It’s that time of year again where we’re out visiting our friends and family at parties and gatherings. Over the Christmas and New Year party season, you’ll be tempted with a range of tantalising alcoholic drinks and as well as social emersion and conversations that make you forget where you are up to in drink-counting! Even with all of our best intentions it’s easy to overdo it at this time of the year. What can you do to avoid the excessive alcohol, or if you go a bit too far how can you help your body recover quickly?
Surviving the Party Season

Well, firstly, it’s probably a good idea to plan to stick to one – or maybe two – standard alcoholic drinks per party or event. One or two drinks can help you to relax and let your hair down, helping you to feel comfortable and socially outgoing for a great time with friends and colleagues. Or you can try some amazing boutique beers and mixed drinks you can buy now which have no alcoholic content but they look just the same as what everyone else is drinking – and taste just as good as well!
You can also stretch out alcoholic drinks by diluting them with soda water, or drink non-alcoholic beers etc. At this level it’s unlikely that you will suffer from the negative effects of alcohol. What happens when you drink more than one or two standard drinks is, not only will you go over the safe driving limit, but the alcohol will also dehydrate you – and most particularly the brain!
Too much alcohol has been shown to cause excessive urination and dehydration. Partying ‘hard’ with excessive alcohol will bite you back even harder with nausea, headaches, lethargy and feeling unwell. These are the symptoms of a classic hangover from alcoholic dehydration and liver stress.
Alcohol also makes your brain hypoxic (low in oxygen)
If you drink too much alcohol it will dehydrate you and this will make your brain hypoxic (low in oxygen). You’ll notice a light-headed feeling when you’ve had a couple of drinks, but it can easily get out of hand into ‘tipsie-land’ with one or two more. Some people binge drink so much they can’t remember a thing about the night before, often causing the most cringe-worthy reports from friends about their ‘out-of-character behaviour’ and antics. There is however even worse bad news about such excessive alcohol toxicity: it causes brain cells to die.
The drying effects of alcohol adversely impact the brain by robbing it of valuable water and minerals, particularly magnesium and calcium – both these electrolytes being essential for the electrical energy in the brain. This study here found that even moderate alcohol consumption caused the urinary excretion of magnesium and calcium. The results showed the adults in the study excreted significantly higher levels of Magnesium and Calcium in their urine after consuming alcohol and this showed that even moderate levels of alcohol consumption could contribute to magnesium deficiency.
Fix My Head – Ouch!
To counteract the debilitating effects of alcoholic hangover and brain fog, rehydrate with litres of magnesium water – made with filtered water and a pinch of Elektra Magnesium Chloride Flakes per litre. Use it to wash down B group vitamins and some vitamin E for good measure. Alcohol tends to deplete your Bs – which the brain desperately needs.
Increasing your magnesium will help to super-charge the effect of the B vitamins. You can do this with extra transdermal magnesium (over and above what’s in the drinking water). If you simply take B group vitamins you won’t improve as quickly as if you also increased your levels of magnesium. Why? Because magnesium is essential for thiamine (vitamin B) utilisation (see this study here). Just massage into your muscles some Elektra Magnesium Cream, Lotion and/or Oil Spritz, which will provide a high amount to tackle the problem ‘head on’.

As well as the vitamin B group, you’ll need some extra vitamin E support to counteract the acidity of your brain. Everything to do with good health boils down to the pH balance in our body. Vitamin E is a high-level antioxidant which donates electrons to neutralise acidity and help bring back pH balance. So the synergistic effect of all three antioxidants – magnesium, B vitamins and vitamin E – will provide a powerful recovery effect, in addition of course to the rehydration with plenty of water. Another way you can also boost your magnesium levels, as well as detox, is by taking a strong magnesium foot-soak or bath for half an hour using Elektra Magnesium Flakes. And then catch up with a sound sleep. When you sleep, your body detoxes and takes out the garbage!
Relax… There’s Another Way to Have a Really Good Time
As you can see from what we’ve been saying, alcohol has a strong effect on your body and brain. We all like to have a drink or two because it makes us feel relaxed and more comfortable. This is because alcohol (like Valium – benzodiazepam) occupies our GABA receptors, which relaxes and removes inhibitions. But guess what? Magnesium is used to make GABA for the GABA receptors, and magnesium can also suppress stress hormones, but without any negative side effects.
So take care and don’t overdo it this party season! Who wants a hangover when you’re on holidays? No-one! So, try and stick to one – or maximum two standard drinks when you go out. Whatever you do, keep some Elektra Magnesium Cream or Lotion on hand and use more of this than usual over this coming party season. Rub some on before you go out and then use more before you go to bed. Take some B group vitamins and some vitamin E as well, stay well hydrated, and you’ll enjoy your holiday break so much more!
Sandy Sanderson © 2020 www.elektramagnesium.com.au