The best thing you can do is work on preventing the hangover. From our experience there is no easy way to cure a hangover but we are here to find you the best cures out there. The best way to get over a hangover is to replenish your body with the nutrients it lost processing all the booze you drank. Two of the major causes of a hangover are; dehydration caused by the diuretic effect of Alcohol and the buildup of toxins such as acetaldehyde, a byproduct of processing ethanol. Your body may also not have enough nutrients to process the alcohol and the alcohol will not leave your system until it does, if you wake up 8 hours later and you're still drunk, this may be the case. Your goal should be to give your body back as much nutrients and fluids as possible, this will help process the remaining alcohol and cure your hangover.
Step 1 - Hydrate
Drink This:
- Gatorade, other sports drinks - Why? Because these drinks contain 3 important things to help fight a hangover, electrolytes (minerals), carbohydrates (in Gatorade mostly sugar) and water. You lose all this stuff in you urine and you also sweat it out. Sport drink companies spent millions researching the best way to rehydrate athletes, and drinking might as well be a sport, SO DRINK UP!
- Don't have Gatorade? Try juice, but make sure it's not too acidic, that will only help the alcohol eat away at your stomach liming. Make your own sports drink, I'll use OJ as example, mix it 50/50 with water and add a bit of salt, mixing it with water won't make it so harsh on your stomach and the salt is there to replenish what you lost sweating and in the washroom.
- Flat softdrink/punch. I know it sounds strange but in reality if you were going to puke, would you rather have it taste like Dr Pepper or water and stomach acid? It's important that the drink is flat, otherwise your stomach can get upset and you'll start puking. I find ginger age tasted the best , rootbeer, and dr pepper are also not so bad, they are a little bitter which helps neutralize any nasty taste of stomach acid.
- Water is better than nothing. Try and get bottled or filtered water, it will go down better than tap water, so you can drink more.
- Drink as much as you can of the drinks we mentioned above, if you can do 2 cups, that's great. Every little bit you can drink before sleeping will help way more than what you drink in the morning.
- TIP: Keep some water or any drink close to your bed, when you get up in the middle of the night to take a leak or any time you wake up, drink some.
DON'T Drink This:
- Coffee - This will dehydrate you further and it may feel good for a bit, you will feel worse in the longrun.
- More Booze "Hair of the dog" - You're asking for trouble, you can really screw up your body by doing this. If your liver doesn't give out, your stomach eventually will.
- TIP: Don't drink anything that tastes too strong or too sour, you don't want your body to do any extra work processing it or messing with your stomach. Don't drink highly carbonated drinks, they may upset your stomach and if you're nauseous, induce vomiting.
Step 2 - Feed
Eating not only helps to slow down the absorption of additional alcohol already in your stomach, it will give your body nutrients. Eating a large meal may also cause drowsiness, which will help you sleep and let your body rest and repair it self.Eat This:
- Eggs - Egg yolks contain large amounts of cysteine, which breaks down acetaldehyde, one of the culprits behind a hangover. Eggs are also a good choice if you don't feel like eating much due to the high amount of energy they provide. It's also believed that the high nutrient and fat content delays hunger.
- Bananas and Kiwis - These fruits are ritch in patasium, which is lost during the diuretic effects of Alcohol. Any patasium ritch food will do.
- Chiken Soup - Not only is it a comfort food, it contains a large amount of nutrients and it goes down well. It's also cheap and easy to make and available in cans almost everywhere.
DON'T Eat This:
- I heard if you eat ____ it will cure a hangover. - Don't eat anything you haven't tried before. Why take the rist of puking your guts out from some exotic remedy?
- Stay away from solids if you're nauseous. - Start out with soup, and work your way up to solids throughout the day. Your stomach is less likely to react negatively towards a liquid diet. In case you do puke, it's not as rough on you as lets say pizza would be.
Step 3 - Rest
Ever heard of "Rest is the best medicine?" well, in this case it's
probably true. It's remarkable how much better you can feel with
even a couple of hours of rest. Some may argue that the metabolism
slows down when you're sleeping. Would you rather be awake for hours
waiting for the hangover to go away or sleep in your comfy bed? You can't argue with the results
a good sleep provides.