New Year Hangover Advice: What Works, What Doesn’t

Overview

• Health authorities reiterate there is no safe level of alcohol and advise avoiding binge episodes defined as four or more standard drinks for women and five for men in one occasion.
• Before drinking, eat to avoid an empty stomach, alternate alcoholic beverages with water, choose fast-absorbing carbohydrates if short on time, and skip fatty foods beforehand to ease liver load.
• On the day after, focus on rehydration and light foods such as fruits and vegetables, using analgesics or antiemetics only for symptom relief since recovery largely depends on time.
• Products like Engov provide limited, symptomatic relief and do not prevent hangovers when taken before drinking.
• Mixing different types of alcohol does not inherently worsen hangovers, as risk is driven by total ethanol consumed, while heavy episodes raise risks of accidents, violence, risky sex and long-term diseases including cardiovascular disease and cancer.