DIGITAL NEWS: Final Idea & Further Research

We have found our final idea and have a brand name, channel and pitch all sorted for it. 

Brand name: THE BUNKER

Channel: Online news platform

25 word pitch: 'A comical channel focused on debunking common myths with a light hearted twist, targeted at a young audience'

Our pitch isn't quite 25 words long but it gives the basic idea of what we want our channel to focus on.

We are definitely going for the Broadditch Farm idea and are excited to start filming. After having an unclear idea for a couple of weeks, it's nice to know exactly what we are doing now.
I started researching into the science behind hangovers so we can find a way to maybe explain it in the news production. 

Science behind hangovers

- Most scientists believe that a hangover is driven by alcohol interfering with your body's natural balance of chemicals in a more complex way. 

- One hypothesis is that in order to process alcohol, your body must convert the enzyme NAD+ into an alternate form, NADH. With an excess buildup of NADH and insufficient quantities of NAD+, the thinking goes, your cells are no longer capable of efficiently performing a number of metabolic activities - everything from absorbing glucose from the blood to regulating electrolytes levels. 

- But this hypothesis has been contradicted by data - in studies, people with severe hangovers weren't found to have lower levels of electrolytes or glucose in their blood.

- Another theory is that hangovers result from a buildup of acetaldehyde, a toxic compound, in the body. As the body processes alcohol, acetaldehyde is the very first byproduct, and it's estimated to be between 10 and 30 times as toxic as alcohol itself. In controlled studies, it's been found to cause symptoms such as sweating, skin flushing, nausea and vomiting.

- Hangovers could also be driven by the way alcohol messes with your immune system. Studies have found strong correlations between high levels of cytokines - molecules that the immune system uses for signalling - and hangover symptoms. Normally, the body might use cytokines to trigger a fever of inflammatory response to battle an infection, but it seems that excessive alcohol consumption can also provoke cytokine release, leading to symptoms like muscle aches, fatigue, headache or nausea, as well as cognitive effects like memory loss or irritation.

Why do we get hangovers?
- Congeners are chemical byproducts of the alcohol fermentation process, found more prominently in darker liquor such as red wine, bourbon, brandy, whiskey, and dark-coloured beers. While they enhance the taste and smell of the alcohol, researchers believe congeners, essentially toxins to the body, also lead to hangovers. A 2009 study found that people who drank bourbon (which contains 37 times more congeners than vodka) experienced a more severe hangover than those who drank similar amounts of vodka.

What do they do to the body?
The stomach and intestines are inflamed - Alcohol directly irritates the stomach and intestines, causing inflammation of the stomach lining and delayed stomach emptying, especially when beverages which a high alcohol concentration (greater than 15%) are consumed. High levels of alcohol consumption can also produce a fatty liver, an accumulation of fat compounds called triglycerides and free fatty acids in liver cells. Alcohol increases the production of gastric acid as well as pancreatic and intestinal secretions.

The brain is hungry - When alcohol leads to fatty liver, the buildup of lactic acid then follows, which can stop glucose production in the blood. Not eating enough due to being/feeling sick can also stop glucose production.

We are thirsty and depleted - Alcohol stops hormone release from the pituitary gland, which normally causes the kidneys to reabsorb water and electrolytes. 

The brain is sending the wrong sleeping signals - Alcohol prevents glutamate production, a stimulant whose job is to keep us awake. However, when our alcohol blood-levels reach zero, our body reacts by overproducing this stimulant, resulting in broken sleep. 

& Alcohol withdrawal

Hangover cures
We have already decided that we want to make a comical report about the hangover cures that we have found and we want to try them out in the video. Jason and Alex researched cures for this part and found a couple of bizarre theories. Rubbing lemons on your armpit is supposed to hydrate you so we thought we have to bring this in somewhere for the comical side. Another one was the 'hair of the dog' theory, which means you should drink more to feel better. Keeping hydrated by drinking water is the final cure we looked into and is probably the most sensible one of them all.