At Hold Everything, the virtual office company based on London’s prestigious Regent Street we are in the heart of London’s thriving social scene, with Soho only a few steps away, trendy Mayfair behind the office and the City a short ride away on the train – seeing the end of day drinkers spilling onto the pavements is a daily event.
Many drink late into the night, wrapping up maybe some business deals or just enjoying colleagues outside of the working environment. But how many go into work hungover.
According to a daily mail report back in 2010, over half a million people are hungover at work each day , has the number increased in the past 9 years?
We have all been there, getting drunk on a school night but the question is how do you deal with a hangover the next day when you’re expected to be a functioning adult with responsibilities and a job to do? You could call in sick, but that doesn’t look great on your part, especially if your colleagues know you were out late (because perhaps they were with you at happy hour too), or your boss follows you on social media platforms or you could just do your best to pull yourself together and get yourself to the office.
The latter may seem near impossible but thousands of us have been there and done it, so fear not I have put together a guide for you for surviving your work day.
Tip No.1 – Survival of the commute
Ensure you bring a big bottle of water to hydrate you during your commute, especially if you take public transportation to work and make sure you have your headphones so you can listen to music, this can help distract you from feeling nauseous, in fact it is proven that listening to your favourite songs can help to relive that sick feeling and a number of studies claim that music can improve your mood, reduce stress and decrease anxiety all symptoms of which a hungover can provide you with!
If you drive to work you should reconsider and grab a taxi, the effects of alcohol the next day can weaken your cognition, which results in hungover/drunk driving this is illegal – so please grab a ride from a friend or family member, go on public transport or as mentioned take taxi this is so much safer and LEGAL.
Tip No.2 – Staying awake in that morning meeting
Right you’ve made it into the office – the lights are particularly bright this morning worsening your headache and everyone and everything seems nosier than usual and to make it worse you have a morning meeting to attend, you ask yourself how am I going to get through this?!
In a hungover state it is quite difficult to be positive but remember whether your hungover or not research suggests most people dread early morning meetings, so you are not alone. So, to get through this chore, stick it out find solace in knowing you’re not alone in wishing you were any place else where, bring your notepad and a pen to jot down notes that your hungover memory won’t remember.
Tip No.3 – Keep focused with food
OK, you’ve made it through the meeting but now you have another seven hours or so ahead of you. You need to eat a hearty breakfast to help get your brain back working so unfortunately a greasy fry up or McDonald’s is off the cards (sorry!). A few foods that can help that hangover:
1.Banana Smoothie/Fruit Smoothie/Vegetable Smoothie – packed with nutrients to help you feel replenished.
2.Bacon and Egg sandwich – a variation of a fry up – the bacon and eggs will help to kick start your metabolism for the day and the vitamin B in the bread will help to boost your energy, this will also fill you up.
3.So, we ruled out the McDonald’s breakfast, but I get it: who wants to eat healthy when you’re hungover, a compromise on this is French toast with honey and any nutritious type of topping such as avocado/bacon etc. Did you know the honey helps to break down any alcohol left in your system and one study found that in 50 adults honey increased the rate of alcohol eliminate by up to 32.4 percent!
4.Make sure you are keeping yourself hydrated, drink water and lots of it.
Tip No.4 – Making it past lunchtime
Congratulations you made it through the morning its now lunchtime. Take yourself on a walk to get some fresh air, and make sure you have lunch.
Once again, you’re probably going to want to have an unhealthy lunch or even get to the point in your hangover where you feel like you can’t eat but eating your greens can really help replenish tons of nutrients, have a vitamin packed wrap or sandwich that is going to help fight your hangover. Include a fruit salad into your lunch, all fruit has a high-water content which will help re-hydrate your body (especially watermelon).
Finally – the home stretch
Once lunch time is over you only have a few hours left of the day – however this may feel like the toughest time of the day to survive, your exhausted and just want your bed, you are also probably counting down the clock. Stop looking at clock it won’t make time go faster so make yourself a coffee and have a mid-afternoon snack with some sugar to help raise those energy levels.
Do what you can to remain productive but If you can’t focus on your work get on with some simple tasks such as tiding your desk/ responding to those emails that have been cluttering your inbox, occupy yourself with small jobs that will pass the time and make tomorrow easier for yourself otherwise by trying to proceed with high importance tasks in an unfocused state will risk your performance.
So in conclusion, as an employee think before your drink too much knowing you have work the next day, or make sure you use this survival guide to get through your hungover work day.
