It is easy for occasional drinkers to get carried away on New Year's Eve, but you don't have to end up feeling lousy the next day if you follow some simple rules.
If you must drink alcohol, try these guidelines:
* The most obvious: Don't drink and drive.
* Analyze your intake with this rule of thumb: For a 160-pound person, the maximum alcohol intake is five ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer or one and a half ounces of spirits. If you weigh less, drink less.
* Measure your drinks. Pour spirits using a measure before you mix. If you don't measure, you can't know how much you are taking in.
* Using the one-per-hour method, you might finish the drink in less time. One idea is to keep diluting the drink as you go. This especially works for wine if you wish to add club soda as you go. You will have a full glass, but your alcohol intake will be stable.
* Don't hold your glass! Put the glass down while you visit with others.
* Drink a cocktail immediately before dinner but after that, skip the straight stuff.
* Never drink shots. One way to push yourself over the edge in a hurry is to drink shots of straight liquor.
* Make sure you are not thirsty. Beer is often said to be a thirst quencher, and with the first beer, it probably is, since it contains a lot of water. But with each subsequent beer, the body becomes more than more dehydrated. Hangover is usually associated with this dehydration.
Drink water to satisfy your thirst and then sip a beer.
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Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.