The best of times and the worst of hangovers

A poster of "The Hangover," a 2009 American comedy film, co-produced and directed by Todd Phillips. The movie features the story about groomsmen who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party but lose the about-to-be-wed buddy during their hangovers. / Courtesy of Warner Bros.

By Bahk Eun-ji, Jung Min-ho, Kim Bo-eun

With the year coming to an end, many workers and young adults are boozing at gatherings with colleagues and friends.

They often end up drinking too much, lose control of themselves and end up in embarrassing situations. The morning after such gatherings, people feel so rotten.

The dreaded hangover experience is supposed to deter them from future episodes of heavy drinking, but many of them ― susceptible to the symptoms ― repeat the same mistakes just like the gang of drunkards in the Hollywood comedy movie "The Hangover."

Just as there are hundreds of home remedies for hangovers, there are also many "secret stories" associated with drinking habits and episodes.

Jung Sang-min, a 22-year-old graduate school student, still cringes when he remembers the worst hangover he has ever had.

"My last bender was about four years ago, and the feeling of embarrassment from that crazy fiesta has kept me clear of alcohol in fear of making the same mistake a second time. It was that bad," Jung said.

"I never was a binge drinker, but my ex-girl friend broke up with me a few days before that night, like a twist of fate. Broken-hearted, I, then a college freshman, decided to get drunk at my friend's birthday party on the weekend to relieve my stress and anger."

When he got to the party, the place was already crowded with a bunch of people drinking, dancing and laughing, Jung said.

"It was hard for me to match the mood of the occasion initially. After sitting there alone for a while, I started to feel sad about the break-up. Then, I chugged a shot of tequila, the trigger of the nightmare to follow," Jung said. "I grabbed a bottle on the table and drank it all down. It happened in the blink of an eye. And that was my last memory."

His roommate woke him the next day vomiting loudly in the bathroom. The place was a mess as if a tornado wiped out the house.

"At that point, I realized that I did something terribly wrong, though I had no idea what had actually happened," Jung said. "He told me I immediately joined the dancing after drinking the whole bottle of tequila and was like a totally different person laughing and dancing in the most horrible way you can imagine."

When Jung started acting weird, people began to leave the place. But in his drunken state, Jung continued to party with a few of his friends. The dancing became intense, screams became louder and his actions became violent.

He later threw things and cursed at the remaining people, according to his friend, and started puking over the floor where he had slept.

Jung's biggest college party was over just like that. His friends crashed on the same floor as if they showed off their close friendships.

"The worst part of the horrible incident was that I had to apologize to more than 15 people without knowing what I actually did the previous night, going from door to door," Jung said. "I found out that some of my friends cleaned the bathroom before they left the party to take care of my ‘residue.'"

This incident is his biggest lesson about alcohol, and it made him return to church that weekend, Jung said. Now, he calls himself a "devout Christian."

"Nonetheless, the hangover wasn't that bad because I puked so much, the next morning I was fresh after that," Jung said. "Some people at the party are still good friends of mine, and we continue to stay in contact with one another on Facebook talking and laughing about that night."

He said he still feels like getting drunk sometimes, adding that: "Some of the alcohol must be still in my stomach."

Moments you wish not to recall

Kim Jeong-soo, a 25-year-old freelancer working in the music industry, says he is a relatively heavy drinker. He often gathers with his friends to drink through the night, and not all the gatherings end safely.

At one particular night, he and three friends drank some 20 bottles of soju together. "I don't remember exactly how much I drank, but it was a hell of a lot," said Kim. And according to his friends, he suddenly left the bar during the night and never came back.

A while later Kim found himself at a police station nearby his house. His wallet and cell phone were missing. "I was like, where am I? Why am I here? What the hell happened?"

Luckily, his housemate had somehow been contacted and was there to pay a 40,000 won taxi fare that Kim owed, which he said was exorbitant considering the distance between the place where they drank and his home.

"Even at the police station, I wasn't really sober. Although there's no way of knowing exactly what happened that night, it sure was a crazy one," said Kim. He recalled having a dreadful hangover the next day, vowing he would never let himself drink so much again.

Lee Ji-min, a 26-year-old office worker, says she isn't much of a drinker, and is past all of her embarrassing drunk moments. But she recalled one particularly bad incident when she was at university.

"I was a sophomore and two of my friends and I went on a group blind date," said Lee. She hadn't had anything to eat that day before they met. "As far as I remember, we hadn't ordered solid food, just a kind of soup or something, and were drinking a lot of soju and beer mixed together," Lee said, recalling that she soon became tipsy.

"I think I was really making a fool of myself, saying stupid things, but the worst part was yet to come," she said. After playing a variety of drinking games, exchanging each others' phone numbers, and changing seats so that they were sitting with a person they liked, the moment came, Lee said.

"I had this horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen, and it did. I threw up under the table at the bar, on one of the guy's shoes."

Lee said the blind date had actually been going pretty well until that moment. "I felt really bad for my friends and the guys, because the night just ended right then. We said goodbye and none of us ever contacted anyone else again, that was how that night finished."

Lee recalled that she somehow managed to drag herself to class the next day, but remembers puking in the school's restroom between classes.

Remedies

According to Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 30 percent of adults aged over 19, go on a drinking binge more than once in a week. Drinking binges in this context are more than seven glasses of soju for men and five for women.

This means many grown-ups are vulnerable to hangovers. There are many folk remedies for curing the symptoms. Many traditional cures may work, but there is no magic cure for getting over a heavy hangover. It's important to find what works best for you but here are some recommendations from experts.

"At this year-end season, people drink more than usual, both the number of occasions on which they do so and the quantity of alcohol they consume. It is definitely harmful for people's health, especially the liver, where alcohol is digested and detoxified inside the body," says Jung Hoon, a doctor of Seoul Bukbu Hospital.

Jung pointed out that the body needs to be free of alcohol for at least three days after a drinking session. He advises drinking a lot of water and orange juice because vitamin C is helpful for replenishing the body.