This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s summer editorial intern Connor Hanrahan. Find him on Instagram at @hannerhansmh. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
I won’t be the first or last to say it, but drinking is fun. Going out to the bars with friends is a blast and if the vibes are right, it can be a night to remember forever… Or, on the other hand, a night you will never remember. Today, we will be diving into how to stop blacking out while drunk and even how to pregame properly.
I would be lying to you if I said I had never blacked out while out with my friends and I’m sure most of you have found yourselves in the same boat. It’s kind of annoying waking up and not remembering how you got home, or into THAT person’s bed. It’s even MORE annoying reconvening with your friends and listening to them revel in the stories from the night before while you have no recollection of any of them. Let’s go ahead and make this never happen again.
Water
This is the most predictable subheading I’ve ever written. Staying hydrated is a key factor in avoiding nausea and alcohol poisoning, but only if done correctly. It is CRUCIAL to start properly hydrating (~100 fl oz/day) at least 24 hours before going out. Only then can your body saturate itself well enough to keep up with the booze you will be pounding the following day. It is equally important to maintain that hydration throughout the day and pregame as well.
I cannot possibly stress enough the difference between maintaining hydration before, through, and after an event and just hydrating during the event. Hydrating during will help soothe your stomach and will mildly help the following day, but hydrating hours before a drop of alcohol even touches your lips will make your entire week. That being said, drinking water throughout your night is also imperative to your health, it just isn’t supplementary to hydrating before and after. It’s complementary.
And before you get any silly ideas, no, this will not have any effect on how drunk you can get that night. For some reason, there is this randomly placed stigma that drinking water before and during alcohol consumption will mute the effect of alcohol. This is not true and drinking while dehydrated can cause bodily harm and directly affect the function of your organs. Learn more here.
Nutrients
Another key to a healthy night of drinking is to make sure you are well nourished before the drinking begins, because once the alcohol starts, your body will lose track of when it last ate and what it is in need of. A nutritious breakfast and lunch can go a long way and staggering your meals properly will help even further.
For example, if I’m going to the pregame around 6pm, I’m making sure I have a well balanced breakfast no later than 10am and a nutritious lunch around 2pm, so that when 6pm rolls around, my food is digested. This way, the food in my stomach is not mixing with alcohol, nauseating me, and the nutrients from my food will be dispersed throughout my body as the night progresses.
Even having a little snack while drinking can help your body maintain the energy and nutrients required to have a fun, long, healthy night at the bars. I do, however, recommend waiting for the end of the night to eat all those tacos or that burger you’re craving so badly. Eating something so difficult for your stomach to digest can create nausea when you continue putting alcohol on top of it.
Let the Party Begin!
It’s go time! The pregame is slowly migrating toward the bars, or other festivities, and you’re feeling good after shots, beers or maybe a tasty recommendation you found on The Zillennial, but this is where the most serious portion of the night begins: monitoring your drinking.
When the alcohol is flowing and all your friends wanna keep pounding booze, it can be hard to pace yourself and stay hydrated enough. Luckily, my buddy Brian gave me the best advice for shots I have ever heard in my life:
“When the shots start tasting like water, stop taking shots.” -Brian (2023)
This may not sound like much, but it’s invaluable advice.
What separates beautiful nights of partying and fun with friends from a trip to the hospital or general alcohol poisoning is the understanding of when to stop drinking. Sure, coordinated drinking with the homies is great and nothing beats ‘shotgunning’ a beer or doing shots with your besties, but I guarantee to you that they don’t want to ride along with you to the hospital or carry you upstairs to your apartment. They will assist, but let’s leave that OFF your night’s bingo card.
Beers, booches, seltzers and ciders are a bit of a different story.
Seltzers are a TERRIFIC option if you are trying to have many servings of a drink and never blackout because they are so low in alcohol and are mostly water.
Booches and ciders aren’t quite as hydrating but are also a good option if you want to drink a lot but never lose total control. However, they are the highest in sugar of anything a bar might have on tap, so beware the headache to come later that night or early the next day.
Beer is the trickiest. In Germany, they drink beers that range from 2-5% so it is easy to have 20, yes this is a real number of beers I’ve seen consumed in a night, and not feel bad the next day. But, in America it’s a different story. Even our lightest beers have as much or more alcohol in them than foreign beers, especially ales.
Pale Ales are a danger. The first one tastes bitter, the second one tastes better, the third thru seventh tastes like water, and next thing you know you are hugging porcelain in the bathroom, bloated, and wondering where you went wrong in life. The fact of the matter is that you drank too many beers because you could, not because you should.
An Obligatory Mention
There are HELLA different ways to get to and from the bars. You can Uber, you can walk, you can even drive if your DD can be trusted to maintain sobriety throughout the night. Drunk driving is a premise NOT to be trifled with. You can end up harming yourself or others if you get behind the wheel or trust the wrong person to drive you home.
I always recommend rideshare services in urban areas and have left the concept of DD in the past because I know my boy isn’t gonna have nearly as much fun as us if he isn’t drinking too.
Also, there is ZERO shame in asking somebody to pick you up if you drove yourself to the bar and are unable to drive yourself back.
To Sum It Up
Here’s a nice little checklist to abide by:
- Maintain hydration during the 36 hours surrounding your night out
- Eat nutritious foods all day before and after your night out
- Make sure to accent your drinks with cups of water throughout
- Stop drinking when you have reached your desired buzz or the alcohol starts tasting better than alcohol should
- Do not have that eighth IPA. I promise it isn’t worth it.
- Make sure you have a DD that is willing to stay sober, or just Uber to and from the bars
Fun and Dated Urban Legend
Back in the day, there was a myth that drinking milk before a night out would help you drink more and feel less. This is not true, and I’m currently laughing as I write this because I have no idea how or why people thought this might be good advice.
Another myth that was used cruelly by elders to prank their young, is taking three shots of olive oil before going out to “create a coating in your stomach so you don’t feel nausea”. This is a blatant lie, and if you take three shots of olive oil, you are guaranteed to find yourself in the restroom for the majority of the night.
Please, do not do either of these. For information about alcohol that is accurate, visit here.
Proper nutrition and understanding your limits are the two key ingredients in knowing how to stop blacking out when drunk. I hope this article was able to clear up a few misnomers for you and provide some valuable insight into preventing unwanted blackouts. We at the Zillennial only ever hope you have fun nights out, and we hope you do so as safely and responsibly as possible.
What do you think? Did I omit any crucial info? Everybody has advice to give about how to stop blacking out when drunk and I’d love to hear yours! Please let me know in the comments below 🙂
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