Hangover Cures- And Phoney Hangover Cures To Avoid!

No one likes a hangover. A great night out (albeit with a slightly hazy end), and in the morning you have a headache that suggests someone pulverised your brain. Consequently, there have been many attempts to produce hangover cures. Some of these hangover cures are drugs, some of them are strategies to cope with the feeling of death. Some work and some are wacky, but I will explore many hangover cures in this piece.

Part one- Hangover Cures that work.

These hangover cures should work for most people, but not for everyone!

1: Drink plenty of water on the night and before you go to bed.

Probably the most well known hangover cure, this results from the fact a big part of a hangover is dehydration. Your body needs water to break down the alcohol, so if there is a lot of alcohol in your system, you to use a lot of water. This dehydration often causes the headaches and nausea associated with a hangover. As far as hangover cures go, this one is a sure winner. Just don't drink so much that you need to get out of bed three times a night to go and use the toilet! It's bad enough waking up with the hangover once! It's worth remembering though that there are other dark forces than dehydration at work in a hangover, so this cure will not be entirely effective.

2: Go to sleep earlier.

I know, I know- you don't want to end the night young, but something has to give if you don't want that screaming hangover in the morning! The reason this one works is that quite simply, you stop drinking sooner and so your body gets to work breaking down the alcohol sooner, and clearing up the toxins quicker. You'll still have a hangover in the morning, but hopefully it will go away quicker. Combine this point one, and this cure should hopefully help you miss the worst of your hangover.

3: Watch what you drink!

It's a strange thing, but some drinks are more likely to give you a hangover than others, just like some drinks get some people hammered and others will barely tickle them. A friend of mine can polish off a half bottle of absinthe and suffer no hangover, and very little drunkenness. On the other hand, one bottle of Smirnoff ice and he's talking to God on the great white telephone! If you wake up with a raging hangover and have not been drinking that much, did you try anything different? This hangover cure requires experimentation. For example I love sloe gin, but there's no way in hell I can drink it on a night before work unless I want to try and mask a hangover all day. Five pints of ale though? No problem!

4: A sugar laden drink the morning.

This isn't a hangover cure exactly, but a drink of something like cola can give you a hit of sugar and caffeine to help get you through the first few hours of that hangover until your body sorts itself out naturally. Just don't drink it to fast or your hangover 'cure' will lead to a visit to the toilet as the gas builds up in your already delicate stomach! Cordials such as Ribena also seem to help here.

5: A good breakfast.

This is my favourite hangover cure! Get your energy levels up and replenish lost nutrients with a full fry up! Eggs, bacon, beans, hash browns, fried bread... perfect hangover food!

Part two- Err... maybe. These cures are untested, or a little odd. Use at your peril.

1: Don't mix the grape and the grain.

This old adage refers to wine and beer, and how the two should never be drunk in the same evening, lest you suffer katzenjammer (German slang for hangover, meaning 'wailing kittens') in the morning. In theory, this shouldn't be a problem in and off itself- Alcohol is alcohol no matter what it it's in, and so the dehydration effect is the same. There are no extra ingredients in beer and wine that should combine to make a hangover even worse, but this story persists.

The reason is that most people start drinking beer, and then move on to wine. After a few beers, putting away wine (which has a much higher ABV, or proof if you're american), so you drink a hell of a lot more alcohol than you think- directly resulting in a massive hangover. So the cure here is simple- keep track of how much you're drinking. But it does get hard after the fifth pint...

2: The Hair of the Dog.

This hangover cure relates to the fact that a hangover can be partly caused by what is effectively withdrawal. So a drink of whatever you where on last night in the morning will help to alleviate your hangover. I've not tried this (normally if I have a hangover the thought of a drink is the last thing on my mind), but some people swear by it. Personally, I think it's just that getting drunk again makes the hangover easier to deal with!

3: Paracetamol.

This isn't really a hangover cure as all it does is alleviate your symptoms, not stop the source of the hangover. Still, a couple of painkillers should help, provided they are fast acting. Remember, most of the pain and headaches associated with a hangover are gone after an hour or two- meaning that only fast acting medication is likely to have an impact here. Painkillers won't cure the general feeling of grottines you get with a hangover either.

Part three, total bull- these hangover 'cures' will probably do more harm than good!

1: Don't go to sleep.

This cure is total bull. You're just going to experience even more of your hangover than before- and be dog tired to boot.

2: Drink energy drinks on the night.

You'll feel great while drinking! But then you're going to get a crash AND a hangover- this double whammy will put you on your back for the rest of the day. Also, bear in mind that drinking energy drinks will make you feel less drunk- probably causing you to drink even more. A cure indeed!

3: Exercise thoroughly before bed.

The idea behind this cure is that you up your body' metabolic rate, and so burn off the alcohol faster, and thus avoid a hangover. It doesn't work, and once you're fired up you'll find it hard to sleep.

Anyone else know any good ones? Post them below!