Pain. Aches. Headaches. Regret. More pain.

Welcome to the world of hangovers, which are an almost inescapable part of adulthood.

Whilst we’re all well versed in what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a kick in the backside from tequila, what goes on inside our bodies is more of a mystery.

Fancy a look inside at what your brain and your body are doing to combat your reckless, self-indulgent behaviour that we wholeheartedly approve of?

For that, we go to Huff Post and kick off with getting rid of those dreaded toxins:

According to Kate Denniston, a licensed naturopathic doctor based in Los Angeles and the founder of Los Angeles Integrative Health, the cause of a hangover is not actually the alcohol itself. Rather, it’s the byproducts of the alcohol metabolizing that cause hangover symptoms, she said.

As your body breaks down your favorite cocktails, it creates a toxin called acetaldehyde. Your body works hard to flush out that toxin ― which is also a carcinogen, by the way ― leading to some pretty painful symptoms.

In an attempt to remove acetaldehyde from the body, your kidneys will really kick into gear. This leads to increased urination, which can quickly lead to dehydration and extreme thirst, even head pain and dizziness.

Consider those boxes ticked.

I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but a hangover can be made up to 100 times worse by losing your phone and/or wallet, or sending a ‘you up?’ message to an ex.

Your stomach isn’t getting off the hook, either:

“Alcohol also irritates the stomach lining and slows the stomach from emptying, which causes nausea, vomiting, and stomach cramps,” said Lantie Jorandby, chief medical officer of Lakeview Health, a dual diagnosis and addiction treatment center in Jacksonville, Florida.

What some call LC, or loser’s complex, others call anxiety, with one study finding that 7,4% of people experiencing a hangover also had anxiety as a post-drinking symptom.

Another highly relatable study found that many who overdid the drinking felt “shame, guilt and embarrassment” following a drinking period.

Back to internal wounds:

Jorandby said alcohol can trigger inflammation in the body, which can also lead to those symptoms like headaches. Anti-inflammatories can offer some help with this, but you should be mindful of which ones. Avoid acetaminophen, AKA Tylenol.

“Tylenol is already toxic to the liver at certain doses, and if you add this to residual alcohol in the body it can be dangerous,” Jorandby said.

Pretty much everyone I speak to believes that hangovers worsen once you hit the other side of 30, and there’s a reason for that. Each time you overshoot the mark, your body depletes vital resources that help break down and process alcohol.

That’s according to Christopher Roselle, a cellular expert at the University of Pennsylvania

“Basically, every time we drink we use ammo to defend against the toxins created by alcohol, and over time, we have less and less ammo,” Roselle said. “Therefore, as we age, our defenses are weakened and our bodies become less and less capable of defending against hangovers.”

…“As we age, we secrete lower concentrations of liver enzymes, which draws out the process and lengthens the duration of the hangover,” added Leigh Renwick, a registered dietician at Copeman Healthcare Centre in Vancouver.

I always take solace in the fact that hangovers are generally one thing that we all suffer through together, other than those wise enough to avoid drinking altogether, and those fortunate enough to escape the next day unscathed.

To those who fall into the latter category, may age catch up with you.

As I said, I expect us to all be in this mess together.