While there no way to guarantee you won’t experience hangover symptoms after drinking alcohol, there are ways to minimise the impact.
Health experts have shared their top tips for avoiding a hangover this Christmas that don’t just involve drinking more water. Over the festive season it is likely many of us will indulge in alcohol consumption more than usual.
While a couple of glasses of your favourite tipple may be an enjoyable addition to the delicious food on offer, taking it too far could leave you feeling unwell for the rest of the holiday. Abstaining from alcohol entirely in the first place is the only way to guarantee a hangover-free Christmas.
However, if this is not likely to be something you can stick to, there are other tricks you can try to minimise the effects of drinking.
Hangovers are very common in people who consume too much alcohol. In fact, it is thought around 75 percent of people who drink excessively will go on to have hangover symptoms such as a headache, disturbed sleep, nausea, and a low mood.
These are caused by a number of factors such as dehydration, inflammation and electrolyte imbalance caused by the alcohol. To combat this, experts at the Mayo Clinic in the US made some suggestions.
Choose your drinks wisely
You may not realise but certain alcoholic drinks often cause more serious hangover symptoms than others. More specifically, the Mayo Clinic advised picking drinks with lower amounts of congeners – compounds produced during the fermentation and distillation processes of alcohol.
“Lighter-coloured drinks like vodka, gin, light beer and white wine typically result in less severe hangover symptoms,” it said. “Darker-coloured drinks with high levels of congeners, like bourbon, scotch, tequila, brandy, dark beers and red wine, cause more severe symptoms.”
Sip slowly
If you’re having carbonated beverages containing alcohol like champagne or prosecco, you should drink them slowly. The Mayo Clinic said: “The carbon dioxide bubbles can speed up the rate of alcohol absorption in your bloodstream and compete with oxygen absorption.”
Pace yourself
Your body can process about one drink per hour so try to stick to that. “You’ll help keep your blood alcohol levels from reaching the point of intoxication,” it said.
Other tips for avoiding a hangover, as reported by the Mayo Clinic, include:
- Drinking less in the first place
- Drink water as you go
- Eat food before drinking.
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There is no safe amount of alcohol to drink but the NHS says men and women are advised not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis. 14 units is equivalent to six pints of average-strength beer or 10 small glasses of lower-strength wine.
