Several recent studies have shown that alcohol, in fact, has a positive effect on cognitive function, just ask Earnest Hemmingway.  According to the Whitehall study, those who moderately drink alcohol on a regular basis, which could mean four or five bottles of wine in the week, have sharper mental processes.  The theory behind these brain boosting benefits involves an increased blood flow to the brain with alcohol consumption.  6,000 civil servants were tested on their short term memory and mathematical reasoning.  The scores were cross matched with their lifetime drinking habits.  Those who abstained from alcohol were two times as likely as light drinkers for achieving the lowest test scores.

In Italy, over 15,000 men and women over 65 were tested on mental impairments commonly associated with older age.  29% of those who practiced abstinence from alcohol showed signs of mental degradation, while only 19% of those who regularly used alcohol showed similar symptoms.  In Toronto, similar research with women in their 70s showed akin results.  Moderate drinkers outperformed abstainers on five of seven mental cognition tests conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health.  Additionally, the combined score of all seven tests ranked dramatically higher for the ladies who love libations.

None of these test results are congruent with the effects of alcohol abuse, only of those who practice moderation.

Headache, nausea, and all the other fun symptoms of a hangover may make you feel as though you’ve killed half your brain cells, but what you really need is a good hangover remedy and to start preparing for your TED talk, great lectures don’t write themselves.

The guy is so wasted at Coachella 2010 he can’t get his flip-flops on. haha

It’s 1 am.  You and your friends are drunk and watching videos of kittens stuck in paper bags on YouTube.  It’s late, but there is no denying the egalitarian decision that the best possible option for everyone is a three-egg Denver Omelet with sausage links a-la-carte. Your compulsion to hit up the 24-hour diner down the street may be more complex than your unrelenting desire for pork sausage links, or the fact the wait staff there becomes dramatically more attractive when inebriated, but instead your subconscious informing you of your body craves the amino acid, Cysteine.

Cysteine is a non-essential amino acid, which can be created naturally in the human body, but is also found in such high protein diner delectables as sausage, lunch meat, chicken, eggs, turkey, cottage cheese, and yogurt. While you may feel like your corroding your arteries, feel rest assured you are protecting your liver.  Though cysteine is produced naturally in your body, after a night of overindulgence you are guaranteed to have over run your body’s natural supply of this toxin blocker.  When your body metabolizes alcohol, it produces the organic chemical compound of acetaldehyde, responsible for the more annoying effects of alcohol such as hangovers and liver damage.

Cysteine counteracts the toxic acetaldehyde by furthering its metabolism to form acetic acid, a relatively harmless compound found in vinegar.  Maybe not the best option for calorie counters, or Gremlins, but a smart way to keep your body equipped to battle the remainder of the evening and the impending daylight hours.  No need to worry about your Grand Slam killing your buzz, as cysteine has no relation to the direct effects of drunkenness; you can protect your good time at night, and your good morning with your late-night super snacking.

If you didn’t think ahead and hit up Denny’s on your drunken escapades, you may want to fry up some eggs and sausage in the morning to tackle the remainder of the alcohol, yet to be metabolized, plaguing your appreciation for sunlight.  Good news for Vegans is cysteine is not only located in animal products, but also granola, oats, broccoli, red peppers, brussels sprouts, onions, and garlic, maybe not popular items on the Denny’s menu, but most likely foods you have stored in your refrigerator or kitchen cupboards.

So, bottoms up with a side of eggs, and good morning tomorrow.

The deliciously tall, dark, sexy beverages like red wine, bourbon, and brandy owe their rich, bold color to congeners, impurities produced as a by-product of fermentation.  While congeners produce the fine aromas and tastes to the rich bodies of dark liquors, they are also liable for the more undesirable attributes to alcohol, such as hangovers.

Acetone, more popularly associated with nail polish remover, acetaldehyde, the key culprit in liver damage from alcohol abuse, and tannins, which give red wine it’s astringently dry pucker, are just a few of the chemicals more present in dark colored alcohol.  Lighter liquors, like gin and vodka, contain less of these impurities, and as a result reportedly result in less uncomfortable hangovers.  The lack of congeners in such liquors is also why historically vodka and gin have been appraised for their “mask-ability,” leaving little smell on the breath and easily disguised in mixed drinks.  This difference is mainly attributed to the distilling process, as clear liquors will be distilled sometimes multiple times to strip these impurities, where darker liquors do not face such a dramatic distilling process, since congeners are a key facet in determining taste.

But the tale of the congener isn’t the whole story when it comes to alcohol consumption and hangovers.  According to a study conducted by Boston university, after sending 95 men and women on an alcohol binge until their blood alcohol content reached .11, the participants who had been given bourbon, which contains 37 times the congeners of vodka, had reported feeling a whole lot worse.  Before you resign to a vodka only diet and assume you can drink 3 shots of gin per every one shot of bourbon in an evening, take note that all participants when tested on daily tasks had the same level of impairment the next morning when their blood alcohol level returned to 0.0.

So next time you plan on going on a party spree the night before a nine-to-five at the office, keep in mind impairment is inevitable, no matter how you pick your poison.  Because alcohol is a diuretic, dehydration is the key factor, and when alcohol is consumed in a fashion higher than the standards of moderation, everyone is culpable for a hangover.

It’s actually a very large involvement of people on Twitter who organize a social gathering in hundreds of cities worldwide, and the effort is to raise money for most poverty-stricken children around the world.  It’s a great opportunity to grab a few drinks, meet some new people and help children that live a harder life than we could ever imagine.

This years Twestival was held on March 25th 2010, and it raised over $460,000.  All proceeds go to Concern Worldwide, who then gets the money to the children. They’ve been around for 40 years and are working in 28 of the world’s poorest countries.

Last year Zaca attended the Denver Twestival, and all proceeds went to build water wells for extremely poor towns in 3rd world countries.  This year, the focus was education and the 72 million children in the world who don’t have the opportunity to go to school.

At the Twestival, money is raised in the form of cover charges, silent auctions and raffles.  For this years Twestival, Zaca donated an assortment of wine and hangover topical patches.  And boy…did the winner enjoy it

BTW, the Denver Twestival was held at The Lobby.   The restaurant just opened in September 2009; great atmosphere and very friendly staff!  We highly recommend it if you ever visit Denver.

Cheers!

2. Eat Some Traditional Irish Food
Cook up some corned beef, cabbage, lamb stew and potatoes!  (Although corned beef became a tradition in NYC, not Ireland.)

3. Blast Irish Music
Listen to some bagpipes or the more popular Dropkick Murphys.

4. Go to the Parade
There’s St Patrick’s parades going on all over the world, New York City, Toronto, Boston, San Francisco, Sydney, London, Chicago…etc.  Here in Denver we have a St Patrick’s parade that starts at Coors Field.

5. Color Your Toilet Water Green
So when people go take a S*#@ or piss, they’re reminded what day it is!

6. Round of Car Bombs with your Friends
3/4 pint Guinness® stout
1/2 shot Bailey’s® Irish cream
1/2 shot Jameson® Irish whiskey
Drop the shot of half Bailey’s®, half Jameson® into a ¾ pint glass of Guinness® and drink.

7. Wear Green Beads
Yes, it’s a bit of a copycat of Marti Gras, but people love to do it and believe us, it can be a lot of fun.

8. Talk in Irish Accent All Day
If you can pull off a good Irish accent this can be hilarious.

9. Wear a Kilt
Remember, no underwear!  And if you’re a girl thinking that only guys wear kilts, think again.  Look at the restaurant Tilted Kilt.

10. Go to the Pub
Of course you can’t forget to stop by the pub or bar and grab a drink with everyone!

Cheers to St Patricks Day!

Coupon valid up until St Patrick’s Day for free shipping on Hangover Patches.
www.zacalife.com

Coupon Code: LUCKYME (use upon checkout)

]]> http://zacalife.com/blog/zaca-organic-hangover-patch-video/feed/ 0 http://zacalife.com/blog/bad-hangover/ http://zacalife.com/blog/bad-hangover/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:38:38 +0000 zaca http://zacalife.com/blog/?p=481 Have you ever had a bad hangover?  Check out this guy! 

 
How About This For A Bad Hangover – Watch more Funny Videos

He could have used Zaca the night before his bad hangover!

Here are some facts on Chaser hangover:

The 2 major ingredients for Chaser hangover are:

1. Vegetable Carbon: derived from either burnt vegetable mater, incomplete combustion of natural gas, activated charcoal, bones, blood, meat or various fats oils and resins.

2.Calcium carbonate: is a chemical compound.  It is a common substance found in rock in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime, and is usually the principle cause of hard water.  It is commonly used medicinally as a calcium supplement or as an antacid, but excessive consumption can be hazardous.

We don’t doubt Chaser hangover doesn’t work.  One thing is for sure vegetable carbon is a burnt substance found in animals which makes it not vegetarian/vegan friendly.  So could you just burn some toast in the morning or even after drinking and it will act the same way?  Also calcium carbonate sounds great but when it can be hazardous in excessive consumption, it is something to lookout for.  Not to mention the other fillers and additives in the Chaser hangover pill.

How does Chaser hangover work?

Directions
(Per drinking session): Take two caplets with your first drink. For best results, take two more caplets every two to three hours (or five to six drinks) thereafter.

By the time you are done with the night after taking all these pills and drinking, you were more concerned about when you had to take your next pill verses having fun.  We have heard from many people it take a minimum of at least 6 pills to even challenge the hangover.

Here at Zaca we make sure we use the higest quality of ingredients with NO fillers, NO colors, NO added calories, NO sugars, and most importantly ORGANIC ingredients!  The other great quality about Zaca is it’s simple and easy to use.  Put the patch on before drinking and leave it on for 24 hours!  Chaser hangover was a good product, now there is Zaca!

Either way, a hangover sucks!  Beer though is not just domestics or imports its also micro brews.  Micro brews are known to cause the worse beer hangovers.  Some of the alcohol % is over 8% which can really hit the head…

Everyone knows about keg beer.  Did you know most bars don’t clean the plastic tubing which your beer comes from?  Supposely this can cause all kinds of smells and taste difference in the beer.  It can even cause the beer to go flat.  Drinking beer is one of the funniest things most cultures do.  But a beer hangover sucks!