Your Year-End Drinking Survival Guide with Korean Medicine

Hello! I'm Lee Seung Hwan, doctor at Tong-in Korean Medicine Clinic.

As we head into the year-end season, the weather gets colder, and Christmas vibes are everywhere. 🎄🎁

This is when social drinking peaks—company dinners, year-end parties, and friend gatherings fill up the calendar. 🍻

While it's great to enjoy time with people as the year winds down, heavy drinking can lead to suffering. We've all been there: pounding headaches, digestive troubles, and that familiar promise—"I'm never drinking again!" 🤣

In this article, I'll cover how to drink more responsibly and Korean medicine approaches to reducing hangovers.

1. What Causes Hangovers?

When you drink, ethanol gets absorbed through your stomach and small intestine, then travels to your liver, where it's broken down into a toxic substance called acetaldehyde. ☠️ This is the main culprit behind hangovers, causing headaches, nausea, and fatigue while triggering inflammation throughout your body.

So how can we prevent hangovers and recover faster? 😉

📌 How to Escape a Brutal Hangover

① Know Your Limits and Pace Yourself

It takes about 30-60 minutes for alcohol to be absorbed and for you to feel tipsy. That ‘drinks are going down easy’ feeling can make you drink too fast and leave you suddenly drunk later. Set your limit from the start and pace yourself throughout the evening.

② Never Drink on an Empty Stomach—Eat First

Carb-heavy meals or snacks protect your stomach lining and slow alcohol absorption, preventing your blood alcohol level from spiking too quickly.

③ Drink Plenty of Water

Water helps flush out alcohol, lowers your blood alcohol concentration, and honestly—it also means you'll drink less alcohol overall.

④ Smoking While Drinking is the Worst Combination

Alcohol and cigarettes together increase your risk of oral, esophageal, and throat cancers. Smoking also steals the oxygen your body needs to break down alcohol, making your hangover even worse. 🤯

⑤ Stick to One Type of Alcohol

Mixed drinks or "bomb shots" irritate your stomach lining and speed up alcohol absorption, getting you drunk faster and keeping you miserable longer. Unrefined drinks like makgeolli may have lower alcohol content but tend to cause longer-lasting hangovers.

⑥ Know which Drinks Suit Your Body Type

Here's a simple guideline:

• If you're someone who gets cold easily with cold hands, feet, and lower abdomen: higher-proof drinks — whiskey, Chinese baijiu, soju
• If you run hot and sweat a lot: lower-proof drinks — beer, wine

But either way—don't overdo it!

⑦ Hangover-Fighting Foods (Also Great as Drinking Snacks)

• Shellfish soup: Taurine helps your liver recover
• Pickled cucumbers: Cucumbers provide hydration and vitamins; vinegar speeds up alcohol metabolism
• Bean sprout soup or radish soup: Asparagine in bean sprouts and radish's detox properties effectively relieve hangovers
• Orange or Lemon juice & Fruit: Vitamin C helps metabolize alcohol and reduces fatigue

⑧ Get Enough Sleep and Rest

Your liver—which handles most of the detox work—works best while you sleep. The worse your hangover, the more essential sleep becomes.

Drinking all night with minimal sleep? Really, really bad idea. Having a light day-drink session on the weekend, then sleeping deeply after sobering up a bit? That'll help tremendously.

Full Article: https://www.thepylonsquare.com/blogs/health-beauty/your-year-end-drinking-survival-guide-with-korean-medicine