How To Play Golf With A Hangover

If you?ve woken up with the mother of all hangovers and there?s an early-morning tee-time with your name on it, don?t despair. You can still get round intact with our morning-after repair kit.

Legendary writer and ultimate alpha male Ernest Hemingway once said: ?Always do sober what you said you?d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.?

Fine advice for life, and very relevant when your late-night drinking buddies suggest an early morning round of golf and you count yourself in. At the time, you feel like you could take on Tiger himself. But everything is very different when the alarm clock brings you brutally to your senses.

?The reason a night on the booze does so much short-term damage is because alcohol is a diuretic,? says GP Dr Richard Montague. ?It stops the kidneys absorbing the water your body needs to keep itself hydrated. Instead, your body starts sending an uncomfortable proportion of its water content by way of your bladder, bypassing the kidneys, which explains the constant forays to the pub toilets.

?When water is leeched from the body and brain you?ll inevitably wake up with a headache the following morning,? reveals Montague. ?Your brain is dehydrated, shrunken and tugging on the membrane that surrounds it. This water loss also depletes your body of its natural salts, in particular potassium and sodium, hence the fatigue and nausea.?

And there?s more. ?Along with depleting valuable body salts, alcohol also depletes sugar and it?s this that?s to blame for the feelings of listlessness and fatigue. Finally, as the liver tries in vain to break down the poison in the pints you?ve quaffed, it generates free radicals.? These destructive chemicals, according to Montague, contribute to the pain that makes you feel like welching on that tee time.

Granted, it sounds hideous but read on and find out how to salvage your honour and your green fee.

Grab a smoothie

If you can handle the noise of a blender, a homemade smoothie should be the first thing on your list after getting vertical. Alternatively, look for one on the shelves of your local shop.

?Banana, honey and yogurt provide the right mix of potassium, calcium and sugar to kick start your internal organs into doing their job properly,? says sports nutritionist Ben Jukes. The banana will give your potassium levels a boost, the yogurt will provide you with calcium and the honey will begin to replace the sugar that was lost down the plumbing in the pub the night before.

Jukes also recommends a Lucozade chaser. ?It?s glucose based, mineral-rich and salt balanced. It will start replacing what you lost the night before straight away.? And, perhaps just as importantly considering the reason you?re up, it will fool your battered body into thinking that you are about to do something athletic rather than undertake a hungover ramble.

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