It is that time of the year when everyone indulges in all types of guilty pleasures. Whether it is food, rampant sex, spending recklessly, or going on a bender, you can be a little careful with it because January is coming, and there is still tomorrow, as they always say.
I am a bit health conscious, coming from a background of heavy drinkers. I only take what I can handle or avoid it together. I see no problem with drinking; I had written for alcohol brands on my blog when I was starting.
Alcohol is for the living and for anyone who likes letting lose once in a while. If you don’t drink, you are missing the fun, trust me. I drink a little, though; as much as I drink, I can go for six months straight without drinking, and I won’t feel like I am missing out on anything. It is something I do, but I don’t have to, I always have it under control. It doesn’t affect other areas of my life at all.
There is so much free alcohol right now; people are usually generous with their money at this time of the year, don’t be tempted to overdrink. It is unhealthy, and it can lead to serious health problems. I have a friend with a drinking problem. He has drank so much over the years that he feels cold when it is just 4 pm, he also gets sick when he drinks.
He’s had to stop Follow these tips to control how much you drink to avoid the unpleasant feelings of hangovers.
- No dark-coloured liquors like brandy and bourbon, they contain high amounts of congeners which usually lead to hangovers. Stick to Gin and Vodka
- Eat before drinking; Ugali and meat are the best. Continuing eating even while drinking
- Kata na Maji (Drink water while drinking or between drinks). Most of the alcohol we have around, you can’t drink dry, the gins, the whiskies etc. you need water for those poisons. Water helps reduce the alcohol by volume percentage in the drink. However, the main reason to drink water while drinking is because alcohol has a dehydrating effect, you piss and lose a lot of water while drinking, so water helps slow down this dehydrating effect. Dehydration is what leads to headaches the next day
- Stick to not more than one drink per hour
- Stay away from illicit brew (chang’aa, Busa, pombe wa mnazi, muratina and the like)
- Don’t use other drugs (no smoking hooker or chewing khat or weed while drinking). Just drink peacefully without other drugs.
- Don’t indulge in sex while too drunk. You will be careless; you are more likely to raw dog a chic with a clouded conscious (lots of bad decisions)
- Use an Uber or Bolt, don’t drink and drive
- Know your limit – at most, two bottles in a day. I can’t finish one bottle in a day, I do one glass or two of cocktails or wine, and that is it for me but we have different tolerance levels to drinking
- Try and get enough sleep even as you have fun. It is essential to sleep and know that alcohol tends to interfere with sleep patterns. It makes you sleepy but prevents you from getting into deeper stages of sleep. That’s why you wake up feeling tired and groggy after heavy drinking
- Don’t buy overpriced drinks; the reason drinking in expensive clubs is a waste of money. Even a bottle of soda you can buy at sh 30 is sh 100 in a club, a difference of sh 70. A bottle of wine that goes at sh 1700 when you order online is sh 3000 in some clubs. That is steep for no reason. No need for buyer’s remorse. The best way to drink affordably is to buy from the liquor store and chill in the backyard with your friends. It is more fun
Follow these tips, and you shall be safe as you indulge in drinking sprees around town and the villages. No need to be too hammered. You can’t finish all the alcohol in this world! It is too much.
Nice holidays
Slade!
