10 Tips for Avoiding a Hangover

One way to avoid a hangover is not to drink too much! However, we often tend to drink a bit more at certain times such as Christmas, weddings, birthdays and in some cases this can often extend over the whole day and well into the evening, so here are a few tips that should help:

1. Slow down. Hangovers are related to how much you drink and how fast you drink it. The slower you drink the more time the body has to process it. It is thought that the body can handle 1 drink per hour....but I guess that depends on the size of the drink! Also, our natural ability to process alcohol varies greatly from person to person.

2. Try to drink some water as well as booze. Our bodies are mostly water and we need to be kept hydrated. Alcohol dehydrates us, so alternating your glass of wine or beer with a glass of water, or putting some sparking water in your wine can help. This also helps you to slow down your drinking.

3. Don't drink on an empty stomach. Food slows down the rate of absorption and gives your liver time to process the alcohol.

4. Take care what you choose to drink. There are naturally occurring chemicals called congeners in all fermented drinks and these contribute to hangovers. Generally the clear or light coloured drinks (white wine, vodka, gin) tend to have fewer of these and the darker drinks (red wine, whisky, brandy) tend to have more. However the cheaper it is the more by-products there are likely to be. So stick to high quality and lighter or clear coloured drinks.

5. Don't use coffee as a means of sobering up, it just dehydrates you even more and can make you feel much worse later on.

6. Drink plenty of water before you go to bed. That way your body has a chance to detoxify itself overnight.

7. Take a glass of water to bed with you for when you wake in the night feeling dry (or have to get up to pee).

8. The next day ...The homeopathic remedy Nux-Vomica (available at most chemists) can be useful the next morning if you've overdone things. However, you'll still need to drink plenty of water! (Steer clear of Ibuprofen as this is not recommended with alcohol as there is the potential for liver damage. Aspirin can aggravate the symptoms of hangover and can irritate the stomach).

9. Eat well. Your body may well have flushed some nutrients out as well in its efforts to get rid of the alcohol so you need to replenish these. This means eating vegetables and fruit and steering away from greasy, fatty foods. Tomatoes have a good reputation, as do bananas, so you could try these and see what works for you.

10. Go for a walk - exercise boosts adrenaline, pumps blood around the body and helps clear the system. The fresh air might clear your head too!

Here's to a good time without the hangover!