Having a hangover after a night of drinking too much is something many adults are familiar with. I’m hoping for your sake that you are on this page just in case and are not desperately searching for natural hangover remedies to cure your throbbing head.
If you are suffering from the night before right now, you have my sympathies! Hangovers suck!
Hangovers tend to come about for two reasons – either you know the night before you are drinking too much but were having too much fun to care.
In other cases, you simply forget to eat enough or drink water, and end up with an “accidental” hangover.
Regardless of the why, it can be extremely miserable when you have a hangover.
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Typical Hangover Symptoms
Hangover symptoms vary form person to person. The type of alcohol you consumed the night before can also make a difference (mixing drinks can make your hangover symptoms much worse!).
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Weakness
- Dry Mouth
Hangover symptoms feel similar to the flu, though luckily they don’t last nearly as long
If you want to avoid going for aspirin or other over-the-counter pain relievers, you can try some of these natural remedies instead.
What is the best natural cure for a hangover?
Let’s be clear here, there is no magic hangover cure that will take all your symptoms away in 5 minutes. However, there are some natural remedies that can ease that horrible nausea and make you feel better as quickly as possible.
1. Prevention
Before you ever start drinking, you can start treating your hangover by avoiding it altogether.
After all, prevention is key for many things, allowing you to avoid the worst of your hangover symptoms, and possibly avoiding them entirely.
The key to preventing a hangover? Preparation!
There are a few things you can do before a night out that will make a drastic difference in how you feel the next day.
Here are a few ways to prevent all those uncomfortable hangover symptoms:
Drink lots of water
To start with, you should be hydrating as much as possible. Drink plenty of water the day leading up to your party or special event, and drink water while drinking alcohol.
Either choose a drink with water in it, like a gin and tonic, or alternate your drinks so you have a glass of water between each alcoholic drink.
This will help to keep you hydrated, which is imperative if you want to avoid a hangover.
Avoid drinks with sugar
Unfortunately, all those delicious fruity, mixed drinks can do a lot more damage than good.
If you tend to go for the sweet mixed drinks like Comospolitans and margaritas, you are getting a lot of sugar in your drink.
Not only is the sugar bad for the waistline, but it can also worsen your hangover symptoms exponentially. You will also face the double whammy of a sugar hangover and an alcohol hangover.
Try to stick to the sugar-free drinks like a vodka soda or a light beer.
Choose light-coloured liquor
If you prefer liquor to beer, then your choice in alcohol can make or break your hangover prevention success.
It is typically better to choose light, clear liquors for hangover prevention. This includes drinks like vodka, rum, and gin.
Try to avoid bourbon and whiskey if you tend to get bad hangovers after a night of drinking heavily.
Eat something first
Everyone knows this advice but so many forget it in the heat of a party or big event.
If you want to prevent a hangover, you need to eat something.
Drinking on an empty stomach is a recipe for disaster.
What food is best for avoiding a hangover?
Something light and simple is your best bet. Avoid foods with spices and strong flavors that could irritate your stomach.
Drink slowly
When you drink fast, the alcohol not only hits your system a lot harder, but you don’t realize how drunk you are getting.
This tends you to drink more than you normally would, and often leads to a much more severe hangover than you would otherwise have gotten.
6 Natural Hangover Remedies That Work
1. Hydrate
If you have a hangover, the number one best thing you can do is re-hydrate.
Alcohol has a tendency to dehydrate you severely, which is why you feel to terrible.
When you get dehydrated, all of those classic hangover symptoms such as your headache, dizziness, and nausea or vomiting are intensified.
If you are vomiting as a result of the hangover, you are becoming even more dehydrated, making water absolutely essential, however impossible it seems to keep it down.
Not only is drinking more water the morning after going to help with the hangover symptoms and improve your hydration, but it helps to clear out those alcohol toxins from your body more quickly.
Drink More Water
To start with, drink plain water when you have a hangover. The type of water and temperature really depend on you, your preferences, and what helps with the nausea.
Some people prefer room temperature water as it is easy on their stomach, others find cool or warm water to be more soothing.
If you can stomach it, make a simple tonic with some ginger and lemon in your water, or drink a cup of tea for the water instead.
When drinking water with a hangover, you don’t want to gulp it or drink too quickly. Sip slowly to avoid more stomach upset.
Try Coconut Water
Coconut water is another great option as it has nutrients that help with the hangover while also providing necessary hydration.
You may also want to try coconut kefir, which is a raw coconut water, if you can handle it.
However, only drink this if you have had it before and like the taste. Dealing with a hangover is not the best time to try new things.
Electrolyte Drinks
There are also some other beverages you can drink that will help hydrate you aside from just water.
Look for drinks that contain electrolytes, but not a ton of sugar. This might include sports drinks that are sugar-free, your favourite type of tea, or just having a little broth.
If you need some intense hydration, these Liquid I.V supplement mix packets are packed with electrolytes for fast relief.
With dehydration, you lose a lot of necessary salt and electrolytes, so you need to replenish them
If you cannot handle even a drink of water and need an emergency hangover cure, stat, try some fruit-flavoured popsicles that will hydrate you without forcing you to down glass after glass of water.
Is coffee bad for a hangover?
If you have to go to work or have stuff to do, you are probably desperate for a shot of caffeine. However, will caffeine make you even more dehydrated and worsen your hangover symptoms?
Not according to the Mayo Clinic. The good news is that “while caffeinated drinks may have a mild diuretic effect — meaning that they may cause the need to urinate — they don’t appear to increase the risk of dehydration”.
Bear in mind that your morning cup of coffee isn’t a magic hangover cure but it may help you avoid the added headache and caffeine withdrawal symptoms if you don’t drink it.
2. Go Back to Sleep
When you wake up in the morning and realize you have a bad hangover, the first thing you typically experience is the pounding headache, often accompanied by dizziness and body weakness.
This dizziness can make the nausea you already have much worse.
After you take some sips of water or have a little tea, try to go back to sleep.
Even if you don’t fall asleep, rest is really important. Don’t assume you can just get up and go about your day like you normally would.
This doesn’t mean you should stay in bed all day, but you should definitely give yourself some time to rest.
If you have to go to work, take a little more time getting up. Give yourself an extra hour of sleep, have a light breakfast with water or a cup of tea, and let your boss know you might be a couple hours late.
The more you try to do, the longer it will take to start feeling better.
The good news is that hangover symptoms typically only stick around for a few hours, and rarely more than 24 hours. The bad news is getting through those first few hours. Sleep is definitely a top priority
3. Eat The Right Foods
When it is time to get up and start preparing for your day, you don’t want to do so before you eat something.
When you have nausea in the morning from a bad hangover, food is probably the last thing you want, but it will definitely help.
This is especially true if your hangover is worse because you didnt eat enough before you started drinking the night before.
Here are some tips for eating when you have a hangover:
Stick to Bland Foods
For starters, you want to stick to bland foods only. Avoid anything with sugar or a lot of spices that can make your nausea worse.
You are treating your stomach the same way as any other time you have nausea.
Consider the types of foods you eat when you have the cold, flu, or possibly morning sickness if you have ever been pregnant.
Some hangover foods include:
- Dry crackers
- Toast – dry or with butter
- Mashed potatoes
- Broth
- Bananas
Don’t force yourself to eat anything that isn’t appetizing. If a banana sounds horrid, skip that and try a few crackers instead.
Eat Slowly
Remember to eat slowly! Everything you do when you have a hangover should be done slowly and easily.
Don’t rush through eating and don’t try to eat a big meal when you are struggling with nausea.
Nibble on your crackers, eat just one piece of dry toast, and sip at your broth.
Eat Smaller Meals
Throughout the day of your hangover, eat smaller meals of bland foods until you start feeling better.
Does Greasy Food Help A Hangover?
For some reason, lots of people crave greasy food like burgers and fries when they have a hangover.
Popular thinking is that the grease in these junk foods will absorb the alcohol in your stomach and make you feel better. Unfortunately this is an Old Wife’s Tale and is not true.
In fact, greasy food will make an upset stomach even worse!
Even if by lunch your symptoms are starting to subside, it doesn’t mean you should have a big plate of enchiladas or go out for your favorite Chinese food.
All the oil and spices can really do a number on your nausea and cause it to come back.
4. Try Herbs
When talking about natural ways to relieve a hangover, it is great to start with drinking water and hydrating your body, getting rest, and having something to eat, but these are not the only hangover cures available.
There are also some natural and holistic remedies that can help tremendously, including herbs. Here are some herbs to consider for your hangover:
Ginger
The first herb that can help with your hangover is ginger.
This is what you will see in a lot of teas and hangover tonics, so definitely add it to the rotation.
With ginger, it is best to use fresh ginger root by shaving pieces to add to your hangover drinks or foods. You can also buy ginger candy for nausea and upset tummies.
Ginger is amazing at reducing nausea and preventing vomiting, as it is easy on the stomach and provides wonderful relief.
Prickly Pear Cactus
Studies are still being performed, but it has shown great results in helping to prevent a hangover by taking prickly pear extract a few hours before you start drinking.
If you like sparkling water, the San Pellegrino Prickly Pear and Orange Sparkling Fruit Beverage is worth trying. You cna even use it as a mixer!
Aloe
Who doesn’t love aloe? This miracle herb helps with so many things from sunburns to headaches, and now you can use it to find relief for your hangover symptoms.
Aloe not only helps with your headache, but it can coat your stomach lining to reduce the acidity that is causing your nausea.
Aloe Juice is a great way to get your fill of aloe.
Milk Thistle
Lastly, you can try using milk thistle.
This is great because it can help to cleanse your liver to reduce the effects of a hangover, and heal your liver which is essential when you drink a little too much.
Milk thistle can be bought as a supplement, making it very easy to use as a hangover remedy.
5. Take a B Vitamin
Taking vitamins and minerals on a regular basis is always a good idea, whether you tend to get hangovers or not. One of the best natural hangover remedies is a B Vitamin Complex.
When you drink too much alcohol, it starts to deplete the vitamins you already have stored in your body.
B vitamins help to detox your liver so can really help to detox your liver and eliminate the alcohol in your system.
You can reduce hangover symptoms just by taking a B vitamin daily, especially the day before you intend to drink.
6. Make a Hangover Tonic
For this hangover cure, you want to prepare the night before.
If you are dealing with pounding headache, dizziness, and nausea right now, the last thing you want to do is get in the kitchen and make a tonic.
Hangover Cure Drink Recipes
Healthy Juice Tonic
To start with, you can make a simple juice tonic with fruits and veggies that are easy to digest and will help relieve your symptoms. For this juice, you want to combine carrots, apples, lemon juice, and beets, then add a little ginger root to it for added relief.
Don’t have carrots? Try another vegetable instead. Another option is to brew some dandelion root tea, let it cool, then use that with your juice.
Coconut Smoothie
Since coconut water is great for replenishing the hydration in your body, it makes sense that it would also be used for a tonic.
This is more of a smoothie than a juice, and uses coconut water with honey, almond butter, banana, ginger root, and a little bit of oatmeal to fill up your belly.
Natural Hangover Cures You Can Buy
If you are desperate for a natural hangover cure and want something easy to take with you to a hotel or vacation, these are the topped rank natural remedies available via Prime on Amazon.
Flyby Recovery
Flyby Recovery gets over 1500 awesome reviews on Amazon, It targets all the negative effects of alcohol using some of the best natural hangover remedies:
- Vitamins B & Spirulina (Chlorophyll) replenish nutrients depleted by alcohol
- Panax Ginseng is known for it’s anti-inflammatory benefits
- Milk Thistle supports healthy liver function and antioxidant activity
- N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) boosts glutathione, a powerful detoxifier that metabolizes alcohol-induced toxins
- Dihydromyricetin (DHM) minimizes the rebound effect caused by alcohol, which can cause headaches and fog
- Prickly Pear protects proteins and lipids from damage when your body breaks down alcohol
LES Labs DeToxx for Hangovers
DeToxx is specifically formulated to help prevent hangover symptoms and support healthy liver function. It is packed with natural hangover remedies including prickly pear and milk thistle extracts to help fight nausea, dry mouth, and loss of appetite.
Cheers® After-Alcohol Aid™ is a patented solution designed to mitigate the negative effects of alcohol. It was featured on an episode of Shark Tank and had tons of amazing reviews.
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