Sweating Out a Hangover: There’s a Better Option
Key Takeaways
- IV therapy is a much better option than trying to sweat out a hangover.
- Excessive sweating results in dehydration and worsening hangover symptoms.
- Exercise can make a hangover worse.
- Saunas do not help with sweating out a hangover.
- Mobile IV therapy is the fastest way to relieve hangover symptoms.
Can You Really Sweat Out a Hangover? Separating Fact from Fiction
Alcohol can affect your body in many different ways and excessive sweating is one of them. But why do you sweat more after drinking? And can you actually use perspiration to your advantage to reduce the effects of a hangover?
Continue reading to find out why hitting the gym after a night of heavy drinking may not be such a good idea.
The Science Behind Hangover Sweats
Hangover perspiration is the body’s natural reaction to ingesting alcohol. Drinking increases your heart rate and causes your blood vessels to widen, a process known as vasodilation. Dilated blood vessels then trigger the release of sweat, making your skin feel warm and flushed.
What is it about alcohol and sweating the next day? Sweating can occur at any time, but because many people drink in the evenings, it is usually felt at night. For most people, night sweats due to alcohol consumption subside after a few hours and don’t have a lasting impact.
Even though hangover perspiration is a common side effect of drinking alcohol, it may also be a sign of other issues.
Alcohol withdrawal
People who drink heavily often experience night sweats several hours or even days after consuming alcohol. Along with anxiety, depression, headache, loss of appetite, and sleep problems, this symptom of alcohol withdrawal frequently affects individuals who suffer from alcohol use disorder (AUD).
Alcohol intolerance
Excessive sweating and face flushing may be an indication that your body doesn’t tolerate drinking. People with alcohol intolerance may need to limit their alcohol consumption or avoid drinking altogether in order to prevent night sweats. Sometimes you may also appear to have alcohol intolerance when you are in fact reacting to another ingredient in your drink.
Other factors
Menopause and medications, including steroids and antidepressants, can cause hot flashes and night sweats, and drinking alcohol often worsens these pre-existing symptoms. The same holds true for those dealing with low blood sugar.
In some cases, hangover perspiration may have serious consequences to your health. Let’s take a closer look.
Because alcohol is a diuretic that causes the body to lose more water than it takes in, drinking can easily leave you dehydrated.
Dehydration is the root cause of many common hangover symptoms, including dry mouth, nausea, brain fog, weakness, dizziness, and headaches. Hangover perspiration can dehydrate your body even further, worsening your hangover symptoms. What’s more, severe dehydration can lead to coma, organ failure, and death.
You should be paying close attention to any additional symptoms you experience during a hangover. For example, the hangover chest pain in combination with excessive sweating might be a sign of heart disease.
If you suffer from mild hangover perspiration, the following tips will help you reduce sweating and prevent dehydration:
- Drink enough fluids—water, water with electrolytes, or sports drinks like Gatorade
- Take a shower to remove excess salt from dried sweat
- Keep your bedroom at a comfortable temperature for sleeping (between 66-70 degrees Fahrenheit) and avoid using too many heavy blankets
- Wear light and loose-fitting pajamas
- Eat a healthy, balanced meal
- Avoid caffeine and spicy food.
When Night Sweats Could Be a Concern
Night sweats are in most cases temporary, but they may continue for up to 24 hours after you had your last drink. In some extreme instances, you can get a two-day hangover. Night sweats have nothing to do with getting alcohol out of your system more quickly. This reaction may also occur in people with a genetic alcohol intolerance.
Keep in mind, however, that excessive night sweats after alcohol consumption may indicate symptoms of a drinking problem. If you tend to overindulge, night sweats may occur if you stop drinking because your body has developed a physical alcohol dependence. In that case, it’s time to make an appointment with a medical professional.
You should consult your doctor if you’re not sure what’s causing your night sweats or if you have any accompanying symptoms.
Some people believe they can sweat out alcohol by going to a gym or sauna after a night of drinking. But is it really a good idea?
Does Sweating Help Eliminate Alcohol From Your Body?
Can you sweat out a hangover? The short answer is “no.” Humans have been searching for hangover cures since time immemorial. The idea that sweating out a hangover provides relief is up there with “hair of the dog,” or having an alcoholic beverage in the morning. Another hangover cure that does not work is drinking copious amounts of coffee. Caffeine can cause a pounding hangover headache to become even worse.
The alcohol you consume is broken down through metabolic processes within your body. However, your liver is only able to metabolize about one standard serving of alcohol every hour—that’s approximately 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or a shot of vodka. The more you drink, the longer it will take your body to fully metabolize all of the alcohol you consumed.
How Alcohol is Actually Processed
The alcohol that doesn’t get metabolized by the liver is broken down into diacetic acid, carbon dioxide, and water. These components are eliminated through sweat, urine, and breath. By the time you’re feeling a hangover, most of the alcohol in your system has already been metabolized by your liver and it is no longer possible to sweat it out. This means that what you’re sweating is not alcohol, but its byproducts.
Alcohol metabolism varies based on genetic and environmental factors. The former may involve enzyme variation in the breaking down of alcohol. The latter includes the individual’s overall health and nutrition, as well as the amount of alcohol consumed.
The Myth of “Sweating Out Toxins”
The idea of “sweating out toxins” is not based on science. Sweat consists of 99 percent water, with the remaining 1 percent containing salts, proteins, carbohydrates, and urea, as per the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Toxins have nothing to do with sweat. It is the role of the liver, kidneys, or intestines to remove toxins from the body, not the sweat glands. The amount of alcohol potentially sweated out is minuscule.
Attempting to “sweat alcohol out” either by indulging in rigorous exercise or exposing your body to heat to encourage sweating can have the opposite effect. Since the kidneys are tasked with removing toxins from the body, too much sweating can cause them to save water. The result is toxins in your system are not being removed naturally and keep circulating in your system.
The fact of the matter is you can’t sweat out hangover symptoms like a throbbing headache, nausea, muscle aches, or upset stomach. On the contrary, excessive sweating will only aggravate your hangover if you become dehydrated.
Why Exercising While Hungover is a Bad Idea
Exercising can make your hangover worse, particularly if you had a lot to drink the night before without properly rehydrating. Before you decide to work out, you should be aware of some of the risks involved in sweating out a hangover. You don’t want to further dehydrate your body when it’s already dehydrated by embarking on exercise.
The Risks of Working Out While Hungover
If your hangover is so bad that you keep running off to the bathroom due to nausea, exercise is probably the last thing on your mind. However, if nausea isn’t an issue, you might think about working out to sweat out a hangover. That’s not a good idea, and here’s why:
- Sweating while exercising can cause you to dehydrate even more.
- One of the side effects of drinking too much is brain fog and being unable to concentrate, which makes it more likely to injure yourself or others in the gym.
- When you're hungover, you may become clumsy and uncoordinated, and risk injuring yourself or others.
- Drinking puts an increased amount of stress on the body, which makes exercising much harder.
If You Must Move, Choose Low-Impact Activities
Engaging in intense exercising after drinking is never a good idea and you shouldn’t use workouts to cure hangover symptoms. But if you only have a slight hangover, you may want to consider a gentle workout such as stretching, walking, or yoga. Exercise releases endorphins that will boost your energy and mood. Just make sure that you are properly hydrated and your stomach has settled down.
If you don’t feel like working out, IV therapy is a safe and effective way to beat a hangover.
How to Recover From a Hangover Without Making It Worse: Mobile IV Therapy
There is no evidence that having night sweats or making yourself perspire can cure a hangover any faster. In fact, if you work out after you are already dehydrated, your hangover symptoms will only get worse.
To fight off a hangover, you should do the opposite of “sweating it out”. Staying well-hydrated will help you get back on track faster and will give your body time to naturally process the alcohol before your next drink.
The Right Way to Rehydrate
Various studies show that just drinking water to rehydrate is not particularly effective. However, “dehydration effects such as thirst and dry mouth are part of the subjective experience of the hangover state.” In other words, those with hangovers feel thirsty and want to drink water to feel better. Rather than pursue an ineffective and time-consuming method of rehydration, the right way to rehydrate is via mobile IV therapy.
Why IV Therapy Works Better Than Sweating It Out
An IV bag for hangovers will provide your body with a cocktail of fluids and vitamins. The treatment leaves you feeling refreshed and help you effectively conquer your hangover. An IV drip doesn’t only rehydrate your body, but also flushes out toxins and restores nutrients you lost while drinking. Additional minerals and vitamins, such as B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, and folic acid, will help you prevent vertigo, nausea, and headaches.
When to Consider IV Therapy
Consider mobile IV therapy whenever your body tells you that you’ve had too much to drink. There is no mistaking the message. Rather than suffer through hangover symptoms, mobile IV therapy can relieve the side effects of excessive partying and allow you to feel like yourself again.
Reset IV hangover treatments are a fast and effective way to combat dehydration and other common hangover symptoms. We offer a range of customizable hangover packages to help you recover from a night of partying and drinking.
If you would like to learn more about our IV therapy for hangover and schedule an appointment, feel free to call Reset IV at 1-833-737-3848 or send us a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
FAQs
Can I sweat out alcohol in a sauna?
While certain cultures, including the Finns, attribute using the sauna to hangover relief, only 2 to 5 percent of alcohol is excreted through urine, sweat, or breath. That is not a sufficient amount to justify an attempt to sweat alcohol out in a sauna.
How long do hangover sweats last?
Hangover sweats may last only a few hours for some people. However, heavy drinking can result in sweating for as long as two days. Those who experience night sweats regularly after drinking should consult their doctor, as this may be a sign of serious underlying conditions.
Can you sweat out a hangover?
Contrary to popular belief, you cannot sweat out a hangover. Trying to do so can make matters worse and increase your discomfort. Mobile IV therapy offers the most efficient method of hangover recovery.
Is it bad to sweat after drinking alcohol?
Sweating after drinking alcohol is a common sign of alcohol withdrawal. Blood vessel dilation triggers sweating due to alcohol increasing the heart rate. While it is not bad to sweat after drinking alcohol per se, it is a sign of dehydration.
What is the fastest way to recover from a hangover?
Mobile IV therapy offers the quickest way to recover from a hangover. Rehydrating by consuming copious amounts of fluids mixed with electrolytes will help you eventually recover from a hangover, but fluids and other nutrients must first pass through your gastrointestinal system. That takes time, but if you can’t keep fluids down due to nausea, oral rehydration will not work.
With mobile IV therapy, fluids, vitamins, anti-nausea medications, and whatever add-ons you choose for your IV therapy package go directly into your bloodstream.
Generally, a mobile IV therapy session lasts between 30 and 45 minutes. At Reset IV our licensed nurses usually arrive at your home, hotel room, or place of business within one hour of your scheduling the appointment, so you should feel better in two hours or less. Most clients report symptom relief before their mobile IV therapy session is over.
Resources and Further Reading
Night sweats and alcohol: Causes and treatment