Many people swear that ‘hair of the dog that bit you’ – that is having an alcoholic drink – is the best hangover cure. But unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence that having another tipple will stop you feeling rough after a bout of heavy drinking, according to experts.
While it may temporarily make you feel a bit better, it merely postpones the symptoms until later in the day.
Dr Emeka Okorocha has revealed he urges people not to believe the myth, and to take time to allow the body to recover.
‘When people ask me whether continuing to drink will help their hangover, I beg them not to do it, he said.
‘You should take at least 48 hours for your body to rest before taking alcohol again.’
There is no scientific evidence that having another drink will cure a hangover
Dr Emeka Okorocha has revealed his hangover cures – which he’s tested himself
What causes a hangover?
The symptoms – usually some combination of headache, thirst, fatigue, dizziness, nausea and general grumpiness – reach their peak when your blood-alcohol goes back to zero.
In the liver, alcohol is broken down into a toxic chemical called acetaldehyde. An enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, further metabolises it into acetic acid.
If the amount of alcohol you consume outpaces the ability of your enzymes to process it, acetaldehyde builds up in your body, leading to headaches and nausea.
The symptoms – usually some combination of headache, thirst, fatigue, dizziness, nausea and general grumpiness – reach their peak when the blood-alcohol level hits zero.
You may feel a fleeting boost from putting alcohol back in your system but really is is just tricking you by masking the symptoms – which will show up eventually.
Dr Okorocha, 24, revealed to the BBC the ‘cures’ he has personally road-tested during his time as a medial student in University of East Anglia’s student bars.
1. A bloody Mary – but a virgin one
The tomatoes in a virgin Mary contain fructose, which will help your body flush alcohol out (stock photo)
Ingredients
1/2 glass of tomato juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 dash of hot pepper sauce
1 celery stick
Why it works: Tomatoes contain fructose, which is a sugar that can help your body metabolise alcohol faster to get it out of your system, explained Dr Okorocha.
‘It also contains vitamins and minerals, which help fight inflammation and rehydrate your body and brain,’ he said,
2. A banana and honey sandwich
Bananas are a high source of potassium – an electrolyte that gets depleted when you binge drink (stock photo)
Ingredients
1 mashed banana
1 tbsp honey
2 slices of wholemeal bread
Why it works: Alcohol increases urination, which increases potassium excretion and causes dehydration. Bananas provide a boost of this electrolyte.
The honey will give you that spike of sugar in your bloodstream and an energy kick to help you get on with your day.
The fructose can also help the body metabolize and burn off any alcohol still in your system.
3. Ginger Tea
Ginger is one of the best remedies for settling an upset stomach, which is often a component of a hangover (stock photo)
Ingredients
12 large ginger slices
4 cups of boiling water
Dash of lemon
1/2 cup of honey
Fresh orange juice
Why it works: Ginger, used medicinally for thousands of years, is known for its ability to soothe stomach upsets.
Studies show it may help pain, by blocking the formation of the inflammatory compounds prostaglandins and leukotriene, so it could even help ease a throbbing head.
If you sweeten it with honey, the fructose can help get rid of lingering alcohol.
4. Glass of water before bed
The underlying cause of a hangover is dehydration so having water before bed will work wonders (stock photo)
Ingredients
1 glass of water
Why it works: Dr Okorocha advices that before you go out, you leave out two paracetamol and some water.
The underlying cause of a hangover is dehydration. Alcohol is a diuretic, which means that a boozy session is flushing water from your system. Getting a pint down you before you hit the sheets will give you a head start of hydrating the next morning.
Constantly replenishing your fluid levels throughout the night is even better. A rule of thumb, for every tipple you have, drink a glass of water.
WHY THE FIRST GLASS OF FIZZ POURED FROM A BOTTLE WILL GET YOU TIPSY EVEN FASTER
Merlin Thomas, a leading professor of medicine, reveals that fizzy alcoholic drinks will get you drunk faster than flat tipples, especially the first glass you have.
While food can slow down the absorption of alcohol, drinking fizzy alcoholic drinks can do the opposite, helping it to bubble along through our stomach and into our bloodstream, he said.
The most intoxicating bubbly of them all is champagne, or sparkling wine. When we drink it, it is still filled with dissolved gas, which continues to be released in our stomachs, but at a faster rate as it warms to body temperature and gets shaken about.
To avoid getting too drunk from Champagne, you can chase the bubbles from your glass using a swizzle stick – a trick employed by Queen Victoria (stock photo)
As the fizz fills our stomach, the stomach is forced to empty its alcoholic contents more rapidly into our intestines, where alcohol absorption is faster. So we get drunk faster on champagne than on the same amount of white wine.
The same intoxicating effect is true of beer or other fizzy drinks, but there is far more dissolved gas in champagne.
And the first glasses poured from the bottle are more intoxicating than the last, as the sooner you drink it, the more gas there is.
The temperature is important, too. Ice-cold champagne gets us more drunk because it doesn’t bubble as much as when it’s warm, so there is much more dissolved gas left to be bubbled up inside us.
If we didn’t want to get drunk as quickly, we could drink warm, flat champagne. But a more creative method may be to chase the bubbles from our glass using a swizzle stick – a trick employed by Queen Victoria.
