Party Hard, Recover Quickly: Nootropics After a Night Out

Party Hard, Recover Quickly: Nootropics After a Night Out

So you want to go out tonight and rage until the wee hours of the morning, but still make it to class on time? Or you want to spend all weekend at a music festival and be able to function at work on Monday?

This article gives you an outline on just how to do that with the use of nootropics and other supplements.

Normally, most people use nootropics to achieve above-normal levels of brain function. But, if you have any experience partying hard, you know that sometimes just reaching a relatively normal baseline the day after can be a godsend.

It all seemed like such a good idea at the time. You started with dinner and drinks, then the actual party, then the after party, then the after-after party. Next thing you know, it’s 6am and you’re eating an old cheeseburger thinking about taking a sick day. Then you’re at work and the brain fog hits you and you can barely do simple math.

According to the article, there are 3 main problems associated with binge-partying that can be mitigated with nootropics:

  1. Sleep deprivation. No doubt this has actually become worse in recent years as Red Bull and other energy drinks are becoming standard mixers that keep people going like the energizer bunny.
  2. Substance use. Alcohol, MDMA, stimulants…No judgment being passed here, but the fact is you can’t do these things and then expect to be at 100% brain function the next day (or even two days if you’re extra wild). They throw off the balance of chemicals in your brain.
  3. Long bouts of cardio. “Cardio when you’re drinking? Blasphemy!” Not quite. Think about the last time you partied hard. Maybe you were outside on a boat and swimming in the sun all day,  maybe you were at a festival walking around for two days straight or maybe you didn’t stop dancing until the sun came up. If you did those sober, you’d call it exercise.

So, you want to strategically use nootropics to help offset some of these problems. ‘Strategically’ is the key word here because you simply can’t use nootropics as a band-aid for nonstop bodily destruction.

Here are the main things you need to think about on your path to party recovery broken down into easy-to-follow steps:

Step 1: Getting Energy

Let’s start with the easiest one first: Get moving. You need to get out of sleepyland and get yourself to class or work. Or maybe just getting into the daylight would be a win. Either way, you need some more energy because you barely slept. This is where the stimulant and recovery nootropics come in. Here are the recommended nootropics:

  • Caffeine + L-theanine: Provides energy and focus
  • Creatine: Delivers energy to the muscles and brain
  • Rhodiola Rosea: An adaptogen used by the vikings to recover from their epic parties.
  • Modafinil: Serious stuff that may require a prescription, be careful here.

Step 2: Replenishing your body’s vitamins and minerals

Now that you’re up and moving, it’s time to say “sorry” to your body for what you put it through and give it some nutrients. Alcohol (or other substances), dehydration, lack of food and constant movement can cause you to become depleted of and inhibit the uptake of critical nutrients. Here’s what you need to get your vitamin and mineral levels back where they need to be:

  • Magnesium: A crucial building block of all mitochondria that will help your body re-energize.
  • Zinc:  Alcohol inhibits zinc uptake so if you drink you could be very low on zinc. Zinc also helps create testosterone, so it’s even more important for men.
  • B Vitamins: Between depletion during your activities and the low uptake, b vitamins are normally low after long parties.
  • Choline: An essential mineral that acts as brain fuel.

Step 3: Help your brain cells

After you’ve taken care of the basics, call in the reinforcements to help protect your brain and rescue it from the damage you’ve done. These nootropics have neuroprotective properties, meaning they can help you recover some of the cognitive abilities you lost somewhere in the night (or days) before. They’re also what most people think of when discussing nootropics to acheive superior levels of cognition from a normal state.

  • Piracetam: One of the original nootropics and still a staple today. Much research supports the benefits of piracetam in a number of situations, including after alcohol intake. So be sure to include this in your recovery stack.
  • Aniracetam/Oxiracetam: Two less-researched, but more potent racetams. These are similar to piracetam, but require lower doses and have slightly different effects. Aniracetam in particular has been shown to help reduce alcohol seeking behavior, so if you’re partying too hard, too often this could help.
  • Dihexa: This helps form new brain synapse connections.

Repairing Your Liver

Even if your brain is finally back up to scratch, your liver still took a beating. Taking supplements to improve your liver health may help you undo some of the damaged.

  • TUDCA (Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid): TUDCA helps protect and restore the liver. This works particularly well for livers that are already unhealthy. However, TUDCA can actually be harmful is pre-loaded before a night of drinking. It is meant to be used after the fact.
  • Milk thistle: Like TUDCA, this therapeutic liver supplement is taken after the damage is done. Milk thistle is able to help repair liver cells damaged by alcohol toxins.

Foods to Help Get You Through and Foods to Avoid

If you can’t be bothered to mix up some anti-hangover supplements, you may have the necessary food on hand to help you survive the worst of your nausea. Eggs, bananas, and kiwis are all great breakfast foods to gravitate too. You can also munch on some toast with honey if you’re looking for something with a little more texture. Tomatoes are also a great option; however, do not guzzle down a Bloody Mary thinking that will do the trick.

Hair of the dog is a popular hangover cure because who wouldn’t want to kill their hangover with what gave it to them in the first place? However, drinking more alcohol in the morning will only provide a temporary respite. It will only serve to further dehydrate you and give you an even worse hangover later.

Greasy foods should also be avoided. While great to eat to prevent a hangover (they grease the lines of your stomach slowing alcohol absorption) greasy foods can actually further irritate your stomach.

As mentioned previously, these remedies don’t make it OK to party hard on a regular basis. Sure, sometimes things get out of control, but if you find yourself reaching for nootropic recoveries often, then it’s probably time to slow down and take some time off.

About Samantha Bookwalter

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Samantha Bookwalter is freelance writer and social media specialist. She specializes in web editing, copy editing, copy writing, social media management, HTML, CSS, and other web-related acronyms. Samantha has an affinity for health and fitness; in her free time she enjoys working out with her husband and researching recipes that are not only healthy but delicious too.

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