You probably started your day with a hangover and you didn’t even know it, but your body sure did.

Mornings are the worst. Or at least they used to feel that way. The brain fog, the dull headache, the vague nausea.

Mornings aren’t the problem, your one, two, three or four drinks last night are.

One of the things that is most vivid to me when I stop drinking (after the first few rage-filled days are over) is how awesome the mornings are. Yes, I said awesome. Even with kids whining and making my lunch and driving to work, it’s all so much more manageable.

I wasn’t having ragers or heading out to the club, I was simply drinking what was suppoed to be one glass of wine which turned into the bottle. Or the 7% ABV beer that turned into two.

Alcohol content aside, the empty sugar, the yeast and the sulfites alone are enough to make you feel gross. Alcohol is also a diuretic leading to dehydration which in turn, makes you feel crappier.

Here is a description of the metabolic process involved in a hangover:

“Over the course of a night of heavy drinking, your blood alcohol level continues to rise. Your body labors to break down the alcohol – consumed as ethanol in beer, wine or spirits – forming damaging oxygen free radicals and acetaldehyde, itself a harmful compound. The longer ethanol and acetaldehyde stick around, the more damage they can do to your cellular membranes, proteins and DNA, so your body’s enzymes work quickly to metabolize acetaldehyde to a less toxic compound, acetate.

Over time, your ethanol levels drop through this natural metabolic process. Depending on how much you consumed, you’re likely to experience a hangover as the level of ethanol in your blood slowly returns to zero. Your body is withdrawing from high levels of circulating alcohol, while at the same time trying to protect itself from the effects of alcohol.” https://theconversation.com/hangovers-happen-as-your-body-tries-to-protect-itself-from-alcohols-toxic-effects-124630

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a lot to put my body through every night and expect to wake up feeling chipper.

At night, I set my coffee pot for the next morning. I have splurged on some fancy roast coffee instead of the Kirkland 3 gallon drum I usually buy. I will tell you this, coffee has never tasted so good. I only drink one cup because I have found that I am sensitive to caffeine (and probably alcohol too but I can stop at one cup of joe). It smells good. It tastes good. I have room in my brain to appreciate all of it.

Mornings are a whole new experience. I feel good. Even when my day sucks, I realize how much more it would have sucked if I faced it with a mild (or not so mild) hangover.

Mornings are no longer a shameful reminder of my broken promises from the night before. I hold my head high in the morning and drink my fancy cup of coffee.

If you are drinking every night, even if it’s “just one,” give your body a break from the dehydration and the manic enzymatic breakdown of toxic compounds. I realize caffeine is also a diuretic but that is a bridge I will cross another time.

You probably started your day with a hangover and you didn’t even know it, you don’t have to. You wouldn’t tell your friend to wait for lung cancer to stop smoking, why wait to start feeling better?