So you've made it through the first night of your hen party, and all those yummy cocktails have caught up with you... well, a girl's gotta celebrate, right? But you've got a whole second night to get through yet, ladies! Follow our morning/afternoon after survival guide, and you'll make it to the Saturday evening of your hen without feeling like you need a duvet day...
There's nothing like a quick detox hit to get your system back on its feet! All those brightly coloured drinks you thought were such a good idea last night have a nasty habit of hanging around making you feel twice as bad as you would if you'd only drunk wine! It's because most of the colours in those interestingly-shaped glasses are pure chemicals. Hey, we never said science was pretty...
To get rid of nasties, you need a liver that's up and doing star-jumps, not half asleep and wishing it was watching Beaches. Drink plenty of water and try to eat something green or dark blue. Blueberries are particularly good - they're packed with a compound called anthocyanin, which is the grandaddy of all superfoods!
Want an easy way out? Turkish baths. Lie there and glisten until all the horrible stuff from last night has gone away...
For girls who felt too ropy to eat breakfast, lunch is definitely the most important meal of the hen party day! Take liquids (you should have been doing that all morning, too) and choose food that delivers energy and promotes metabolic action. Citrus fruits are good, as are dishes with garlic and chili in.
Top tip: eat some dark green veg. There are trace quantities of cyanide in broccoli and its relatives, which get the liver working overtime!
If you don't want to whimper your way through day two of your hen do, we recommend kickstarting the metabolism with some serious exercise! The key to sweating out alcohol and takeaways is to disguise the beneficial stuff as fun. Do an assault course. Get involved in a sidesplitting game of Zorb wars. Or don massive penguin costumes and chase each other around a ring!
There are tons of hen party activities that hit the spot for fun and exercise. Do something you've never done before. Get the girls split into teams and attack some hilarious challenges. The more you're laughing, the less you'll remember your headache...
(We recommend It's A Knockout, which you can do in Barcelona for added sun factor!)
Provided you're sensible about it, a couple of hours on the beach is a sweet hangover killer. Why? Because even the most ladylike among us can't help but perspire under the Spanish sun!
Remember, ladies, sunscreen is your friend and water is your ally. Releasing toxins through the skin while you check out hunky fellers in Speedos is one thing, getting heatstroke and spewing all over a Mediterranean emergency room is quite another.
OK, so in general we're not recommending hair of the dog. Well, we are, but with a medical proviso!
Everyone knows you're going to get overexcited on your hen, and everyone knows that a little bit of what bit you last night can go a long way towards restoring your equilibrium. The reason for that is the same reason that eating broccoli or anthocyanin-rich foods gets your system going. A minute quantity of poison (alcohol, in this case) has an instant effect on your liver - meaning a quick clinky-clinky and you'll be processing toxins away like a 2 year old. Just don't get into the habit!
So there you have it - the all-day menu for killing your hen party hangover. Blueberries and water in the morning, a steam room, broccoli for lunch and It's A Knockout for afters! By the time you've showered and hit the beach, you'll be feeling like you might just survive the weekend...
Date Posted: Wednesday 13th May 2015
Author: Yazmina Wallace
