Part of being young is being stupid, and any college student who tells you that he or she has never gotten drunk is either lying, a Mormon, or some combination thereof. Lying Mormons are rare. LOL!

A recent survey found that 3 out of every 5 college students have engaged in binge drinking (my specialty ). This unhealthy activity completely thrashes your liver and kidneys, not to mention puts you at risk of death via alcohol poisoning. Your body thanks you for this liquid trauma by sending you the dreaded hangover the next morning - that is if you wake up at all

A nasty hangover is Mother Nature's way of telling you, "Fool, I though I told you not to drink so much. Now you gonna pay!" Hangovers can completely incapacitate you, giving you an upset stomach, a huge headache, a gross-tasting mouth, and in some cases a guilty conscience. My friend has a shirt that reads "An awkward morning sure beats a boring night" LOL! Throughout this blog, I will present to you ways in which you can ease the pain and cure that hangover, as well as taking preventative measures.

Before diving into the preventions of hangovers, let's discuss the determining factors of a severe hangover. The severity of a hangover varies according to the amount of alcohol consumed in a given period of time, your body's enzymatic capacity to break down the poisons from the alcohol, and your age. Therefore, the more you drink in a short amount of time, the more you'll feel the alcohol. In addition, the older you get, the more you'll feel the consequences in the morning.

Disclaimer: The following cocktail is meant to ease the pain of a hangover and is not meant to be used to treat any illnesses or disease. It won't curb or cure your alcoholism

There is a certain concoction of aspirin, fruits and multi-vitamins that when taken correctly can prevent and or cure a hangover. Now by cure I don't mean that the hangover will disappear quickly as if by magic. It should however, reduce the pain and duration of a hangover by rehydrating the body with the necessary fluids, vitamins and electrolytes lost while going on those frequent trips to the bathroom.

The ingredients and instructions listed below are taken from So You Wanna's website under the blog "Almighty Hangover Emergency Cure".
1.) Take 2 aspirins
2.)Take 200 mg cysteine (available at specialty food stores)
3.)Take 600 mg Vitamin C
4.) Take 1 tablet Vitamin B-complex

After popping all these pills, mix the following ingredients together in a blender:
- a banana
- 1 small can V-8
- 6 large strawberries
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1-2 cups milk (or soy milk), depending on desired consistency
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- dash of nutmeg

Now once all is blended, pinch you nose together and chug that thing down. If necessary, follow up with a dose of Maalox, drink lots of Gatorade throughout the day, and eat bouillon soup for dinner.

Hangovers can very well be avoided by adhering to the following tips...

Don't go out on an empty stomach

Consider taking a preventative dose of the "Hangover Cure" (See cocktail instructions above...just the drink and not the pills before going out). Also launch you night at the pub with a double order of curly fries. The reason that food is important is because it'll absorb some of the alcohol so that it doesn't all go directly into the bloodstream.

Hydrate your body with plenty of fluids

Alcohol acts as a diuretic so in case those long hours at the urinal didn't tip you off, more fluids are going out than coming in. You need to replace that liquid.

One last tip...before heading out, you can blend together the "hangover cure" and keep an extra serving or two in the fridge for the morning after.

Once you've loaded up on food and water/fluids, it's on to getting loaded up on booze . There are still a few more practices you can undertake while you're out on the town to further keep that hangover at bay.

Choose your drinks with care

There are poisons besides alcohol itself that contribute to a brutal hangover. Chemicals called congeners occur naturally in all fermented drinks. The general rule is that the darker and cheaper forms of alcohol have more congeners than pricey lighter ones. Therefore, your Charles Shaw Merlot would verily be more hangover prone than a nicely elegant Chateau Montelena 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon via the Napa Valley.

Alternate alcoholic beverages with non-alcoholic ones[/b][/u]

Your liver breaks down alcohol at the rate of about a beer an hour, so spreading out the drinking over the course of the evening will lessen the likelihood of a hangover.

A hangover is inevitable after any night of heavy drinking. So if you want to avoid the painful consequences of drinking, follow the precautions that I have just laid out for you. The "hangover cure" should only be used as a last resort. In short, eat, drink (lots of water), take "the cure" before going out and when waking up, and you'll be merry in the morning