Bleary-eye England fans are back at work having to cope with a few hours sleep and many with hours of boozing on top. Here experts provide a survival guide
Bleary-eyed England fans have been given top tips on how to avoid paying the penalty for pulling an all-nighter watching the vital clash with Mexico.
The rare event, taking all-day drinking to an unprecedented level, is the ‘perfect recipe for a national hangover.’ But the secret to surviving the next 24 hours could be broccoli, a cooked breakfast and a “cheeky nap”. Experts say the World Cup knock-out battle will rank among the “top three hangover days of the year.”
As the bleary-eyed nation copes with the Azteca aftermath, an estimated 4.8 million exhausted workers could potentially bunk off from work or arrive late after England captain Harry Kane asked them to celebrate “as the sun’s rising at 5, 6am.”
But bosses are being urged not to ‘jump to conclusions’ and discipline those who ‘throw a sickie’ after England’s high altitude clash and schools have been told not to punish pupils for bad attendance.
Employment lawyers warn it is very risky to assume a no-show is linked to supporting England – even if they have direct evidence the worker was drinking just a few hours earlier.
Dr Sally Adams, is an associate professor of psychology at Birmingham University. She is a hangover expert and says that a national day of sleeplessness and sporting stress could leave many with “hangxiety”.
She said the combination of the sunny weather, lack of sleep and extra hours of drinking “is the perfect recipe for a national hangover”. “I think it has the potential to be one of the biggest days of the year for hangovers. It has the potential to be in the top three. “Our biggest days for hangovers are normally the day after halloween, the last Friday at work in December and New Years’ Day.”
But what can we do to feel better and get rid of that thumping headache, lethargy and potential post-knockout depression or quarter-final euphoria?
Professor Adams says: “Our research has shown that people, even when they blow into a breathalyser the next day and it would be zero, and they would be totally legally able to drive, have poorer decision-making, poorer reaction times, poorer attention.”
She says if you do wake up with enough hangxiety to fuel a squad of 26, there are two things you MUST NOT do. “Avoid ‘hair of the dog’. Do not drink more alcohol. Your vital organs (especially your liver) need a break to recover,” she says.
“And stay away from expensive products that claim that they’re going to cure your hangover, because given the fact hangover’s are so complicated, a pill that claims to be able to do that for £3 isn’t going to work.” And about what you can you do to get rid of that thumping headache and the lethargy, she says: “As soon as you are capable of walking after waking, hydrate! Drink plenty of water.
“You’ll have lost a lot of water from alcohol because it’s a diuretic, but also you might have sweated in the night, you might be sick the next day, so you’ve lost a lot of fluid.”
“To get rid of alcohol out of your system, you have to turn it into a horrible, horrible poison, called acetaldehyde. You’ve been sick, your heart racing, upset stomach… all of the really nasty stuff, is because your body’s trying to get rid of a poison. And all you can do there, in terms of looking after yourself, is maybe look for something to settle your stomach, or something that you can eat that can prevent nausea.”
She suggests on top of water, upgrading to an Electrolyte Sports Drink. Electrolytes are essential minerals like sodium, potassium, and calcium that carry an electrical charge when dissolved in fluids like water or blood.
“Go one better (than water), get an electrolyte sports drink. That’s going to help you, so that’s going to have the water, it’s going to have electrolyte supplements, it’s going to help with that dehydration,” she said. At breakfast time the expert says a fry up could help. While fatty foods help the day before a drinking session, the next morning eggs, bacon and even broccoli can also aid recovery.
“These foods contain an amino acid called cysteine, which helps your body break down the toxic acetaldehyde more effectively. At mid-morning a caffeine hit could be helpful. If you are a regular coffee drinker, go ahead and have a cup to assist with fatigue.”
But she warned: “If you don’t normally drink caffeine, avoid it, as it can worsen your anxiety and heart racing,” she warned. In the afternoon she also recommends fans “take a cheeky nap”. “If your schedule or working-from-home situation allows for it, a short nap will help you recover. Alcohol severely disrupts both the quality and duration of your sleep.
“So, if you are able to take a cheeky nap. Alcohol massively affects the quality of your sleep, and you’re going to have stayed up late as well,” she said..
“If you’re able to, have a cheeky nap. Obviously I’m not going to encourage people to sleep on the job.” In the evening, she says, ‘do what makes you feel good’. Whether it’s a warm bath or a favourite comfort movie, prioritise your mental health to combat the “hangxiety” and remind yourself that “the anxiety will pass,” she says.
The Professor has given up drinking because of the hangover anxiety and taken up running marathons instead. But not everyone is put off: “Interestingly, research shows that experiencing a horrible hangover never acts as an effective deterrent to stop people from over-drinking in the future.”
“We’ve all said ‘never again’, right? There is no magical cure, otherwise I would be a billionaire!” Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, warned the hangover from Monday’s match could wipe out a whole month’s economic growth due so many people being expected to start late, be left tired, or simply bunk off. The rough hit of around 0.1% of output comes against a backdrop of weak growth anyway.
“If people bunk off on Monday, they will probably work a bit later on another day to make-up,” he added. Gill McAteer, Director of employment law at Citation, says there could be a surge in absences on Monday but employers must not “jump to conclusions” if workers call in sick.
“Employers must bear in mind that people calling in sick at the last minute must be treated consistently with normal absence policies,” the law expert says.
“It is very tempting but you cannot assume that just because it’s on the back of an England match this is actually misconduct and they were genuinely not too ill to work.” The law boss revealed that so far during the World Cup their research shows employees have been booking holidays to watch the World Cup England matches.
For the Croatia match, holiday requests were up 8 per cent and the day after they were up by 14 per cent. While Ghana saw an 8 per cent rise the day of the match, and a 16 per cent rise the day after. Panama was not an issue because it was the weekend.
But she fears Monday could see a surge in so-called ‘sickies’ explaining: “We actually have done some analysis to see whether we saw an uptick of sickness immediately following the group games. “What we did see was an increase in holiday requests of up to 16 per cent, which suggests people planned around it. But this could change on Monday. There’s the potential for an increase in absences. I wouldn’t be surprised.
“It’s very different from what we’ve seen before. We have seen late kick offs but this is early hours of the morning. Then we have this announcement that some pubs are going to be open until 5am.
“People will go with best intentions but ultimately reality hits them and they think they will phone in sick. But I would say to employers, ‘don’t jump to conclusions’, apply your normal absence management processes to it. Unless the employer has direct evidence, even if someone is pictured on social media in the pub drinking at 3am, it does not automatically mean that there wasn’t a genuine reason for their sickness absence.
It’s very tempting to put two and two together but in reality, it can be very risky.” “But it’s not just people being tired, there’s the risk of people still being under the influence of alcohol and going to work.” She said it was important for bosses to stay alert to tiredness and workers still under the influence of alcohol.
“Managers – particularly in the safety critical sectors – need to be on the ball spotting any potential issues.” And she explained if people do ‘throw a sickie’ it does not automatically mean the sack. “I wouldn’t treat it as gross misconduct because they have recognised they are still under the influence and are not fit for work. It is a disciplinary offence, but the difference is they did not go into work under the influence, potentially causing a bigger risk for the business, which would be gross misconduct.”
According to discount website VoucherCodes, around 17.8 million fans planned to watch England’s clash with Mexico either at home or down the pub.
Separate research by electricals firm AO.com found 27% of fans were considering pulling a sickie or calling in late if England won one of the early hours matches they have been playing. If that were the case for the Mexico game, it would potentially mean 4.8 million workers either turning up late for work, or bunking off altogether.
Theresa Lindsay, chief marketing officer at Novuna Finance, said:“A 1am kick-off isn’t ideal, but England fans will still turn out for their team.
“Our research shows 43% are ready to sacrifice sleep to watch England play Mexico, with one in three planning to change their working hours on Monday or take time off altogether.”
