Expert-approved tricks for avoiding a Christmas Day hangover
If you’re reading this right now because you have a monster hangover (maybe you had one too many shots of Baileys in the pub last night?) and never want it to happen again, I feel for you. I really do. And if you’re currently thinking, “I’m never going to drink ever again,” then you have indeed discovered the best way to avoid a hangover. Yep! Being brutally honest, the easiest way to prevent a hangover is to avoid alcohol altogether (ugh) or to drink in moderation. But I know what you’re thinking: What does “moderation” really mean? And how the heck do you go about that during especially boozy times, such as the festive szn?
Well, for women the NHS recommends having no more than 2 to 3 units of alcohol per day and to try not having more than 14 units per week. (Yup, even when you’ve got an open bar in front of you...*cue "Sorry" by Justin Bieber.*) Another guideline to follow? Stick to one standard drink per hour, says Laura Veach, PhD, director of the master's program in addiction research and clinical health at Wake Forest School of Medicine. That's because your liver typically takes about an hour to process one drink, she explains. If you drink any more than that, chances are you might wake up feeling a lil gross, at the very least, the next morning.
These facts might come across to depress you, so I'm sorry. But! I do have some good news to share: According to the pros (ya know, those with doctors and who study alcohol in detail), there are ways to lower your chances of feeling like trash after a night out (or when you just have three glasses of wine at dinner). And most of them are prettyeasy to follow.
Below are 18 expert-approved tips that'll tell you exactly how to prevent a hangover at every stage—from what to do before you drink, while you drink, before you sleep, and during that dreaded morning after. Follow them closely and you may never need your ice pack again…oooor at least a little less often.
Before You Drink
Fill up before going out
Experts recommend eating a meal that leaves you full before hitting the town. "When you drink alcohol on an empty stomach, it just passes the alcohol right to your intestines and then it’s absorbed into the bloodstream very quickly," explains Robert Swift, MD, associate director of the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. That means you'll get drunk faster and feel way worse the next day. Drinking on a full stomach ensures your blood alcohol stays lower, he says.
It's also important to ensure that you're not missing out on essential nutrition by skipping meals before you drink, says Cara Harbstreet, MS, RD, LD, a registered dietitian and founder of Street Smart Nutrition. You want to make sure what you eat beforehand is solid and will hold you over (or at least until that 2 a.m. snack hehe).
Veach recommends chowing down on foods like red meat, chicken, shellfish, avocados, mushrooms, and whole grains, which are rich in zinc and nicotinic acid, two nutrients that were shown to reduce the severity of hangover symptoms in a 2019 study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.
While You Drink
Mix in a water or a mocktail
Remember how Veach recommended sticking to one drink per hour? Yeah, that's easier said than done. So if you find that you tend to down your vodka crans too quickly, try to alternate every boozy drink with a non-alcoholic one. By spacing out your alcoholic drinks, you'll be giving your body more time to process them, says Veach. And giving the body more time to process alcohol = less sh*tty symptoms tomorrow. Yay!
Keep track of how many drinks you've had
It's really easy to get carried away with your friends or a few heavy pours and think you've had three drinks when you've actually had more like... five or six. That's why Veach suggests keeping track, and it can be as simple as popping a little 🍸 emoji into the notes app on your phone every time you start a new drink. Just do something to make sure you have an accurate idea of how much alc you've had over the course of the night.
It can also be helpful to have a drink calculator downloaded on your phone, says Harbstreet. "While I don’t expect anyone to whip this out at the bar once they’re had a few shots, it can be insightful to use before or after to understand the reality of how much you’re actually drinking," she says.
Order beer, wine, or mixed drinks—not shots
If you're trying to stave off a hangover, it's best to choose a drink with a low ABV (alcohol by volume) percentage. "Higher volumes of alcohol seem to cause worse [hangover] symptoms in a lot of people," says Veach. Sipping on beer, wine, or a mixed drink is typically better than downing a shot too, since you're consuming the alcohol more slowly. Just be sure not to chug, because that defeats the whole purpose.
Make a coconut water your BFF
Hear me out: Chasing your alcohol with coconut water or a sports drink like Lucozade helps replace the fluids and electrolytes, the nutrients you lose when you drink, says Elizabeth Kovacs, PhD, director of the alcohol research program at Loyola University Chicago. She recommends sipping either coconut water or a Gatorade throughout the night to prevent a pounding headache when you wake up.
Skip the smokes
When 113 college students documented their alcohol intake, smoking habits, and hangover symptoms every day for eight weeks, researchers found that when students drank heavily, smoking significantly increased the risk and severity of a hangover, according to a study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
Stick with clear spirits
Clear drinks like vodka and gin have fewer congeners, which are compounds that have been linked to hangovers, than dark liquors like whiskey and rum, explains Jennifer Maeng, RD, founder of Chelsea Nutrition. This doesn't mean you can drink all the vodka and gin you want, though—it's still possible to get a hangover from drinking too much of either.
Wash your hands super well
Drinking alcohol changes the way your immune system works, so if you're exposed to something like the flu, you're more likely to become infected, have a more severe reaction, and take longer to recover, Kovacs says. The same is true for COVID-19, adds Veach, so make sure to follow all the current guidelines so you don't put yourself at risk.
Dance like you mean it
It's hard to hold a drink while you're breaking it down, so dancing, or playing a game like pool or ping-pong (assuming it involves paddles as opposed to cups of beer), can slow the cycle of emptying your glass and immediately refilling it. Just be sure to pop over to the bar every so often for a cup of water to rehydrate, espesh if you start to break a sweat.
Before You Go to Sleep
Don't overdo it on the water
It's true that hangovers can happen when your body gets too much bad liquid (alcohol) and not enough of the good kind (water). However, Kovacs says chugging water can put undue stress on your body. And frequent bathroom runs can mess with your sleep. So after a night of heavy drinking, down a glass of water (and a second one, if you're particularly thirsty), and leave a full glass on your nightstand to treat dry mouth at 5 a.m.
Slap on a sleeping mask
While sleep deprivation won't cause a hangover, it can make your hangover worse, per a study published in Current Drug Abuse Reviews. Incidentally, alcohol disrupts the second part of your sleep, according to a study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, which occurs after the sun rises if you go to sleep particularly late. While you can't control the quality of your sleep after a lit night, you can minimise environmental disruptions with a sleep mask that keeps light out of your eyes.
Silk Sleep Mask
Pure Silk Pillowcase
Satin Sleep Turban - Dusty Rose
Be careful what you consume before hitting the hay
It's best to steer clear of foods that always give you tummy trouble, says Harbstreet. "I would suggest avoiding any foods that bring on GI symptoms (especially acid reflux/heartburn)," she shares. "Alcohol in and of itself can do that for some people, but if you know high-fat or very spicy foods also bring that on, best to avoid."
Instead, opt for foods that can offer some hydration, like fruits or veggies with a high water content, or foods packed with antioxidants, like juices and smoothies. "These can sit more easily without further disrupting sleep," says Harbstreet.
Seedlip Garden Non-Alcoholic Spirit
12 pack of mixed IPA & lager
6 bottles of 0% Prosecco
Alcohol Free Cocktails
The Morning After
Give in to cravings
A hungover morning simply isn't the time to try to start a new healthy eating kick. "Honoring food preferences and cravings can help you mentally work through a hangover," says Harbstreet. "If you’re already not feeling your best physically, trying to numb out a craving for something that sounds good might be unnecessarily depriving your body of energy or nutrition." Bacon, egg, and cheese, here you come.
Forget the whole "hair of the dog that bit you" thing
Experts agree that it's straight-up inadvisable to booze it up the morning after heavy drinking. It only delays the inevitable: a hangover that's even worse than the one you've got.
Go easy on the over-the-counter meds
Pain relief pills from a drugstore may be what you need to get rid of that pounding headache and a typical dose should be perfectly fine, according to Mayo Clinic. But meds like aspirin could cause stomach irritation, and those containing acetaminophen might lead to significant damage on an already-over worked liver (particularly for those who tend to go past their alcohol limits). That said, be sure to "proceed with caution when using these medications before or after consuming alcohol," according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Practice some mindfulness
If you wake up with major hangxiety (you know, that super jittery, nervous feeling you get after drinking sometimes), try taking some deep breaths, listening to a guided meditation or journaling, whatever makes you feel more relaxed. We sometimes feel anxious after drinking because our body is trying to counteract the depressive effects of the alcohol, Veach explains. The only thing that truly cures it is time, but practicing some mindfulness can help you more at ease in the meantime.
Drink Sprite or soda water
When researchers at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, analyzed the effects of 57 different drinks on alcohol metabolism, they found that the Chinese version of Sprite and regular soda water help speed up the body's alcohol metabolism, which decreases the amount of time your body is exposed to the harmful chemicals produced when your body digests alcohol.
Avoid herbal teas
In the same Sun Yat-Sen University experiment, researchers found that herbal teas make your body process alcohol more slowly, so your hangover lasts extra long. No thank you!
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