How to avoid a hangover, according to scientists
Piercing headaches, nausea and exhaustion are familiar to anyone who has ever had a few too many drinks.
While there’s no proven way to “cure” a hangover, scientists say there are steps you can take to prevent getting one in the first place.
Aside from avoiding booze altogether, consuming carbohydrates before drinking, avoiding certain drinks, and staying hydrated are all actions that can help you feel more cheerful the next day.
But should we drink beer before wine and eat greasy food? To find out how you can really avoid feeling terrible after drinking, MailOnline asked scientists how they avoid a hangover.
Throbbing headaches, nausea and feeling exhausted are all symptoms of a hangover. Staying hydrated and eating enough can be ways to avoid a bad hangover, experts say
Does it matter what your favorite drink is?
Whether you drink wine, beer or gin, any type of alcohol will give you a hangover if you drink enough of it.
But some experts believe that there are certain alcoholic drinks that are more likely to give you a hangover than others.
David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, says he “never starts with champagne because it gets you drunk too quickly.”
That’s because the bubbles speed up the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream, according to Professor Nutt, the government’s former chief drugs adviser.
The more alcohol in your bloodstream, the drunker you will be and, as a result, get a terrible hangover.
A 2001 study at the University of Surrey confirmed the effects of carbonated alcohol. It turned out that volunteers given two glasses of sparkling champagne had an average of 0.54 milligrams of alcohol per milliliter of blood after five minutes, while those given the same amount of flat champagne had 0.39 milligrams.
But it’s not just the carbonated substances; Compounds in some dark-coloured alcohols could increase the risk of a hangover, according to dietitian Dr Duane Mellor, from Aston University in Birmingham.
Congeners, which contribute to the taste and smell of alcohol, are found in high concentrations in rum, red wine and cognac.
They are produced during fermentation and can make hangover symptoms worse in some people by irritating the blood vessels and tissue in the brain, the NHS says.
Sulfites are another compound found naturally in wine and beer that act as a preservative and prevent the growth of bacteria. However, some people get headaches when they drink this, which can worsen hangover symptoms.
Dr. However, Mellor emphasizes that ‘the biggest effect comes from drinking too much alcohol’.
The effect of all alcohol is the same, it just depends on how much you drink, says Professor Gunter Kuhnle, a nutritional scientist at Reading University.
“Almost any drink can give you a hangover, so I don’t have to limit my choices.”
Is mixing drinks always a bad idea?
‘Beer before wine and you’ll feel good; wine before beer and you feel queer’, is an age-old saying.
However, a 2019 University of Cambridge study put the saying to the test and found that mixing drinks has no effect on hangover severity.
Volunteers, aged 19 to 40, who two and a half pints of beer followed by four large glasses of wine had the same hangover as those who drank the wine first and then the beer.
Dr. Mellor believes that mixing drinks does not increase the risk or severity of a hangover, but says it can make it more difficult to keep track of how much you drink.
Professor Nutt believes that when mixing drinks, people should start with weaker drinks and move on to stronger options.
“Start by drinking beer, then eat food before moving on to wine,” he says.
Alcohol reduces the functioning of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for judgment. This means that people are more likely to drink more impulsively after knocking back a few.
Therefore, starting with a drink with less alcohol can help you control how much you drink, says Professor Nutt.
There is some debate about whether drinking wine before beer will make you feel worse, but many say mixing drinks can simply lead to drinking too much without realizing it.
Does dog hair work?
The phrase “hair of the dog” is a shortened version of the saying “hair of the dog that bit you” – which refers to the idea that the cause of the problem can also be the cure.
However, this will not work when it comes to alcohol, such as drinking more if a hangover doesn’t ease symptoms, experts say.
Instead, it simply postpones a hangover and normalizes unhealthy drinking habits.
Dr. Mellor explains that your liver will still have to deal with the alcohol eventually.
He says: ‘There are many folktales about ‘hair of the dog’, but the truth is that you will only feel the symptoms less and your liver will still need to get rid of that alcohol.
‘Even the liver – which is great at removing toxins like alcohol – needs time to recover.’
Professor Nutt warns that this approach may also indicate a ‘downward slope to dependence’.
If you have been drinking heavily, the NHS recommends waiting at least 48 hours before drinking more alcohol to give the body time to recover.
Before starting to drink, the NHS advises people to eat a meal that contains carbohydrates or fat
What about eating fatty foods?
Drinking on an empty stomach is never a good idea.
So it’s wise to line the stomach, especially with fatty foods, before drinking alcohol, experts say.
‘Eating any type of food before drinking alcohol works well,’ says Peter McNaughton, professor of pharmacology at King’s College London.
That’s because when the stomach is full, the opening through which alcohol passes into the intestine, where alcohol is absorbed into the blood, closes, he says.
But he swears by eating fatty foods because they “soak up the alcohol.”
He says: ‘Alcohol is partially fat soluble (lipophilic) and fatty foods (a lipid) will therefore tend to soak up the alcohol, at least to some extent.’
However, eating foods high in fat or protein will only slow down how quickly the stomach empties and the liver will still have the hard work of cleaning up the alcohol later, argues Dr Mellor.
In fact, he suggests that fatty foods make you feel even worse because, when combined with alcohol, they increase your chances of heartburn.
But he notes that feeding your stomach before drinking can have a very modest effect on slowing the absorption rate of alcohol.
Break it up with non-alcoholic drinks
Combining alcoholic drinks with soft drinks can help reduce the effects of a hangover, but carbonated drinks can make hangovers worse.
“I try to drink some water and an alcoholic drink at the same time,” says Professor Kuhnle.
Dehydration is one of the main causes of a hangover, so drinking enough water between drinks can help you feel less tired the next day, he says.
Dehydration is the cause of many hangover symptoms, including fatigue, muscle cramps and dry mouth.
Similarly, Professor Nutt, who developed the non-alcoholic drink Sentia, recommends drinking non-alcoholic drinks with every other drink.
But the NHS recommends avoiding anything fizzy between drinks and opting for water or a non-carbonated soft drink.
That’s because fizzy drinks speed up the absorption of alcohol into your body, according to the NHS.