Most everyone knows what a hangover feels like, but few know exactly what is going on in the body. "Why does my head hurt?", "Why am I so shaky?", and "Why can't I fall back asleep?" are all common questions that go along with a night out on the town. Here is a scientific explanation of just exactly how deranged your body becomes after intaking too much alcohol.
Firstly, yes a major part of a hangover is dehydration. Alcohol inhibits a hormone called anti-diuretic hormone. Its what your body releases to tell the kidneys "Hey! stop pissing out all my good water." This is why when you "break the seal" you pee out huge amounts of nice clear urine. The kidneys are not concentrating the urine but are just letting all the fluid that reaches them go to the bladder.
However, you're not going to stop a hangover just by replacing fluids. Alcohol is metabolized into acetic acid, but on its way it becomes something called acetylaldehyde. Acetylaldehyde is the nasty toxin that makes you ache the next day and gives you the water on the brain feeling. How quickly you metabolize this chemical depends on genetics and duration/frequency of alcohol exposure. Many alcoholics don't get hangovers because their body has produced enough metabolic enzymes, called acetylaldehyde dehydrogenase, to clear away this chemical before it affects them. Lots of Asians lack this enzyme and the acetylaldehyde builds up quickly - hence they flush red and feel sick with just a few beers.
Just to hammer this point in, Disulfuram is a medication given to alcoholics to help them control their drinking. It is nothing more than an enzyme that instantly converts alchohol to acetylaldehyde. If someone takes a drink while on disulfuram, instant hangover.
And there's more. Alcohol also inhibits glutamate's effect on the brain. This amino acid is used to by your body to stimulate you and wake you up. When alcohol stops it from working, your body releases a TON of glutamate to make up for it. What sucks is that your body clears the alcohol away faster than the new glutamate. This means that all of a sudden, the extra glutamate you released, plus the glutamate you had before, are no longer being inhibited. This is why you can be tired as hell after a late night drinking but still wake up early and not be able to fall back asleep. Its your body's revenge- "No way you're going to sleep this off, you stay awake and think about what you've done."
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