From tequila shots to Southern-style rum , there’s nothing like relaxing on a Friday night with a few of your favorite drinks and your closest friends. It’s fun right up until the next morning when your mouth is dry, your stomach is heaving, and your head feels like it has its own marching band during a parade.
While there are quite a few legitimate hangover tips and cures out there, from staying hydrated to combining vitamin B and alcohol to prevent the consequences of drinking too much, there are many that don’t work. Here are a few of our favorite hangover myths.
The Hair of the Dog
For a typical hangover, drinking the alcohol that gives you that headache will only serve to dehydrate you more. The old wives’ tale about drinking the hair of the dog that bit you is a complete myth, and one to be avoided. This cure is mostly for alcoholics that are suffering withdrawal after a night of drinking. It’s not good for them, and it’s certainly not the right cure for an occasional drinker either.
Drinking Coffee
Even though you see friends in movies forcing other friends to drink coffee when they’ve had too much to drink, it honestly doesn’t do much for a hangover. If you’re someone who has coffee every morning, then it could help with caffeine withdrawal, but it’s not going to help with the hangover. The caffeine in the coffee could make that throbbing headache even worse, so if you can, drink water instead of coffee after a night out on the town.
Eating a Greasy Breakfast
While nothing tastes better than a plate of greasy bacon, sausage, and scrambled eggs after a hard night of partying, it could make that queasy stomach a whole lot worse. Greasy food is known to cause indigestion, which will make you feel even worse than you did when you dragged yourself out of bed.
Popping a Tylenol Before Bed
One of the most used and least effective hangover prevention cures is popping Tylenol or some other form of over-the-counter pain reliever before you sink into bed. Chances are that the pain reliever will wear off long before your hangover kicks in. Also, since alcohol irritates the lining of your stomach, and some pain relievers, such as aspirin, do too, you might just be dealing yourself a double whammy by taking them to prevent the hangover, to begin with.
Staying in Bed
While resting is a good idea, especially if your hangover causes you to sleep poorly, it’s a good idea to get up and move around a bit. Staying in bed just makes you feel worse and sore once the hangover is finally gone. That isn’t to say that you need to get up and run a marathon, but a little exercise can help you sweat out those toxins and put you on the path to feeling normal again.
There’s nothing wrong with laying back on a Friday night with friends and having a few drinks. However, if you drink to excess, then you can expect a horrible hangover on Saturday morning to be in your future. These hangover cures are not going to help you, but there are many out there that will, not the least of which is to drink in moderation and not to overindulge, to begin with.
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