A hangover is often considered the price you pay for a night of heavy drinking, but what is more than that? Though it is common to have a hangover after drinking alcohol, some people wake up feeling the same way even without drinking.
If you feel that way, it is symptomatic of something else and probably a health issue. The reason is that the feeling of a hangover is the same as the symptoms of other health conditions. The feeling tells you that there is something wrong with your body.
The following are some causes of feeling hangover without drinking:
Caffeine Withdrawal
Most people cannot do without their morning cup of coffee, which means they are addicted to caffeine. If they stop taking caffeine for a short while, they start getting withdrawal symptoms, one of which is waking up feeling hangover.
You do not need caffeine to be sharp and productive in the morning. There are other alternatives to coffee if you want to know how to become a morning person. Exercise, getting early morning sunshine, and sleeping early could help you be alert in the morning. It does help to gradually reduce your caffeine consumption if you don’t want to wake up feeling hangover.
Dehydration
The main reason you feel hangover after a night of heavy drinking is that alcohol causes dehydration. Therefore, if you still wake up feeling hangover but didn’t drink, dehydration is one of the most likely causes.
It may be that you ate something bad and vomited or had diarrhea, which could dehydrate you. You may also have sweated a lot during the night.
Even a slight loss of fluids at night can wake you up with a headache, fatigue, and dizziness. You should consume enough water to stay hydrated throughout the night if you want to wake up in the morning feeling fantastic.
Eating Too Much Sugar
Sugar is another substance that can cause you to wake up with a hangover without drinking. Eating processed food with a lot of sugar is also bad for your overall health. Sugar causes drastic alterations in blood sugar, leaving you feeling nauseous, dizzy, and fatigued the following day if you take too much of it at night.
The challenging part is that our bodies react differently to sugar consumption, making it difficult to know exactly how much is too much. However, if you wake up with a hangover without drinking, you might be overeating sugar.
Infections
Most infections will make you feel awful the next morning. The symptoms of having an infection or bug are often the same as those of a hangover. Therefore, if you wake up the next morning having not drunk the previous night, it may signify that you have an infection.
The flu and other conditions often lead to dehydration and electrolyte imbalances leading to aches, fatigue, and nausea. An infection could also cause a fever leading to perpetual sweating at night and a significant loss of fluids. The solution is to drink lots of fluids and rest.
Mental Health Issues
Most symptoms associated with mental health disorders like depression and anxiety resemble those of a hangover. If you have a mental health issue, you will wake up feeling tired, have achy joints, headaches, and maybe nauseous.
These symptoms will be the sign of an underlying mental health affliction that you need to address as soon as possible. Seeing a counselor, psychiatrist, or mental health professional is the best remedy in this situation.
If you wake up feeling like you have a hangover but did not drink the previous night, it is symptomatic of other things such as infections, mental health disorders, dehydration, caffeine withdrawal, and eating too much sugar. You should find the solution to these issues, or the symptoms will persist.
