Can CBD Help You Get Rid of Your Hangover?

Hangovers bring both the best and the worst memories for many of us. No matter how much you enjoyed the night before, it's never a good feeling to wake up with a mouth so dry it can put the Sahara desert to shame. Not to mention how badly your head hurts.

There are many remedies to cure a hangover. You could try popping pills or drinking lemonade to reduce that pounding in your head. Many people claim to use even CBD as a hangover cure, but is it really effective?

CBD is touted as a miracle medicine — and rightly so because it helps with many ailments. But, does it cure the after-effects of a crazy night of drinking:? 

Yes, but not in a way you’re probably thinking. 

In this article, we will explore whether CBD can really help or you're better off drinking some good ol' lemon tea.

Reasons Why Alcohol Causes Hangover

Alcohol causes nausea — we all know that. It's one of the main reasons why you puke your brains out after drinking quite a bit the previous night. When you drink too much, it sets off alarm bells in specific regions of the brain that controls vomiting and nausea. 

At the same time, your body tries to get rid of the substance responsible and prevent you from drinking more alcohol.

Alcohol also forces your body to produce more stomach acid that further delays digestion. Alcohol, no doubt, is a fun drink, but you’re going to regret it the following day if you drink too much. 

When you drink, your liver breaks down 90-98% of it at a rate of 10 grams per hour — that’s around a glass of drink. This process converts the drink into a harmless blend of water and carbon dioxide, and the body releases it later. No harm done. 

However, the problem begins when you drink faster than your liver can process the alcohol.

That said, THC is also regarded to treat nausea, but since it's illegal in most regions, not to mention the psychoactive effects it produces when you're in an inebriated state already, it can be a bad idea to consume high-THC strains.

Here are a few factors to understand what alcohol can do:

• Too Much Alcohol Causes Headaches 

Some drinks like beer and wine contain ethanol, i.e., pure alcohol, which your body turns into a toxin called acetaldehyde. While acetaldehyde is good for your body as it detoxifies your liver, it can cause various adverse effects on your body.

Too much acetaldehyde is the reason behind the most common hangover symptoms like headache, nausea, and fatigue.

• Alcohol Dehydrates the Body

Most people think that since alcohol is liquid, it keeps them hydrated. However, they can’t be more mistaken. 

Alcohol takes away more liquid than it offers — one of the main reasons why you feel dehydrated the next morning. In other words, it’s a diuretic, which means that it makes you visit the loo a lot more than you usually do. It’s just the body’s natural way of removing all the harmful compounds. Quite often, dehydration manifests as body aches, fatigue, and headaches. 

• It Causes Stomach Acidity

Too much alcohol increases your body’s cortisol levels, disrupting many of your body’s biological functions. Primarily, it causes acidity in your stomach, making you feel dizzy and nauseous. In addition, it can also cause other symptoms like anxiety or stress. 

There are hundreds of “hangover cures'' on the internet, but most of them aren’t effective because they don’t target the root of the problem. While CBD may not help immediately, it reduces hangovers to a certain extent. Below is how CBD can help relieve the symptoms of hangovers.

CBD: An Effective Cure to Hangovers

CBD is one of the most popular cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant, and it’s for its health properties. However, unlike THC, CBD does not get you high as it is not a psychoactive molecule. 

So, CBD is a terrific way to cure hangovers naturally. You don’t have to worry about nasty side effects or uninvited highs. Here’s how it can do that.

• CBD Treats Nausea

One of the most common (and hated) hangover symptoms is nausea. It occurs because alcohol increases acidity in your stomach and creates inflammation of the stomach’s inner linings. 

For years, CBD has been known for helping people with nausea, motion sickness, or those undergoing chemotherapy. The same benefits apply to hangover nausea. 

CBD interacts with your brain’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) to provide various beneficial effects, one of which is that it helps ECS regular vomiting and nausea. So, while CBD does not decrease stomach acidity or inflammation, it lowers serotonin release, blocking your urge to vomit. 

• It Treats Pain

Another common hangover symptom is pain. For example, you experience stomach pain because alcohol, as mentioned earlier, increases the levels of acids in your stomach and delays the process of emptying it. 

When they experience pain, you usually resort to OTC painkillers like Advil or paracetamol. But these can have various unpleasant side effects on your body. So, instead, we recommend using CBD to treat hangover pain. 

Studies have shown that CBD can work as a natural painkiller as it regulates the ECS and improves blood sugar levels in your body. So, CBD is as effective as other OTC painkillers but has negligible side effects. This makes CBD a terrific cure for hangover pains.

• It Helps with Headaches and Brain Fog

Alcohol also causes dehydration, which can cause headaches and brain fog. Here, too, CBD can help a lot. CBD is naturally anti-inflammatory, relieving the symptoms of headaches. Plus, it makes your mouth dry, making you drink more water, which hydrates your body and treats headaches further. 

• CBD Relieves Anxiety and Stress

As mentioned earlier, alcohol increases cortisol — a stress hormone, in your body. Cortisol not only makes your stomach more acidic but also causes anxiety or nervousness. CBD can act as an effective remedy as it naturally decreases anxiety and boosts mood by regulating your emotions and cortisol levels.

• It Protects Your Brain

This is more of a long-term hangover remedy but it works wonders. 

Alcohol has severe effects on your brain, and large quantities of it can cause neurodegeneration — the death of brain neurons. Over time, this can cause various cognitive problems such as memory loss. 

A 2014 study has shown that CBD has the potential to protect your brain against neurodegeneration. During the study, scientists administered CBD to hungover rats and found that it prevented neurodegeneration by significant levels. 

By what levels? Another study shows that transdermal CBD can decrease neurodegeneration by as much as 50%!

• CBD Regulates Blood Sugar

Alcohol reduces blood sugar. It can lead to hypoglycemia — a condition where blood sugar levels are lower than usual. Hypoglycemia leads to a lack of sugar in the bloodstream that fails to maintain the needs of the other organs. 

One of the symptoms is a slight tremor in different body parts. You will notice this immediately if you are in a normal state; however, you tend to ignore it when you're intoxicated from drinking too much alcohol. Most of these symptoms tend to come back the next morning, so you feel irritated and shaky after drinking too much the previous night.

But alcohol has a lot of sugar, so why does it reduce blood sugar levels? Well, it's because of insulin. The pancreas releases insulin whenever there is a spike in sugar levels in the bloodstream. Insulin transports sugar to cells so the body can use it as energy.

When you consume alcohol full of sugar, the blood sugar in your bloodstream increases rapidly. At the same time, insulin springs to action and removes a lot of the sugar present in the bloodstream. But as soon as you stop drinking, you will head in the opposite direction, leading to a hard crash in the sugar levels.

In addition, alcohol prevents the liver from producing glucose as it should. Simply put, alcohol causes a spike of sugar initially, forcing your body to process sugar at a faster rate, but it also causes a sudden crash when you stop consuming that sugar.

CBD is known to regulate blood sugar, but the problem is that it's a long-term process, so you can't expect wonders in just one night. It can, however, help you if you're a chronic drinker. Drinking alcohol can negatively affect your body since it spikes and reduces sugar levels frequently — a dangerous combination. CBD may protect you from the negative impacts of alcohol on your blood sugar.

Curing Hangover: The Right Dosage

Things get tricky when we talk about CBD dosage to cure hangovers. Each body is unique, and your body may be too sensitive or tolerant to the effects of CBD. So, we recommend erring on the side of too little.

Start with a small dose and track your symptoms, and then work your way to a higher dose to figure out what works for you. We recommend caution because too much CBD can worsen your hangover symptoms. 

Also, here are the best ways to consume CBD, so it treats your hangover effectively:

• Use CBD oil drops and place them under your tongue
• Use CBD ointments or transdermal patches, so it gets absorbed through your skin quickly
• Vape CBD buds or CBD liquid if you prefer vaping over oils and ointments
• Eat CBD edibles like gummy or capsules but ensure you take them with something because CBD needs fat to get absorbed through the digestive tract. We recommend taking CBD with a sandwich, hash brownies, or a rich latte

Summary: Can CBD Help You Get Rid of Your Hangover

CBD is a terrific remedy for hangovers, but you must remember that it will not eliminate your hangover. It only helps you treat the symptoms and regain your normal bodily functions at best.

If you want to deal with hangovers properly, we recommend drinking slowly, hydrating yourself before drinks, and consuming CBD if you notice any signs of a hangover the following day. In addition, drink at least 2-3 glasses of water for every glass of alcohol you consume to prevent a nasty hangover in the first place.