[Dus¡an]

Dus¡an asked the Naked Scientists:
   
It is claimed that if one gets drunk a lot, his brain cells are dying and that causes the headache. Is that true?

But are brain cells rebuilt after getting sober? And what do you think is the best remedy for intoxication, both while being drunk and after intoxication?

Once you said that milk and a lot of water could be good. Anything else?  I mean something 'better' proven to be really good for the alcohol injured body?

Dusian

What do you think?

[Chemistry4me]

Does alcohol kill brain cells?

[Nizzle]

The headache is due to dehydration.
Alcohol is a diuretic, or in other words, it draws water from your body through your kidneys into your bladder.

To avoid a hangover, the best remedy is to drink a lot of water before going to bed.
Ofcourse, it's possible you'll have to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, but at least you won't have a headache in the morning.

[stereologist]

Studies of adults that die of alcoholism have the same numbers of neurons as normal adults. This is not the brains of drinkers, but of people who die from too much alcohol. The lesson here is that there is not a loss of neurons, but clearly they do not function the same as in an adult that is not an alcoholic.

The alcohol interferes with ADH, anti-diuretic hormone. That is why you have to go to the bathroom when drinking.

Drinking does not kill off brain cells, at least in large numbers across the brain, but it certainly alters the way that the cells function. It interferes with the development of the brain as stated in a previous post.