While most people have their own special recipe to cure a hangover, there’s no specific combination supported by the medical community. However, these eight tips to stop your hangover could help relieve suffering faster. These symptoms are also called alcohol poisoning and are a medical emergency. However, the progression and severity of symptoms how long does a hangover last over time can vary from one person to the next. Ultimately, the only surefire remedy for a hangover is to avoid getting one by drinking in moderation or choosing not to drink.
You had a rough night’s sleep.
Time without alcohol use is the only true remedy for a hangover. Popular strategies such as cold showers and coffee drinking can briefly increase alertness. If a person experiences a hangover, it is best to drink plenty of fluids to rehydrate the body. Some people rehydrate using sports drinks containing electrolytes to ease hangover symptoms. However, research has not found a connection between electrolyte disruption and hangover symptom severity. This means it is difficult to predict the number of drinks or the amount of alcohol that will cause a hangover.
Other symptoms
- Drinking and smoking at the same time increase the severity of a hangover.
- While drinking certain types of alcohol can make you feel sleepy, overall drinking is more likely to prevent you from getting a good night’s sleep and disrupt your bedtime routine.
- There is also a direct toxic effect of the alcohol itself, which is thought to contribute to hangover severity.
- It is important to recognize that the combination of alcohol and acetaminophen can be toxic to the liver.
- Keep reading for everything you need to know about making that hungover feeling go away.
Read on to learn more about what congeners are, which drinks to avoid, tips for recovery, and more. Its diuretic or dehydrating effects actually cause most hangover symptoms. For people living with heart disease, hangover symptoms such as rapid heart rate and high blood pressure can be dangerous.
Hangover prevention
There is also a direct toxic effect of the alcohol itself, which is thought to contribute to hangover severity. So even if what you were drinking wasn’t particularly high in alcohol, you could be experiencing a 'sugar hangover’, alongside regular hangover symptoms, if the drinks were particularly sugary. As your alcohol and insulin levels drop back down to normal, you may experience low blood sugar levels—also known as hypoglycemia. Several factors contribute to the cause of a hangover, but the catalyst for severe hangover symptoms is poor timing.
Underlying Health Conditions
Grace Walsh is woman&home’s Health Channel Editor, working across the areas of fitness, nutrition, sleep, mental health, relationships, and sex. In 2025, she will be taking on her third marathon in Brighton, completing her first ultra marathon, and qualifying as a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach. This means that you’re more likely to wake up feeling tired and lethargic, contributing to symptoms of a hangover—even if you’ve not had that much to drink. While everyone sets out with the best of intentions for mindful drinking, it’s easy to slip up. This is what an NHS GP wants you to know about how long hangovers last, and the biggest contributors to the worst symptoms. Dr. Abbasi says anything above that could signal a possible drinking problem.
Steps to Building a Life-Saving Suicide Prevention Plan
To rebalance them, you could drink a sports drink like Lucozade or Powerade, or use a rehydration powder. The only hangover cure is drinking less to begin with, but there are ways to combat the effects of drinking that may otherwise make you feel ill in the morning. Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it helps to remove water from the body faster. After drinking too much, some people also sweat more, vomit, and experience digestive issues like diarrhea, all of which cause the body to lose fluid. Dehydration is often one of the most common reasons we tend to feel unwell after drinking, as a study from Kyushu Dental University explains. So if you want to try and avoid a hangover in the future, opt for lighter spirits like gin or vodka over whisky or rum, white wine over red.
- Hangover intensity and duration are individual to the person and how much alcohol was consumed.
- If you’re not familiar with art therapy, you may be surprised to learn that it can do wonders for veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- However, drinking more does often make for a more severe hangover, and severe hangovers usually last longer.
- These symptoms are also called alcohol poisoning and are a medical emergency.
- A hangover is a set of symptoms that are a mild form of alcohol withdrawal that occur after drinking too much.
Believe it or drug addiction treatment not, how many drinks you have doesn’t appear have a significant impact on how long a hangover lasts, according to a 2017 study. Detection times can vary based on factors like metabolism, dosage, frequency of use, and the type of drug test used. If you recognize these signs, consider seeking help from a healthcare professional or addiction specialist. Unfortunately, individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to experience suicidal thoughts. This type of safety plan serves as a guide during a “worst case scenario” to help individuals in crisis.