Because a beer — consumed slowly — is the least dehydrating, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that liquor is always the most dehydrating alcohol. In fact, a mixed drink can be more hydrating (okay, okay, less dehydrating) than taking a shot. That makes beer the clear contender as the least dehydrating, with a big caveat. As important as alcohol content may be, even more important is how much you drink in a given sitting. Drink too many beers too quickly, and you’ll end up as dehydrated as you would taking a shot at the bar. “Drinking one beer over the course of a dinner will not increase your blood alcohol levels as much as if you drank four beers in the same time frame,” says Rumsey.
- The diuretic effects are primarily related to the alcohol content rather than the wine type.
- He is also the author of The Hypochondriac’s Handbook (Skyhorse, 2010).
- People should be cautious about doing activities during extreme heat or the hottest part of the day, and anyone who is exercising should make replenishing fluids a priority.
- If you want to tap into these foods, reach for oatmeal, yogurt, soup, and smoothies.
- Reaching for hydrating beverages is the best way to alleviate a hangover’s unpleasant effects — but not every liquid fits this bill.
- “The polyphenols in red wine trigger the release of nitric oxide, which could relax your stomach and help with digestion,” OneMedical provider Dr. Natasha Bhuyan, M.D., tells Bustle.
Dehydration: Signs, Symptoms, and Effects
- Most of it will go out in your urine, and you’ll still end up dehydrated at the end of a night of drinking.
- Noticing that you reach for the Advil after a single glass of Merlot?
- So that might be important to keep in mind as you consume both types of beverages.
- Besides dehydration, alcohol can have other negative effects on the body.
- Coffee generally has about 95–165 mg of caffeine per 8-ounce (oz) cup.
But because wine has a higher alcohol content than most types of beer, it’s more dehydrating than the latter. In addition, beer usually has more water content as beer is typically served in more ounces per glass or bottle than wine, which may be as little as five ounces or so per glass. This makes sense when you consider the diuretic effect of alcohol on your body and its vasopressin production.
How to Hydrate After Drinking
- In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, the porter says that alcohol promotes “nose�painting, sleep and urine”.
- Moving beyond alcohol, red wines are known for their antioxidants, like resveratrol from grape skins.
- If you’re very sensitive to the histamines in red wine — red can have up to 200% more histamines than white — then you might end up having a headache in about 15 minutes, even after one drink.
- Though there’s no instant hangover remedy, there are ways to hydrate your body after drinking and ways to prevent that hangover feeling in the first place.
- This would leave a liquid to hydrate and provide energy for myself.
Significantly high levels of caffeine intake may contribute to dehydration by stimulating the body to release more liquid than usual. Wine generally has a higher alcohol content than beer and cider, which may contribute to the likeliness of more frequent urination and dehydration. Moderate wine consumption is unlikely to cause severe dehydration unless you are already dehydrated or have certain health conditions. In hot weather, wine can further accelerate dehydration due to increased sweating and fluid loss. Yes, high-alcohol wines can increase the diuretic effects and potentially contribute even more to dehydration.
Tips to avoid dehydration
A lower-alcohol beer, if you don’t drink too many, will be less dehydrating than wine or hard liquor, since beer generally has a lower alcohol content. No matter what you choose to drink, drinking slowly and savoring your drink is a good way to moderate your total alcohol consumption and minimize alcohol’s dehydrating effects. For example, research from 2017 found that in elderly men at risk of dehydration, moderate consumption of high alcoholic beverages such as wine and liquor caused a diuretic effect. Beverages with lower alcohol content, such as beer, did not appear to have this effect. In conclusion, wine can be dehydrating due to its alcohol content, which acts as a diuretic.
Dehydrating drinks: Caffeine, sugar, and other ingredients
Any alcoholic drink, whether beer, wine, vodka, whiskey, rum, gin, or tequila, will inhibit the body’s production of vasopressin, which will cause you to pee more and increase your chances of becoming dehydrated. Moderating your intake of the beverages listed above and drinking plenty of water can help prevent dehydration. Listening to your is wine dehydrating body and learning to recognize signs of dehydration can also be beneficial. Interestingly, a review of 49 studies even reported that caffeinated energy drinks, wine, and spirits can all significantly increase urine production (14). Moving beyond alcohol, red wines are known for their antioxidants, like resveratrol from grape skins.
Research published in Psychopharmacology found that alcohol suppresses the release of vasopressin, an antidiuretic hormone that regulates kidney function and urine production. As you can see, wine can dehydrate you if you drink it on an empty stomach or if you drink multiple glasses in a row without drinking water to accompany them. However, the specifics of wine and dehydration are very dependent on individual metabolisms, whether you are consuming your wine with a meal and other factors. Unfortunately, alcohol reduces the natural production of vasopressin in your body. Therefore, your body becomes less adept at holding on to water over time.
Make sure you’re hydrated before you start drinking
Alcohol and Dehydration
