What Helps a Hangover, and What Doesn't

It's Sunday morning. Your head is pounding, your mouth feels like sand, and a list online promises that pickle juice, a cold shower and a greasy breakfast will sort you out by lunch.

The research gives a shorter answer than the lists do. No remedy has good evidence behind it. A few plain things make the hours easier. The reliable fix happens the night before.

No remedy has good evidence

Researchers have looked. A 2005 systematic review in the BMJ found eight randomised trials of hangover treatments, from artichoke extract to prickly pear, and concluded there was no compelling evidence that any of them worked. A 2022 review in the journal Addiction found 21 placebo-controlled trials involving 386 people in total. A few products, such as clove extract and red ginseng, beat a placebo in single small trials. No two studies tested the same thing, though, and the reviewers rated all of the evidence as very low quality.

The US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) reaches the same place. Plenty of remedies circulate online and on social media, and none has been scientifically proven to work.

Time does most of the work

Hangover symptoms peak when the alcohol in your blood falls back to about zero, and they can last 24 hours or longer, according to NIAAA. MedlinePlus, the US National Library of Medicine's health site, says recovery is usually a matter of time and that most hangovers are gone within 24 hours.

So the goal for the day is modest: make those hours less miserable and don't add anything that drags them out.

What helps a little

• Water, with realistic hopes. Alcohol makes you pee more, so you wake up thirsty, and water fixes the thirst. Don't expect more than that. A 2024 review found that water drunk during a hangover wasn't linked to the hangover easing, and concluded that dehydration and hangover are separate effects of the same night's drinking.
• Salt and something gentle to eat. MedlinePlus suggests sports drinks and bouillon soup to replace the salt and potassium you lose. Plain food is kinder to a stomach that alcohol has irritated.
• More sleep. Alcohol fragments your sleep, which NIAAA lists as one of the causes of a hangover. MedlinePlus advises plenty of rest, so go back to bed if your day allows it.

Coffee and a cold shower might make you feel more awake. NIAAA lists them as a myth when it comes to preventing or curing a hangover. The same goes for fruit juice and honey: MedlinePlus says there is very little evidence they help.

Painkillers need care

Reaching for a painkiller is the obvious move, but the common ones and alcohol mix badly in different ways. NIAAA warns that paracetamol (called acetaminophen in the US) combined with alcohol can be toxic to the liver, and MedlinePlus advises against taking it for a hangover. Aspirin and ibuprofen can increase stomach acid and irritate the stomach lining, which alcohol has already done.

Follow the leaflet and your own health service's guidance, and ask a pharmacist if you're unsure what is safe for you, especially if you take other medicines or drink often.

Why hair of the dog makes it worse

A drink the morning after can seem to work, and NIAAA agrees it might ease some symptoms for a while. The catch is timing. A hangover peaks as your blood alcohol returns to zero, so a fresh drink pushes that point later. NIAAA says hair of the dog could add to and prolong the hangover. You postpone it and give your body more alcohol to deal with.

There's a second reason to pay attention. If you wake with shaking, sweating, nausea or anxiety that a drink settles, that may be withdrawal rather than a hangover. The NHS lists anxiety after waking, sweating and mild tremors, and nausea or retching in the morning as signs that someone may need medical help to stop drinking safely. If you drink heavily every day, stopping suddenly can be dangerous. Talk to a doctor first. Seek urgent care for:

• severe shaking you can't control
• confusion
• seeing or hearing things that aren't there
• a seizure
• a racing heart with heavy sweating

Two myths to drop

"Beer before liquor, never sicker" doesn't hold up. NIAAA says that in general, the more alcohol you drink, the worse the hangover, whatever the order. Darker drinks such as bourbon contain more congeners, by-products of fermentation that NIAAA says could worsen hangovers for some people. NIAAA is clear that alcohol itself is the main culprit, and switching to clear spirits doesn't change how much of it you've had.

The fix that works happens the night before

NIAAA's verdict is blunt: the only way to completely avoid a hangover is to not drink, or to keep alcohol to a minimum. That can sound like a lecture, so here is what it looks like in practice, drawn from NHS and MedlinePlus advice:

• Decide your limit before the first drink, and tell a friend.
• Eat a proper meal before you start.
• Alternate each alcoholic drink with water or a soft drink.
• Go smaller or weaker: a bottle instead of a pint, a small glass of wine instead of a large one, a lower-strength beer.
• Drink slowly.
• Take a fixed amount of money for drinks and leave the card at home.
• Plan several drink-free days each week.

Knowing what counts as one drink makes a limit easier to track, and alcohol-free drinks and swaps has ideas for what to hold when the next round comes. If your mornings bring a wave of dread along with the headache, hangxiety explains why. And if they seem to be getting worse over the years, read why hangovers get worse with age.