Rethinking your drinking this Easter weekend

We're coming to the end of Lent and no doubt some of you will be celebrating with a few beers. Here are some tips for the morning after.

In case you didn’t already know, pubs and off-licences are not permitted to sell alcohol tomorrow, as it's Good Friday. There’s no point standing outside the off-licence on Friday lunchtime praying that they’re just a little late to open. Prohibition rolls into town every Good Friday, but as the Yanks in the 20s found out, abstinence doesn't necessarily follow.

Before the weekend festivities kick off, though, there are a few things you should take into account. If you’re even considering drinking and driving the morning after having a few drinks, the message from Drink Aware and the RSA is simple – don’t. You should calculate how much alcohol you drank the night before, as this will give you a rough idea of how much is still in your system.

Do the math...

As you no doubt know by now, your body can only break down one standard unit of alcohol every hour. So it takes 60 minutes for your body to get rid of one pub measure, a small glass of wine or a glass of beer. So you can see why drinking the morning after the night before is a bad idea.

It's a good rule of thumb to have a non-alcoholic drink in between alcoholic ones. As the current campaign from Drink Aware communicates, pacing yourself is the key to having a good night whether you're staying in or heading out. You don't go to the jacks at someone else's pace, so why allow yourself to be swayed when it comes to taking in the stuff in the first place?

If you do happen to have a sherry or two more than you had planned over the Easter weekend there are a few tips to help ease the burden of your inevitable hangover:

• Drink as much water as you can before going to sleep and make sure to have a glass (water, not beer) beside your bed. This will replace any fluids you may have lost during your session
• An antacid will ease your stomach a bit
• Have a cup of tea or coffee to help wake you up (you may be surprised to know that they also dehydrate you, so follow it up with a glass of water too).
• Drinking reduces your blood sugar levels so eat something before you go out (and preferably during your session too)
• Don’t bother with ‘hair of the dog’. It doesn’t work
• After drinking give your body a solid 48 hours off before even thinking of going back for more

For more simple hints & tips on how to pace yourself during the Long Weekend night out, follow the link to www.drinkaware.ie.