Key takeaways:
Hangover cures run from the simple to the extreme.
While many people use home-grown hangover remedies, marketed products are increasingly popular.
Moderation is key to preventing a hangover. Hydration is key to overcoming one.
Everyone seems to have a cure for a hangover. Some tout marketed products while others swear by home remedies.
Some methods are extreme — I’m looking at you, IV drips — and others, such as immersing your face in a bowl of ice water, are simply viral sensations. One of the most popular remedies discussed online involves eating greasy food, and people aren’t shy about sharing their favorite fast food items to eat during a hangover.
Despite all this advice, there’s no proven, fail-safe hangover cure.
Of course, the best way to save yourself the pain of a hangover is to avoid getting one. There are several ways to do this. Drink a glass of water in between each alcoholic drink. Only drink clear alcohol. Don’t mix different types of alcohol. Chug water or a sports drink before you go to bed. Oh, and don’t drink too much in the first place.
Most people know the key to avoiding a hangover is limiting alcohol intake. But, assuming your attempts to ward off a hangover have failed, what’s the best way to rebound from a hard night out?
Randy McGregor, a supervisor in the retail business from Zeeland, Michigan, says he found the golden elixir of hangover cures more than 30 years ago, while he was in college.
“I played rugby at St. Cloud University, and we were on a road trip and we might have been a little over-served,” he says. “We had a match the next day.”
Beset with the familiar feeling of headaches and nausea, the team debated the best way to get past the pain. A teammate from Barnesville, Minnesota — “out in the sticks,” Randy says — said he had a tried-and-true formula for a quick rebound.
“He said, ‘We need to get a half gallon of chocolate milk,’” Randy recalls. “And the next thing you know, we’re feeling better. We washed down a breakfast of greasy sausage and bacon, and we were feeling right as rain and ready to go.”
Ever since, Randy, now 55, has turned to a greasy breakfast and chocolate milk to get rid of hangovers.
“I don’t know if it is the calcium or the sweetness or what,” he says, “but it seems to work. When we have visitors, there’s always chocolate milk in the fridge, along with Gatorade.”
But Randy cautions that not even chocolate milk will save you from all hangovers. He remembers a particularly bad one he had while returning to Minneapolis after attending a wedding in Cincinnati.
“All the chocolate milk in the world wasn’t going to help on that long drive home,” he says.
Charles Wright, a professional social worker from Batavia, Ohio, tried many different home remedies before deciding to check out retail products marketed as hangover cures.
“The things I tried were always family remedies,” he says. “Probably never had names. Probably didn’t know half of what was in it. And it was weird, gross. And then you go to the marketed stuff, like Alka-Seltzer, which is the go-to for a lot of people. And then there’s some other novelty ones.”
In 2018, before a trip to Jamaica, he heard about an Alka-Seltzer-like product sold online and in drugstores. Its key ingredients were aspirin and caffeine, and it claimed on the package to be a way to “say ‘goodbye’ to all-day hangovers and ‘hello’ to relief in as little as 15 minutes.” Charles also liked the price point, which was about $12 for 12 tablets.
Charles, now 53, packed some away for his trip.
“So, as soon as you get up, take it,” he says. “When you drink it, it's actually almost like a nice lemon water drink. And once you’re done with that, you’re ready to go. It says you’ll start feeling better in about 15 minutes, and I think it’s truth in advertising.”
He feels it works because it combines aspirin, caffeine, and hydration.
“They seem to have found the right balance … it gets you going but doesn’t give you the jitters, doesn’t give you the heartburn, all that kind of stuff,” he says.
Charles says it has been his hangover solution ever since that trip to Jamaica.
“I have actually given [my hangover remedy] as gifts to close friends,” he says. “And I wouldn’t give it to somebody unless I felt that it was a good thing.”
Joe Diebold’s hangover cure came from his father, a wise man with a lot of advice.
Joe, now age 62 and an avid deep-sea fisherman, says his father served in the Navy and he brought the remedy back with him following his service.
“I was a little older, and I guess somebody drank too much, and it was New Years, and he said, ‘All he needs to do is drink some tomato juice and a couple raw eggs with some beer,’” Joe says. “And every once in a while, after he’d have a party at the house or something, because he had a little bar in the basement, he would drink the elixir.”
Joe, who retired from the Army and from firefighting and now lives in Apollo Beach, Florida, says you can skip the beer. He says the potassium from the tomato juice and the protein from the eggs are what make it work. He also likes to throw in lime juice and some spices.
“I’ve used it several times since,” he says. “Probably more than I should have, but not much anymore.”
Medical Editor
When it comes to dealing with hangovers, everyone’s got their preferred “tried and true” method. But there’s no such thing as a quick hangover cure. Your body needs to process the inflammation and oxidative stress caused by alcohol, and that takes time.
That said, some remedies can help you feel more comfortable while you ride out your hangover. It’s best to stick with hangover remedies that really work. Remedies without a track record might sound innovative, but they can end up making you feel even worse than you already do.
If you tend to get headaches with your hangover, try some ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or aspirin. Some experts recommend avoiding products containing acetaminophen so that your overworked liver doesn’t get overwhelmed.
Medications like Zofran (ondansetron) can help calm hangover-related nausea. If vomiting is inevitable, over-the-counter proton pump inhibitors (PPI) like Nexium (esomeprazole) or Pepcid (famotidine) can protect your esophagus from the irritating effects of gastric acid. Good old-fashioned Alka Seltzer contains sodium bicarbonate, which can ward off heartburn, with the added bonus of a dose of aspirin. If you can’t take aspirin, a couple of antacid tablets can give you the same heartburn relief.
Lastly, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Alcohol makes you pee, and drinking too much can cause vomiting. Together, these two effects put you at risk for dehydration. Even small, frequent sips will go a long way to getting you back on track.
And, of course, there’s the one never-fail method to make sure you never get a hangover in the first place: drink in moderation.