We all love a good party – the headbanging, the moshing, the dancing and the drinking and substance abuse – unless of course you are straight edge which is cool to. But in the end we all experience the dreaded “bangover” – a portmanteau of the words “headbanging” and “hangover”.
After a night of constant head banging, binge drinking and drug use our bodies sometimes just cannot take all the party we had the previous night.
Symptoms of a bangover include nausea, headache, swollen achy neck muscles , loss of fluid motion around the neck and sometimes around the waist, sensitivity to light and sometimes ughhh…diarrhoea.
However there are many simple ways to avoid this nightmare. We’ll look at expert advice on how to head-bang the right way and tonnes and more. So grab a seat and a beer or vodka and let’s get cracking. (Seriously don’t get drunk reading this.)
1.Drink water with your booze
Depending on what you drank you should drink a lot of water until you start feeling okay.
As the cheesy saying goes , water is life. Indeed it is. Our bodies are 70% water . Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it makes you go pee more often than you usually would. According to Dr .Kate Geagan, RD, alcohol suppresses the release of ADH (antidiuretic hormone), the hormone that regulates how much urine we produce. All those trips to the bathroom strip H20 and electrolytes from the body, leaving you a sad, headachey pile of humanity the morning after a big night out. Plus, Geagan says, vomiting from over-consumption (an unpleasant side effect of one too many shots at the bar or pregaming) can also contribute to dehydration. Our brain tissues are mostly made of water, so dehydration has the effect of shrinking the tissue, creating painful pressure (aka headaches).
While food and water may ease some of the symptoms, they won’t cure a hangover. Although drinking a lot of water before the night out is a good idea. The best way to avoid one is to moderate your drinking and have water between alcoholic drinks. Remember that water won’t make you any less drunk or protect your liver.
While many prefer energy drinks for this purpose , energy drinks will actually make the hangover worse, they might give you the energy to stay in the pit all night long till the dusk of dawn while ‘wide awake drunk’ but you may underestimate how you’re feeling and end up drinking more alcohol than you normally would causing a way more brutal hangover/bangover the next morning also the high caffeine and taurine content in energy drinks can cause experience increased physical and psychological side effects, such as heart palpitations, problems sleeping, feeling tense or agitated even consuming a lot of Caffeine found in these energy drinks by themselves can cause anxiety and panic attacks.
So stay safe , pregame with water not vodka , drink water with your booze and if you are dumb or edgy enough to not do so, and end up with a hangover ,drink a lot of water and you should be fine .
2 Stretch before the show ( and maybe a little working out)
Yes, that’s right. Moshing and headbanging is a very dangerous and serious sport. So stretch and warm up right before and after the show. Dorky and untr00 as it may sound. Doing some basic neck shoulder and back stretches before a show wouldn’t hurt ,like literally.
Bangover muscle aches – apart from coming from dehydration from alcohol consumption also come from headbanging and moshing without warming up the muscles enough. Stretching loosens out your muscles prepares them for the headbanging and moshing makes it safer for .
Nicole Dinn – a strength coach and nutritionist. She has experience in competitive weightlifting and has worked with patients who have sustained traumatic brain injuries, and musculo-skeletal trauma.On top of that she has spent some years banging in the pits herself –she puts the point across more bluntly
“1. Not banging? Lame! 2. Growing a pair so you can suck up the discomfort that headbanging will likely bring – appropriate”
She suggests a serious pre-concert game plan.
She begins by saying that one should warm up his/her body slightly to get warmed up enough for a stretch. She recommends neck, back and shoulder stretches but insists a whole body stretch would be ideal. She also insists on good breathing techniques during the stretching. I would suggest DVD video training P90X stretch among other professional instructional to learn good stretching routine.
Yoga also has some good stretching poses and routines.
Nicole Dinn also suggests, “Any neck stabilization exercises would be super-important to strengthen the deep neck flexor and extensors and to take the strain off of the scalene and the sternocleidomastoid muscles. If people are having neck pain due to headbanging, then they’d have to get into a daily neck stabilization exercise routine,”
“In the long term, generally staying in shape will help strengthen your back muscles,” Dinn suggests. “Doing exercises to activate the posterior chain and core are always a good idea. I personally prefer weightlifting because when done correctly, it promotes excellent spinal alignment, core strength, and hip/ankle mobility.”
Although it might be hard to find stretches tailored for the rock n roll show stretches related to sitting at work all day and stiff neck mistakes.
If u keep feeling severe pain u should stop visit your doctor.
https://www.self.com/gallery/stretches-relieve-sore-neck-sitting-all-day
I used to use the P90X link because I skate so I had things covered . Remember to make use of your primary school P.E.
Don’t forget to breath and warm up before the stretch.
The dangers of a good, solid session of headbanging have been well documented in articles and peer-reviewed papers for decades now, from the case of the 15-year old drummer who suffered an aneurism in his neck in the early-‘90s to the 50-year-old who developed a blood clot on his brain after attending a Motorhead concert.
Slayer frontman Tom Araya’s trademark headbanging and windmilling caused such long-term damage to his back that he required surgery – and had to give up headbanging entirely; to the teen who died moshing and crowd surfing at a NOFX concert in eastern Europe.
The jarring activity has been linked to strokes, aneurysms, mediastinal emphysema, Headbanger’s whiplash, and potentially connected to dementia later in life. So now you know if you didn’t know .
Headbanging is pretty fucking dangerous and you should probably not do it.But you are going to head-bang anyway.
“There’s nothing you can do about the brain injury side,” says Jane Clapp, a personal trainer and fitness writer who owns Urbanfitt in Toronto. “But you do have a bit of control over potential neck injuries.”
In terms of general mental health and wellness, Clapp just like Nicole Dinn recommends adopting a routine that works the deeper muscles of the neck.
“Any neck stabilization exercises would be super-important to strengthen the deep neck flexor and extensors and to take the strain off of the scalene and the sternocleidomastoid muscles. If people are having neck pain due to headbanging, then they’d have to get into a daily neck stabilization exercise routine,” she says.
Say what you want to say or believe but head banging and moshing is inherently a very dangerous form of music and one should at least try and do it properly. Yes I know part of the fun part of moshing is the no rules all out maniacal thrashing. But think about it. Would you rather mosh in a safe healthy way and probably avoid a lot of pain or do it badly and end up like Araya or the 15 year old drummer with a back pain as a kid? Or get dementia? Or I digress, wake up with a bangover
So how can one actually head-bang ‘correctly’ well we are in luck there exists some professional advice about this as well.
Dr. Nicole Dinn did a scientific paper on similar subject and being a metalhead/rocker herself breaks the paper’s findings down like this:
“It appears that one can endure either high frequency or high amplitude (i.e., big range of motion) head movements, but not both, lest you sustain a head or neck injury. So, if you’re going to insist on headbanging, slow or low is the key. Or slow and low. But not fast and hard.”
Basically you cant shake your head at thrashmetal 130 Bpm as hard as your body can take you. Young will wreck yourself. You can either go hard and slow or soft and fast.
This is the only way your neck can take it comfortably. You highly most probably wont wake up with a headbanging induced neck pain if you do this.
Clapp thinks that a smaller range of motion isn’t just safer, it’s also looks cooler.
“If you’re just doing a big headbang all of the time, it loses its impact. But if you kind of keep the headbang small and then bring out the big one when you’re really feeling it, then it has more impact and looks more cool, anyway.”
She also believes that balance is important.
“I would tell them to try not to headbang in a consistently asymmetrical way. You know how some people kind of go off to the side? If you’re going to do one side a lot, make sure you do the other side the same amount. Don’t try to create asymmetries always go in the same direction.”
Uneven bobbing and swinging can have severe consequences. Take Tom Araya, for example. His headbanging-ending back injury involved a disc that bulged to the left side, which is a somewhat uncommon direction for this type of injury (they usually bulge backwards or forwards). Doctors told him that it was a direct result of his habit of always leaning to the right while he twisted his neck around.
The way that you use the rest of your body can also help to protect your neck and spine.
Dinn suggests getting your legs into it and bending at the hips instead of the neck, which would minimize the strain on your neck and transfer the load of the movement to the hips and back.
Clapp recommends headbanging with a balanced and activated core, using deep core muscles like the transverse abdominis, multifidi, and pelvic floor in tandem to support the spine as it absorbs the shock of a banging head and neck. She also believes that breathing from the diaphragm – much like any good metal singer – would be beneficial.
“When you exhale with your diaphragm, you get better deep core stabilization. So one thing you could do when you’re headbanging and you’re actually moving your head is to make sure you’re exhaling with a forward motion. When the diaphragm and transverse abdominis and multifidi and pelvic floor are all buddies, then your spine is safer.”
Or you could trade headbanging for moshing or circle pit running in the pit.
“Run around in the mosh pit. Sitting too long is bad for your health, and standing in one place too long can make your back tired. Best thing to do is be active and go jump around. It’s also good cardio training. You might get a bit bruised up, but be sensible about it. And if you hit the gym and get jacked, you’re more likely to prevent injury in said mosh pits.”
So there you have it stay safe and mosh and headbang the right way and you will not end up with a painful bangover neck. SO keep this in mind next time you are at a show no matter how wasted or high you shall be.
This happens to be the cause of many bangovers or Lifeovers because you know (you might overdose and not wake up.?
I mean I shouldn’t even be talking about this you know enough rock and roll overdose stories to avoid this by now. I’m just going to list down what happens if you’re is some famous party cocktails that you might be ‘brutal’ or cool enough to try and what might happen to you if you try them out. Especially those looking for a stronger high. Do this at your own risk .Don’t mix it. It’s not safe.
Mixing depressants
Depressants are substances which make you feel relaxed but can slow down your heart rate and breathing which can be fatal. Overdose is much more likely when these drugs are taking together as they are causing the same effect on your body. Heroin, tranquilisers and alcohol are all depressant drugs.
Mixing stimulants
Sometimes the effects of a stimulant don’t kick in straight away so you may take something else too quickly. This can give an unpleasant overdose effect but could also put a serious strain on the heart. Frightening and fatal overdoses have been reported with excess stimulant use. Cocaine and speed are all stimulants.
Mixing stimulants and alcohol
Alcohol is a depressant which can relax you and stimulants are drugs which make you feel more energetic. As they have the opposite effect you may find you need to take more to feel an effect. As stimulants and alcohol put pressure on the heart, this can increase the risk of heart failure.
Mixing cocaine and alcohol
This combination can produce a poisonous substance in the body called cocaethylene that may affect your heart and stays in your system longer than cocaine alone. Mixing cocaine, a stimulant, with a depressant like alcohol can hide some of the other effects of the cocaine. This makes it easier to overdose as you take more to achieve the same high.
Mixing ecstasy and cannabis
Sometimes people take cannabis to take the edge off an ecstasy trip. But instead of calming you down, it could make you more anxious and paranoid. Leading you to do some stupid stuff.
Mixing heroin and cocaine use
When heroin and cocaine are taken together at the same time, this is known as a ‘speedball’, and this can be a deadly combination. Both heroin and cocaine put pressure on the body and using them together, especially when injected, can easily become fatal.
Although I haven’t mentioned all the drugs that shouldn’t be mixed together doesn’t mean that you should go do any cocktails that aren’t here.
Don’t mix it.
Just enjoy one.
Otherwise you wake up feeling like a dead guy or as an actual dead guy. And before you over indulge know your limits and what you are getting your self into. This leads us to our next section.
5.Research on new drugs before trying them at the show.
Many people end up feeling really crappy the next morning because they jumped in on trying new drugs at a show without knowing what they are getting themselves into it. That could be ndovu (snuss) or weed ,or some pill or cocaine that some crazy rocker gave you at the last show. They’d be telling you it’ll make the show better only to find yourself blacked out at some unknown place feeling like you are going to die or wanting to die.
If you don’t know what it is ask the guy giving them to you. If they look sketchy as fuck and unbelievable don’t trust them google it. The best way to do a new drug would be to get it and try it with people you know and trust and maybe with some experience with the drug. With prior research you can understand its effect on your body, body weight to drug ratio to it’s effects on your current health problems as well as side-effects.
There’s tonnes of places online where you can find more information.From sites such as www.erowid.com , to www.frank.com which have in depth information on virtually all the drugs in the world . If what you are about to take is not in any of this sites I would advice you not to take it and run as far away from it as you can.
You can also find this information from your local library ,doctor friends (who you should never use as your sources for xanies and oxies and such,if you care about their jobs) to your old primary school text books. Some of them had information on stuff like mandrax. Many of you guys have never even seen mandrax and if someone offered you some right now you would probably end up overdosing. so brush up on your class 5 science keeds. So to recap it’s simple. know what you are using or it could abuse your body and mind or soul..lol
Seriously though a bangover after an existential crises causing scary and really confusing trip is not fun.
6.Don’t mix too many drinks
What? I know I know a lot of stuff on here about mixing this mixing that mixing this but mixing too many drink isn’t a direct cause to a bangover this is FALSE.
Too much alcohol of any kind is never a good idea. But some people claim that mixing beer and liquor, particularly in that order, can also be a hazard. Some even know it by rhyme.
“Beer before liquor, never been sicker”.
While it is not entirely clear how this claim started, experts say it may stem from the way certain alcoholic beverages are digested. Carbonated drinks like beer and sparkling wines, for example, tend to irritate the lining of the stomach, increasing the rate of alcohol absorption. Starting with beer and then adding wine or liquor may conceivably lead to intoxication more quickly.
But in reality, that has little effect, said Dr. Roshini Rajapaksa, a gastroenterologist at the New York University School of Medicine. What matters most, she said, is the amount of alcohol consumed and whether it is combined with any food, which slows absorption and minimizes sickness. It is the total quantity of alcohol consumed, not combined, that influences intoxication and sickness.
But hold up before you pour that vodka in the beer.
Your blood alcohol content is what determines how drunk you are. Mixing drinks may make you sicker by upsetting your stomach, but not more intoxicated.but the more drinks you mix the more drunk you will get as you will have no track of how much you are drinking.
Some drinks are more dehydrating than others or the mixing can upset your stomach leading to puking both which lead to dehydration leading us to our first point about how dehydration is one of the biggest causes of a Bangover .
In the end do not mix too many drinks. If you have to.. add some water and food in the mix to stay a okay .
7.Come to the show with the mindset of having a good ass time .
Shows/concerts were made for having fun. Getting a bangover can be fun and worth it if you had fun at the show and had some memories to cherish.
However, a bangover can actually make a fun gig be remembered as a not so fun time, as you sit in bed feeling like crap not remembering anything from the previous night. You’ll start associating that night with the pain. Also severe bang-overs can be a sign that you didn’t do some things right at the concert maybe you were partying for some wrong reasons like killing a depression or maybe something ticked you off at the show. Maybe your moshing and headbanging techniques suck. Then you will end up with dementia or a fucked up back like Araya.
by
Slammy Karugu
Meh, the show was still fun or whatever. Do as you please.
In the end we will all die. Have fun.