Morning Hangovers Without Drinking

Morning Hangovers Without Drinking by Jane Thurnell-Read

It's often instructive to ask new clients how they feel first thing in the morning. Do they wake feeling vibrant and healthy, or do they struggle to wake up easily? (You might want to ask yourself this question too!)

Some people will tell you that they wake feeling as though they have a hangover when they have not been drinking alcohol. Possible reasons for this are allergies or low blood sugar.

The client may be suffering from low blood sugar generally, so you'd need to take appropriate action to stabilise their blood sugar. If low blood sugar appears to be a problem only on waking it may be worth asking them to eat a handful of seeds (sunflower or pumpkin seem best) before sleeping. This will often do the trick, as well as providing much needed minerals for general health too.

Another possibility is that food allergies are involved. I've written before about food allergies and addiction, but just to review this in relation to these morning 'hangovers', the person eats the food during the day and satisfies the craving, but during the night withdrawal symptoms begin, and classically the person wakes with a hangover. Eating the allergen switches off the withdrawal symptoms and allows the person to feel better. In fact some people will not make it through the night without having a snack of their allergen in the early hours to keep their withdrawal symptoms at bay. They are often totally surprised when told that they are reacting to the very food they like and experience as making them feel better.

So here's two approaches you might want to take with someone who is sluggish in the morning. Of course, there are other reasons - serious physical illness, depression and so on, but do think about checking out allergy and blood sugar problems too.