How to Get Rid of a Hangover Fast: What Actually Works

Nothing cures a hangover. Your liver converts alcohol into acetaldehyde, then breaks that down further, and it does so at its own pace regardless of what you drink, swallow or stick on your arm. Any product promising a cure is selling you a rehydration effect with the label turned up too high.

What you can act on is the rest of it: the fluid you lost, the electrolytes that went with it, the blood sugar dip and the sleep you didn't really get. That is a substantial share of how rough you feel.

Alcohol suppresses vasopressin, the hormone that tells your kidneys to conserve water. Without that signal, your kidneys pass far more fluid than you are replacing. Sodium, potassium and magnesium leave with it — the minerals your nerves and muscles depend on. That combination is the headache, the fog, the cramping and the flat, heavy feeling.

The single most useful thing you can do happens before you sleep. A 500ml electrolyte drink before bed narrows the deficit you wake up with instead of leaving your body to run dry for eight hours. Plain water helps a little; fluid carrying electrolytes helps considerably more, because your body actually holds onto it.

• Rehydrate with electrolytes before anything else — sip, don't down
• Hold off on coffee until you have replaced fluid
• Open a window or step outside; fresh air and light help reset your body clock
• Avoid the 'hair of the dog' — it postpones the hangover rather than removing it

Alcohol lowers blood sugar, which is part of the shakiness and the fog. Something with salt and slow-release carbohydrate — eggs on toast, a bowl of oats, soup — does more than a heavy fry-up, which tends to sit badly on a stomach alcohol has already irritated.

• Keep sipping fluid through the day; one big glass does not make up an eight-hour deficit
• Gentle movement and fresh air, not a hard training session
• A short nap if you can — the sleep you had was not restorative sleep
• Go to bed early; alcohol wrecks sleep architecture even when you slept the hours

• Eat before you drink, not after
• Alternate alcoholic drinks with AlcoHydrate through the night
• Don't drink on very little sleep or when already dehydrated
• Rehydrate with electrolytes before bed, not only in the morning
• Drinking less remains the only thing that reliably prevents a hangover

We built AlcoHydrate™ for the three glasses that matter — the one before you head out, the one before bed, and the one in the morning. Every 500ml bottle provides clean-label ingredients with no preservatives or artificial sweeteners, sodium, potassium and magnesium electrolytes, Vitamin B1 to support normal cognitive function, a B3, B5, B6 and B12 vitamin stack, Vitamin C plus zinc, which contribute to normal immune function, milk thistle extract, a traditional botanical, and 3g maximum sugar.

More detail on the science sits in our hangover recovery guide, and the two-minute video version is Episode 01.