7 Proven Cures For A Hangover

Phil Morse | Founder & Tutor
Read time: 3 mins
Last updated 4 April, 2018

Hangover cure
Slapping as much low-quality animal fat into a white bread concoction: Curing hangover for the masses since 1957!

Happy 2012! Of course, as DJs we know that drinking on the job is not a habit to get into, but there are certain parties (like last night) when all but the most disciplined end up joining in.

So if you’ve had a mother of a night and now are severely in need of a miracle cure for the sickness, dizziness, light-sensitivity and banging head that seems to have followed you home from the party, here’s our tried and tested list of hangover cures. Be sure to add your own at the end (if you’re in any fit state to type…)

1. Water

Getting as much water down you today is a surefire way to temper the worst effects of your hangover. It’s the dehydration that gets you as much as anything. Taking a shower can bring feeling back to blunted nerve endings. Maybe its because we came from water, but at times like this, it seems the more we can surround ourselves with the stuff, the more our hangovers can be abated – if not totally dealt with.

2. Fatty food

Why is it that burgers, fried breakfasts, curry, chocolate, or and anything else that’s pushing 50% fat content seems to provide instant relief from the worst ravages of a hangover? Somehow a fruit smoothies or some muesli just doesn’t cut it when you’ve got a banger. So put that new year’s diet off till tomorrow and get some far inside you. Having said that, it’s no coincidence that us Brits have orange juice with our spectacularly-bad-for-you breakfasts: The vitamin C is essential for remedying hangovers too!

3. Cold

There’s nothing like an icy wind in your face to soothe throbbing eyeballs and calm down the sweats and shivers. Getting wrapped up just enough to avoid hyperthermia and then braving leaving your house (or wherever you woke up) is sometimes just what it needs to get the blood pumping again and temper the worst effects of last night’s excesses. If not, just having a nice cold icepack for your poor head (or failing that, a bag of frozen peas in a towel) sometimes feels like a gift from Heaven.

Sex
Unless you’ve woken up, taken one look at what’s next to you and thought ‘what have I done?’, a bit of what you fancy can do a lot of good in keeping your hangover at bay… for a while, at least.

4. Sex

Why is it that what nature intended us can make us forget even the worst hangover? It’s like some hormone gets released into our blood that’s an anaesthetic to all the badness that a hangover can inflict.

If you’re lucky enough to have a willing (probably equally hungover) other half sharing your pain, why not share some pleasure instead? Of course, the downside is that afterwards the hangover always seems to return worse than ever, but hey, you’ve passed a bit of time!

5. Alcohol

The old “hair of the dog”. It’s always a bit of a gamble this one, but you usually know by the bottom of the second drink whether it’s gonna be your saviour or your downfall. Only possible to do when you’ve regained control of your stomach, and better done with something relatively tame. (Hitting that bottle of 40% proof, unnamed aniseed stuff that you downed 2/3rds of shortly before bed is likely to backfire on you!)

6. Partying

Following on from 5, “getting back on it”, as my constitution-like-an-ox DJ pal James always says, can at least put you in a more, um, interesting place. You may not shake the hangover, but at least after two (or more) hard nights of partying you’ll be putting yourself into the “medical experiment” phase of self-abuse, where stranger things like sleep deprivation start to make you mildly interested in what’s actually happening to you as well as just feeling awful. Only really favoured by those under 30, in my experience.

7. Sleep

Yup, if all else fails (and if you feel well enough to actually sleep), getting some zzzzzzs is sometimes your best bet for waking up feeling half-human again. We’ve all got to recover some times, and there’s no shame in bowing out for a bit of rest and recuperation when you’ve taken all you can take. After all, there’s another weekend around the corner…

Finally…

Oh and finally, if you’ve been brave enough to make New Year’s resolutions (and in tomorrow’s article we’re going to argue that you should forget all about those and make a smarter promise to yourself in 2012), then do yourself a favour and wait another 24 hours before you impose them on your poor self – a run round the park today might just be the end of you!

What’s your favourite cure for a hangover? Have you started 2012 with a head in bits, or are you in rude health and all smug with yourself? Let us know how your partying went last night and how you’re feeling today. And happy new year to one and all!

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