Posted on 08/21/2020 7:03:39 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Last November, Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office, published the results of its most recent Life Satisfaction survey. Residents of each of the EU's member countries were asked to evaluate how satisfied they were with their lives as a whole, using a scale from 0 to 10. In the end, the Finns proved to be the most pleased with ...well, everything, with a final score of 8.1.
The results of a new research study from the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland will probably give Finns something else to be happy about: according to Yle, these scientists think they've finally found an effective cure for hangovers.
Nineteen men were recruited for the study, and they spent their Friday nights in a hotel conference room downing a potent 10% ABV combination of cranberry juice and Koskenkorva, a Finnish grain alcohol. The number of drinks each participant received was based on his body weight; a 165-pound-man would get nine servings. (Of course, with only men included in the study, there are serious limitations to its findings.)
"There were clearly intoxicated people, but no-one was falling down drunk," University of Helsinki researcher Markus Metsälä said.
Each participant was given either a placebo, a pill containing 600 mg of the amino acid L-cysteine, or a 1,200 mg dose of L-cysteine. The next morning, they were asked to answer a number of questions about how they were feeling, and whether they felt headachy, nauseous, stressed, or just, you know, hungover. The researchers discovered that the men who received the 1,200 mg pill experienced less severe headaches and nausea, while those who had the smaller dose felt less anxious overall.
"L-cysteine would reduce the need of drinking the next day with no or less hangover symptoms: nausea, headache, stress and anxiety," the researchers wrote in their conclusions. "Altogether, these effects of L-cysteine are unique and seem to have a future in preventing or alleviating these harmful symptoms as well as reducing the risk of alcohol addiction."
Metsälä told Yle that some of the study's original participants became "so unwell" that they couldn't complete the sessions, while others were such serious drinkers that they never got hammered enough to get a hangover.
"Some subjects, on the other hand, did not have the patience to stop drinking when the study's official drink sessions came to an end, but instead continued to drink more at the hotel bar," he said. "They also had to be excluded from the study."
The study itself was funded by Catapult Cat, which is, um, a Finnish cat food company. It also sells L-cysteine supplements—for humans—so it's surely delighted by the final results. This research was published in the most recent issue of the Oxford Academic journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.
Being able to enjoy a couple of drinks (although maybe not nine drinks) on a Friday night without ruining your Saturday definitely ranks high on the Life Satisfaction scale. Thanks for sharing your good fortune, Finland.
Best hangover cure of all time... Don’t quit drinking.
If one is s***faced, good luck with that.
Ping
Certainly been sloshed enough, but at worst just feel woozy next morning. Never the splitting headaches I gather many suffer.
Maybe Irish and French genetics make me equipped for alcohol consumption?
Yep, and enough of doing THAT and you'll have to quit for good. But I wouldn't know anything about that stuff.
My dads father would take an aspirin and a glass of water before bed, never got a hangover. And he drank....and was a local truck driver for 40 some years.
Mine is the perfect remedy: I quit all drinking eleven years ago. Haven’t had a hangover since.
And I thought the cure for hangovers had already been found; see, there’s this preparation sold by Dr. Jack Daniels...
Kamala might make some drinks, but kamala in Finnish means terrible, awful.
This is worthy and life improving research and I approve
My husband tells me I’ve never had a hangover because I don’t drink enough - but I think I’ve had enough, and at worst have still only felt sort of ‘flu-y’ in the morning.
I think Frank Sinatra once said that he felt sorry for people who don’t drink: when they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’ll feel all day.
(Probably the only true hangover cure is the preemptive one of not drinking in the first place.)
Is there a vaccine yet?
I’ve known the cure for years. Replace the ethanol in vodka with dihydrogen monoxide. And like magic, no hangover.
You probably like ‘plant burgers’, too :-)
The MSDS is eye opening.
Dihydrogen Monoxide can kill one in many ways.
*Ban dihydrogen monoxide...for the children.
Welder’s trick: pure O2.
Don’t watch the Democratic convention. Problem solved.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.