HEALTH: GUIDE TO HEALTHY CLUBBING

• Sleep
• 5HTP (mood and sleep)
• Tryptophan (sleep)
• Serotonin (mood)
• Stress
• Melatonin (sleep)
• Safer clubbing
• Hangover cures and tips
• Harm reduction when buying pills

Most people suffer from some trauma or "future shock" that has been induced by social and environmental stresses. Any city is a large collection of potential stressors. You have the mass media, mass transportation, vast technological innovations, and intense interpersonal stimulation. And you always seem to have a deadline.

Healthy partying doesn't stop and end in the club

Clubbing is fun and in many aspects healthy. It is a great way of letting off steam after coping daily with the stress of modern living. It lets the body catch up with a mind which is always racing on ahead, worrying about the next item on the agenda. It's probably the only exercise some people ever get. It's also an important way of working on personal relationships, making connections that feel meaningful - which should not be underestimated in an environment that's rapidly becoming in many ways faceless and business goal-oriented.

Attitude has a strong bearing on how we behave and how we think about ourselves. If we are in good health and in generally good physical condition we will most likely behave in a confident, well-balanced, manner, and we can approach demands with a positive enthusiastic attitude. Conversely, illness or run down physical condition can lead to hesitant or procrastinating behaviors, and we will approach demands with a negative attitude.

Clubbing - and the nature of drugs associated with clubbing, namely cannabis and ecstasy - have all been associated with increased empathy and enthusiasm in surroundings and self. But there are ways of helping not to run the potential benefits of clubbing and drug-using into the ground.

The negative aspects of frequent clubbing and ecstasy use can include - stress, anxiety, moodiness, tiredness, stiff joints and muscles, and other similar symptoms of being run-down in general.

If you're up all night, that means you're missing out on sleep. Sleep is nature's rewind button. Missing a few hours - or a night - of sleep is not the end of the world but quality sleep patterns improve general mental health, like moods, focus and enthusiasm. If you're regularly up all night, and dancing, you're not giving your back a chance to rest (gravity makes the spine compress during the course of the day).

This section deals with ways of looking after yourself outside the club. You can also read about safety tips for when you're actually in the club.