New Study Finds There Is No Cure for a Hangover
Eating and drinking before bed may just be a myth.
You were responsible. You had a few too many drinks, but you had that entire water bottle when you got home. And then a second one. And that was after the McDonald’s pitstop. No way you’ll be hung over. Turns out that’s not good enough because a new study out of the Netherlands has found that there are just no proven hangover cures, the BBC reports.
The study surveyed over 800 students, asking them what their post-drinking habits were to prevent hangovers. Two-thirds drank water before bed and 54 percent ate food, but none of that ameliorated the day-after nausea, headache, and overall wanting to die. Utrecht University’s Dr. Joris C. Verster couldn’t even offer advice, just an explanation:
The more you drink, the more likely you are to get a hangover. Drinking water may help against thirst and a dry mouth, but it will not take away the misery, the headache and the nausea.
It’s easy to be skeptical about the study. After all, it’s a survey without any testing or control groups. That, however, is in part because we don’t know the real cause for hangovers. According to Verster, basically all we know is “the immune system is involved.”
As often seems to be the case with alcohol, the answer to prevent hangovers and other bad stuff is to drink less. But that’s already pretty obvious. People will go to extreme lengths to combat the post-alcohol perils, including eating “activated charcoal” or getting on-demand in-home IV treatment. Learning that there’s no cure won’t stop anyone from drinking. Now that we know resistance might be futile, may as well drink more and just accept the consequences!
