, the scientists say.
For instance, coffee can further dehydrate you, prolonging dreaded symptoms like headaches and nausea, while taking painkillers can worsen the strain on your liver, increasing the risk of permanent damage.
But one activity that’s commonly mistaken as beneficial could in fact be seriously harmful – even potentially resulting in deadly heart attack.
According to experts from Medical News Today, exercising on a hangover could cause sudden collapse and trigger abnormal heart rhythms, known as arrhythmia.
Alcohol travels from the bloodstream to the digestive system before exiting the body, which can take two to three days
This is because alcohol can slow the electrical signalling in the organ, as it calms the nervous system.
However, a burst of exercise the day after drinking can rapidly increase the heartbeat, causing signals to misfire into an abnormal rhythm.
This dramatically increases the risk of sudden cardiac arrest, according to studies.
The chances of suffering an abnormal heart rhythm after drinking alcohol ‘significantly increases’ during exercise for up to two days after heavy drinking, according to a report reviewed by registered dietitian and diabetes expert, Imashi Fernando.
Meanwhile, the combination of drop in blood sugar and dehydration can lead to a phenomenon known as exercise-related collapse.
The problem can cause people to feel dizzy and faint while engaging in physical acitivity and, in worst case scenarios, lose consciousness.
So how long is it before last night’s booze is out of your system?
Dr Hussain Ahmad, consultant doctor at Click2Pharmacy, told MailOnlijne that if you have just one drink, the body processes it within two to three hours.
‘However, multiple alcoholic drinks slow how quickly your body can metabolise and pass it, and it can take up to 12 hours to completely leave your [bloodstream],’ he said.
But even after it leaves the bloodstream, it travels to other bodily systems, which can take days to expel the toxin.
Eating a big Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner may make you feel less drunk because it absorbs some of the alcohol – slowing its release into the bloodstream.
It can take up to three days for the body to return to normal functioning following a two-day boozing bender, experts say
However, a huge meal could mean it takes longer to recover from the impending hangover.
‘Although food is often recommended to accompany alcohol, it can slow how quickly your body metabolizes alcohol, meaning it takes longer to leave your system,’ Dr Ahmad said.
Clifford Stephan, nutritional scientist and founder of sobriety support site Booze Vacation, said that while eating a heavy meal could make you feel less drunk, ‘that is not going to help you the day after.’
Once alcohol leaves the bloodstream, blood vessels – which constrict when you get drunk, raising blood pressure – return to their normal size.
‘Once the liver has filtered alcohol from the blood, it can start to return to its other functions,’ Rachael Richardson, dietitian and founder of Nutrolution, previously told DailyMail.com. This includes digestion and metabolizing vitamins and minerals.
However, alcohol will still remain in your body, as it travels from the bloodstream to the digestive system.
And the 12-hour mark is when the hangover sets in.
The feel-good brain hormone dopamine begins to drop to unusually low levels, which can cause lingering sadness.
You’ll also feel dehydrated because alcohol is a diuretic, a substance that blocks the signals sent by the brain to the kidneys, which tell them to hold water. This makes fluids run faster through the bladder.
While you’re still drunk, it will make you take more trips to the bathroom. And when you’re hungover, you’re dehydrated.
Stomach issues are common for about two days while booze remains in the gut.
Alcohol can hamper the gut microbiome, a network of bacteria and that live in the digestive tract and help us fight infections as well as regulate appetite.
But alcohol can destroy good bacteria while feeding bad bacteria.
This growth of bad bacteria leads to stomach pain, constipation, and high stomach acid for several days.
Mr Stephan suggests avoiding caffeine first thing in the morning to ward off worsening those effects.
‘A lot of people will reach for coffee to try to jump-start their day, but coffee can be rough on your already irritated stomach lining and will further dehydrate you,’ he said.
He recommends opting for lemon water with sea salt instead to replenish lost electrolytes – essential vitamins that are lost during dehydration.
And although your head might be pounding, consider skipping paracetamol and Ibuprofen. ‘Your liver just took a significant beating, detoxifying the alcohol out of your system, and piling on common pain relievers the day after (that are also detoxified in your liver) will only add insult to injury,’ Mr Stephan said.
About two days after you stop drinking, alcohol has fully cleared from the body, which causes the bloodstream to return fully to normal.
And within another day, bowel movements return to normal.
Constipation, diarrhea, and pain ease. ‘The stomach acid reduces or comes back to normal levels, your body starts to reset, all of the acidity from all the alcohol sort of calms down, and your stomach starts to return to normal,’ Ms Richardson said.
DO YOU DRINK TOO MUCH ALCOHOL? THE 10 QUESTIONS THAT REVEAL YOUR RISK
One screening tool used widely by medical professionals is the AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Tests). Developed in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, the 10-question test is considered to be the gold standard in helping to determine if someone has alcohol abuse problems.
The test has been reproduced here with permission from the WHO.
To complete it, answer each question and note down the corresponding score.
YOUR SCORE:
0-7: You are within the sensible drinking range and have a low risk of alcohol-related problems.
Over 8: Indicate harmful or hazardous drinking.
8-15: Medium level of risk. Drinking at your current level puts you at risk of developing problems with your health and life in general, such as work and relationships. Consider cutting down (see below for tips).
16-19: Higher risk of complications from alcohol. Cutting back on your own may be difficult at this level, as you may be dependent, so you may need professional help from your GP and/or a counsellor.
20 and over: Possible dependence. Your drinking is already causing you problems, and you could very well be dependent. You should definitely consider stopping gradually or at least reduce your drinking. You should seek professional help to ascertain the level of your dependence and the safest way to withdraw from alcohol.
Severe dependence may need medically assisted withdrawal, or detox, in a hospital or a specialist clinic. This is due to the likelihood of severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the first 48 hours needing specialist treatment.
