Best Hangover Cures

Tips To Cure Hangovers

Finding the best hangover remedies may prove difficult. Preventing hangovers are far preferred to trying to find hangover cures. However if you were not successful in any of the prescribed methods of preventing hangovers, you'll have to try out hangover cures instead. There are some ways of curing that pounding headache, dry mouth and nausea.

Drink fruit juice. A large glass of orange juice or tomato juice, in other words, will help accelerate removal of the alcohol still in your system the morning after.

"Fruit juice contains a form of sugar called fructose, which helps the body burn alcohol faster," explains Seymour Diamond, M.D., director of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, Illinois.

Eat crackers and honey. Honey is a very concentrated source of fructose. Believe it or not, sauerkraut juice is said by some to neutralize congeners.

Get some pain relief. A headache is invariably a part of the package that goes with a hangover. Take aspirin, acetaminophen or ibuprofen but nothing stronger that that.

Willow bark is a natural, organic pain reliever as it contains a natural form of salicylate, the active ingredient in aspirin.

Drink bouillon. Broth made from bouillon cubes or any homemade soup broth will help replace the salt and potassium your body loses when you drink.

Replenish your water supply. "Alcohol causes dehydration of your body cells," says John Brick, Ph.D., chief of research at the Center of Alcohol Studies of Rutgers State University of New Jersey. "Drinking plenty of water before you go to bed and again when you get up the morning after may help relieve discomfort caused by dehydration."

Take B-complex vitamins. Drinking drains the body of these valuable vitamins. Research shows your system turns to B vitamins when it is under stress—and overtaxing the body with too much booze, beer, or wine definitely qualifies as stress. Replenishing your body with a B-complex vitamin capsule can help shorten the duration of your hangover.

Eat amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Like vitamins and minerals, they can also be depleted by use of alcohol. Replenishing amino acids plays a role in repairing the ravages of a hangover. Amino acids are also available in capsule form at most health food stores.

Have two cups of coffee. Coffee acts as a vasoconstrictor - something that reduces the swelling of blood vessels that causes headache. Coffee can do a great deal to relieve the headaches associated with hangovers and is often recommended as a hangover cure but coffee being diuretic may cause you to lose even more fluids.

If you have a headache, cool/cold compresses may help.

Eat a good meal. If you can tolerate it, that is. A balanced meal will replace the loss of essential nutrients. But keep the meal light; no fats or fried foods. Toast, cereal, fruit and yogurt are easier to digest than eggs and dairy.

There's no real concern over hangover prevention. Although there are many ways to cure hangovers, the best way is to moderate your drinking and prevent getting hangovers in the first place. Just basic common sense, but if only it's that easy to follow!

Hangover Cures Around The World

Weird And Wonderful Hangover Cures

Different hangover cures can be found in different countries and here are some of the strange and curious ways to cure hangovers in different parts of the world.

While no one really bothers very much about what causes hangovers, there sure are widely differing opinions on hangover cures.

The following are strictly to be taken tongue-in-cheek and you are solely responsible for the outcome of the following methods of hangover cures.

1. Australia
   A big T-bone steak. If that fails then a chocolate milk shake.




2. France
   Drink thick, hot onion soup the next morning.




3. Germany
   Downing a sour herring with a beer chaser.




4. Haiti
   Stick 13 black-headed pins in the cork of the bottle that gave you the hangover.




5. Norway
   A heavy glass of cream




6. Outer Mongolia
   Eat a pickled sheep's eye in a glass of tomato juice.




7. Puerto Rico
   Rub a lemon under your drinking arm.




8. Russia
   Heavily salted cucumber juice or black bread soaked in water.




9. Switzerland
   A sip of brandy with a dash of peppermint.

If anyone has tried these hangover relief remedies, kindly document their effectiveness.

Alcohols That Cause Worst Hangovers

Which Alcohol Most Likely To Cause Hangovers

Studies show alcohol hangovers are more likely to occur with certain types of alcohol. From the worst kind of alcohol that will cause a hangover to the alcohol that will least cause a hangover: brandy, bourbon, whiskey, red wine, rum, white wine, gin and vodka. According to the British Medical Journal, drinking bourbon whiskey is twice as likely to cause a hangover than the same amount of vodka.

Another suggestion of the reason why certain types of alcohol are more likely to cause hangovers is alcohol made from a bad harvest. Wine from countries that experience a small change in climate affects the quality of wine greatly, to the extent that in a bad season, the wne may contain much more substances that cause hangovers. Wine producing countries that experience such climate changes include France, Germany and New Zealand.

Some think that drinking wine that is too young causes hangovers. This is because of certain substances found in young wines that have yet to be neutralized over the years. Red and white wine is kept in oak barrels to mature and should be kept for a minimal amount of time.

Wine stored in oak barrels for six months should be acceptable to drink within the first year. If the wine is stored for twelve months or more in oak barrels, it should then be aged at least four years. Some winemakers have been known to add oak chips directly into the wine to enhance flavors (especially in a weak vintage and especially in cheaper wines); this can take years to become neutral.

So it would seem that one of the hangover remedies is not to drink wine that is not yet matured.

What Causes Hangovers?

Hangover Causes And Cures

Over drinking leads to hangovers but what exactly causes hangovers? There are many sources that give the same reasons although non seem to support these findings scientifically. Here are the many explanations given for the cause of hangovers. Let's look at the causes of hangover headaches first. Some hangover cures will be discussed later.

Hangovers Are Caused By Dehydration
Alcohol is a diuretic, ie a drug that increases urination and flushes fluids from the body. Therefore lots of alcohol from over drinking leads to a very dehydrated body.

Hangovers Are Caused By Alcohol Poisioning
Hangovers are caused by toxic reactions or mild alcohol poisoning. There are complex organic molecules such as methanol and acetone are found in some drinks and are said to be responsible for hangovers rather than ethanol (alcohol). This view is supported by researcher Dr. Ian Calder of the National Hospital for Neurosurgery (London).

Hangovers Are Caused By Nutrient Depletion
Long term effects of overdrinking causes the body to be depleted of nutrients and substances including including blood sugar, vitamins and minerals for the body to stay healthy.

Hangovers Are Caused By Alcohol Withdrawal
Evidence is emerging to suggest that hangovers are caused by the body reacting to a loss of alcohol intake. Mack Mitchell, M.D., vice president of the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation in Baltimore, and assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University says that when the cells in the brain change physically in reaction to the presence of alcohol. In addition, veins in the brain swell which combines with the withdrawal effects to cause alcohol hangovers.

Which ever of these causes hangovers, we know that hangovers not the desired after effects of a good night's drinking. So what are some of the hangover cures that are effective. Or can we prevent hangovers from happening in the first place?