The best way to quickly rehydrate is to regain the minerals flushed out due to excessive urination. Drinking alcohol can dehydrate you, and it’s one of the main reasons you can get a hangover. This is because alcohol is a diuretic, which is a substance that induces diuresis or additional urine output.
- Our body requires water and fluids to maintain normal functions.
- That said, the higher a drink’s alcohol content, the more of a diuretic it’s believed to be.
- An increased intake of coffee may cause a diuretic effect that promotes dehydration.
- Alcohols like whiskey and brandy have high levels of congeners, including tannins and acetaldehyde.
- A heavy alcoholic drink like whiskey, brandy, or rum can dehydrate you more than lighter drinks.
Avoid alcohol on hot days
“Excessive alcohol consumption can cause nerve damage and irreversible forms of dementia,” Dr. Sengupta warns. Long-term alcohol use can change your brain’s wiring in much more significant ways. Ways that your standard hangover cures won’t even begin to touch. Your liver detoxifies and removes alcohol from your blood through a process known as oxidation. When your liver finishes that process, alcohol gets turned into water and carbon dioxide.
Sugary drinks
When you drink too much alcohol, it can throw off the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut. But there’s plenty of research to back up the notion that alcohol does lead to weight gain in general. Steatotic liver disease used to go by the name fatty liver disease. But when you ingest too much alcohol for your liver to process in a timely manner, a buildup of toxic substances begins to take a toll on your liver. Dr. Sengupta shares some of the not-so-obvious effects that alcohol has on your body. You probably already know that excessive drinking can affect you in more ways than one.
Eat hydrating foods:
The higher the alcohol content, the more dehydrating the drink will be. A heavy alcoholic drink like whiskey, brandy, or rum can dehydrate you more than lighter drinks. Stick to beer and wine to mitigate any dehydration you may experience. Understanding how does alcohol dehydrate you consuming alcohol leads to increased urination requires an understanding of ADH. ADH stands for antidiuretic hormone (also known as vasopressin). When the human body senses it is getting dehydrated, the pituitary gland produces ADH to reduce urination.
Impact on Kidney Function
Alcohol is a diuretic because it suppresses the release of vasopressin, also known as antidiuretic hormone. When vasopressin is suppressed, you lose fluids by peeing more, which leads to dehydration. And while the non-alcoholic fluids in beer, wine, and liquor are inherently hydrating, they’re not necessarily hydrating enough to offset the effects of alcohol-induced dehydration. Sugary drinks don’t have the same problems, unless you have difficulty regulating your blood sugar.
- This effect may very well be the primary reason we have a pounding headache, dry mouth, and low energy (at the very least!) the morning after heavy drinking.
- Alcohol works as a diuretic largely because it suppresses the release of a hormone called vasopressin, which is also known as antidiuretic hormone.
- This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
- Chronic dehydration due to alcohol consumption can lead to kidney damage and increase the risk of kidney stones and urinary tract infections.
