Drink Water Abundantly and Move Around A Lot The Next Day

Dr. Kim Kwang-won, a director general of the Korean Diabetes Association and professor of internal medicine at Samsung Medical Center, is a real heavy drinker. Many of the high-ranking tipplers end up falling off against him by simply taking his figure too lightly. Dr. Kim makes efforts to stay far away from drinking alcohol, but he willingly accept any challenge if someone gives him a shot. He still copes with 10 glasses of cocktail alcohols, in other word, an “alcohol bomb.” This “undefeatable” man introduced his own tips in order to survive every challenge by veterans, saying, “There were no secret methods of drinking, but I try to hold fast to my principle.”

First, do not be excessive at the beginning. You will get less drunk if you start from a lower degree of alcohol to a higher degree due to physical resistance. In addition, it will be helpful to stay sober if you drink slowly even if you have to drink a lot.

Second, check your physical status on occasion. You can look into the mirror of the restroom and control your own drinking levels.

Third, drink lots of water. When you drink water, it will help eliminate alcohol from your body and keep you much sober.

Dr. Kim used to go home after drinking alcohol, drink some cold water and go straight to sleep. In the morning, he drinks one to two glasses of milk, since it helps supplement electrolytes and is full of nutritive elements. Dr. Kim never skips his breakfast that is often accompanied by dried pollack stews, which is full of nourishing electrolytes. Also, he moves around abnormally in the morning.

Dr. Roh Sung-hoon, aged 49, a surgeon and professor of Yonsei University’s Severance Hospital and a worldwide authority in gastric cancer, also has been recently drinking alcohol three or four times a week. He keeps away from any drinking occasion, but he can’t help getting involved in the year-end gatherings.

The second week of December was the peak. On Friday, he attended a workshop on the operation of gastric cancer held at Seoul National University Hospital and stayed overnight to drink Baeksae-ju and beers and eventually ended up with cocktail alcohols. After this, he slept for three hours at home and woke up at 6:00 a.m. to go to the airport. After having attended a seminar held in Gagosima, Japan, he started another “action” with Japanese surgeons from 6:00 p.m., and it continued until 3:00 a.m. the next day.

Without exception, Dr. Roh leaves his house and enters the surgery room at 7:00 a.m. regardless of how much he drank the previous day. In order to sober up, he drinks three or four cups of green tea. “You had better move around as much as possible during the morning,” he said.

Dr. Ryu Bong-ha, who runs the Kyung-hee Oriental Medicine Hospital, also has had occasions to drink alcohols three or four times a week. He can drink two bottles of distilled liquor (hard liquor) without difficulty.

Before drinking, he eats ginseng sap, Ssangwha tea, and Bo-jung-ik-gi, an oriental medicine in drought, which helps to protect one’s energy and relieve fatigue. He believes it is etiquette not to show one’s tired look to one’s counterpart. In the gathering, he starts from a lower degree of alcohol, which is always next to the main dishes.

Dr. Ryu drinks green tea or hot soups when he feels he has drunk a lot. If possible, he prefers to add “sung-joo-chung-gan-tang” to hot water, which is efficacious against alcoholic poisoning.

The next day after having drunk alcohol, he goes to a globefish restaurant. The globefish itself has elements of attenuating alcoholic poisonings, but parsley and bean sprouts are also well-known for protecting liver and loosening alcoholic poisoning in one’s body.

In order to get sober, Dr. Ruy suggested to: drink a lot of water, sweat by taking a quick shower, sauna, or work-out, eat foods that contains bean sprouts or parsley, drink teas such as arrowroot tea, orange tea, or citron tea.

Seong-Ju Lee stein33@donga.com