How to Cure a Hangover Quickly

There is no instant cure for a hangover. Alcohol takes time for the body to process and it leaves lingering effects, such as dehydration and intestinal irritation that your body grapples with during the hangover. Curing one quickly partly entails avoiding or minimizing the booze in the first place. If you wake up with a hangover, however, you can take a few steps to address the symptoms, which should shorten the time it takes for you to recover.

Instructions

1. Plan for the hangover while you're drinking. Eat food with your alcohol and drink lots of water between drinks. The liver takes about an hour to process 1 ounce of alcohol (1 bottle of beer, 1 glass of wine or 1 shot of hard liquor), so pace yourself while you're drinking. Don't mix different kinds of alcohol while drinking and try to focus on drinks with fewer congeners (i.e., clear drinks such as vodka or gin instead of dark-colored drinks such as scotch or brandy).

2. Take some vitamin B6 before going to bed the night before you drink. It might also help to have a light snack and drink more water if you can. They will cut the effects of the hangover in the morning.

3. Sleep. Anytime you go drinking, it pays to set aside plenty of time in the morning to sleep in. The more you get, the more time your body has to process the alcohol.

4. Drink more water when you wake up. Alcohol dries out your body. The more you can replenish the water, both while you're drinking and during the hangover itself, the better your body will recover. Stay away from coffee and other caffeinated beverages.

5. If you're suffering from nausea, drink fruit juice or carbonated beverages such as ginger ale. They will help settle your stomach. Take the beverage in gradually, with small sips. If you feel up to eating, stick to bland, easily digestible foods with a lot of carbohydrates, such as crackers or white rice. Vitamins B and C will replenish your body's electrolytes as well.

Tips & Warnings

• The burned toast cure is not generally considered reliable. Burned toast is usually intended as a type of activated charcoal, delivered as an antidote to ingested poisons. The trouble is that the poison (i.e., the alcohol) has already been absorbed into your system by the time the hangover rolls around. Eating burned toast won't hurt you, but neither does it do anything to cure the hangover more quickly.

• Never take more alcohol as a means of curing a hangover. The "hair of the dog" cure may stave off the symptoms temporarily, but makes it even worse when it finally does appear.