Drink water One of the easiest ways to avoid a hangover is hydrating prior to drinking. In the 48 hours before you start drinking, carry a water bottle around with you and drink as much as possible. Remember, it's recommended to have 8 glasses of water on a normal day, try to double that if you're drinking!
Always eat a meal or a hearty snack if you plan to drink. This can slow the rate at which the alcohol enters your bloodstream, which can lower the odds of a hangover, said Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian with the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Human Nutrition.
But a study by the British Medical Journal found that vodka is actually the least likely drink to give you a hangover: it's so pure that it contains virtually no congeners. Mixing vodka with soda or fruit juice is ideal, as sugary soft drinks can contribute to a headache the morning after the night before. But go easy.
Choosing types of alcohol with fewer congeners—like beer, vodka and wine—might reduce your hangover symptoms compared to alcohols with higher congeners—like brandy, whiskey and rum.
Certain fruits, rich in specific vitamins and micronutrients, can help keep your vitamin/micronutrient levels high and prevent the worse hangover effects. Mainly fruits rich in vitamin C and potassium. Fruits like oranges, bananas, and watermelon are among the best options for pre-drinking snacks.
Next, Dr. Wagner recommends chugging water throughout a night of drinking, stating a one drink to one glass of water ratio is best to avoiding hangover. He explains that alcohol is a diuretic, contributing to dehydration, which can cause symptoms of hangover.
No food can erase the effects of a night of drinking alcohol, but the best hangover foods are hydrating and anti-inflammatory. Rest helps, too. Try to avoid greasy foods, sugar, and caffeine which can make your symptoms worse. Instead, stick to water and foods like bananas and crackers.
"It won't cure your hangover, but will help to reduce the dehydration that alcohol leaves you with – and therefore, may reduce the severity of your hangover the next day,” says Dr Sturnham.
Want to gain an edge over plain old water to treat your hangover? Consider reaching for Gatorade, Pedialyte, Powerade, or a similar nonfizzy sports drink.
A hangover typically lasts anywhere from 12 to 36 hours, although it could last in some cases for up to 72 hours. Exactly how long a hangover can last will depend on several factors, such as the person's tolerance of alcohol, how much they drank, when they stopped drinking, and what kind of alcohol was consumed.
Bananas. A nice quick convenient hangover cure, bananas are loaded with potassium and magnesium, two of things that the body loses when drinking alcohol. Potassium will help reduce the feelings of nausea and tiredness commonly experienced by those with a hangover, so get peeling.
Eating and drinking
Eating before, during, and after drinking can help slow the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream. Drinking plenty of water can also assist with dehydration and flushing toxins from the body.
They were then asked about their hangovers. The participants who consumed bourbon had more severe hangovers as compared to the group that drank vodka. Thus, they concluded that high-congener drinks cause severe hangovers even when consumed in the same quantity as low-congener drinks.
Congeners are compounds, other than ethyl alcohol, that are produced during fermentation. These substances contribute to the taste and smell of alcoholic beverages. Darker spirits, such as bourbon, which tend to have higher levels of congeners than clear spirits, could worsen hangover symptoms for some people.
Though the alcohol content, of course, plays a role in causing a hangover, chemicals called congeners may be to blame for the super-intense hangovers that are caused by certain types of vodka.
Sip a glass of water
"A glass of water when you first wake up will help you rehydrate from the night before," says Beaver. "If you got to the point of vomiting, drinking Gatorade and Pedialyte are good choices to help replenish the lost electrolytes."
Many will choose to take some type of medication such as paracetamol or ibuprofen before or after, but it is worth knowing that not only will they not prevent a hangover, but you will be adding extra damage to your body. The discomfort can be combated with painkillers, but it is not recommended.
Taking a shower won't slow down your recovery from symptoms, but it won't help you instantly bounce back either. A hangover is very unpleasant, and we would love to do something as simple as a jump in the shower to make the symptoms disappear, but that is not the case.
Rather than attempting to medicate your symptoms away, the best thing you can do for a hangover is — you guessed it — sleep.
The symptoms get progressively worse.
With a typical hangover, you should start to feel better within a few hours after eating something and drinking water. But, if you're 12 hours out from your last drink and symptoms continue to get worse, it could mean you're in withdrawal.
And while there is no cure for hangovers, Hydralyte can help relieve dehydration associated with drinking. Late nights can mean long mornings. We know what it's like when you need to be “on” the next day but you aren't feeling your best from the night before.
When you are dehydrated, you need more than pure water, you also need electrolytes. This is why many people enjoy drinks like Gatorade, when they are hungover. However, Gatorade can dehydrate you more since it has so much sugar.