Not everyone is doing dry January, and for many of us the New Year is synonymous with eating, drinking, socialising, dancing and all-round revelry. And with nights out and partying often comes the dreaded hangover. Fitness Expert and Celebrity Personal Trainer Matt Hodges spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk about how people can beat the ‘day after blues’ this January.
Christmas may be over, but many are dragging their festive celebrations well into 2023.
But how can partygoers enjoy a night out this month without feeling worse for wear the next day?
Matt stated: “Christmas is a time for festivities and that almost always includes drinking when you’re not eating, eating when you’re not drinking, and eating and drinking when you’re not sleeping.”
Hangovers can be pretty defeating, and in some extreme cases can wipe you out for a whole day – or two.
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Between New Year’s celebrations, work do’s, meet-ups with friends and catching up with family post-Christmas, there can be a lot of socialising – and drinking – taking place well into January.
Matt stated: “Now, I’m not here to be a Scrooge and tell you that you shouldn’t enjoy yourself and have a drink. Of course you should.
“I’m not going to tell you it’s healthy to drink a lot of alcohol or to consume less (because you probably won’t).
“But what I will tell you is a little magic trick that I have honed over the years that takes the edge off ‘the day after’.
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Matt’s “little nugget of alcoholic manipulation mastery” is pretty simple and should help prevent any alcohol-induced sore heads this month and beyond.
In order to avoid feeling horrible come morning, there are just two things you need to do – one in the pub and one when you get home.
He advised: “For every drink you have, have the equivalent of water.” Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it will make you need to use the bathroom more.
The subsequent lack of fluids will not only strip your body of key electrolytes, it will exaggerate the symptoms of a hangover such as fatigue, nausea and headaches.
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People might question why you’re knocking back pints of water in between real pints but you’ll thank yourself in the morning.
Indeed, Matt stated: “This might make you best friends with the urinal or toilet but it will get you especially ready for the Masterplan.”
The next step – or the “Masterplan, according to Matt – is a task for when you find yourself stumbling home after a night on the booze.
He said: “For the Masterplan to be as effective as it can be then you should do the Prep, but it’s not paramount.
“The Masterplan comes at the end of the day or night, so this is what you need to do before you go to sleep. Ready?
“Have a half or pint of water, take two paracetamol, and take a Dioralyte tablet.”
Dioralyte works by replacing the water and salts lost from your body when you have diarrhoea, but it also works for when the body is dehydrated after a big night out.
Nutritionist Orla Walsh confirmed this, as reported by the Irish Mirror. She revealed: “An oral rehydration solution, such as Dioralyte, is also more hydrating than water.”
Matt Hodges is a fitness expert, personal trainer and author of Behind Gym Doors.
