Cures for the Common Hangover: Survival Tips for the Holidays

'Tis the season to celebrate, but beware! One too many glasses of eggnog at the office holiday party, or a bit more bubbly than you anticipated on New Year's Eve, and you're likely to find yourself feeling less than cheerful the day after. Is there a cure for the common hangover? The Times gives serious party goers some morning after tips.

It’s the time of year, as Christmas partying gets under way, when the shelves of pharmacies and healthfood shops groan under the weight of supplements that supposedly prevent hangovers. Whereas in the past we had only the “plink, plink, fizz” of Alka-Seltzer, now there is a proliferation of cures. But do any of them really protect you from the worst effects of alcohol?

All of them will target at least one of the damaging effects of alcohol. We feel dreadful after drinking because of dehydration, the build-up of destructive chemicals created when the liver tries to break down alcohol, shortages of minerals and vitamins, the loss of sugar stores and poisons in our blood from impurities in alcoholic drinks. The label of some products will state which side-effects they aim to prevent. So which products do what, and which ones are worth buying? Read more