Top 5 Tips for Curing Your New Year’s Day Hangover
As the end of the year quickly approaches, we start thinking about what we’re going to do for New Year’s Eve. Do we stay in? Do we go out? No matter where we decide to raise our glasses at midnight, one thing is usually a big part of the celebration: alcohol. Of course, that often means that many of us are searching desperately for hangover cures the next morning.
Even if we try to keep our cool on NYE, many of us usually end up finishing off way more drinks than we planned and having an amazing new year’s party. And while we do our best to be good for the new year, unfortunately, lots of people tend to wake up on January 1 with the worst hangover.
Because no one really knows who’ll be struck with a massive headache or feel like dead weight in the morning, we’ve put together a list of hangover cures that can get you through the beginning of the new year. Don’t worry, these don’t require too much energy and can usually be found at home. Or if you’re a great planner, you can have some cures at your nightstand, so they are available when the sun comes up and the headache begins.
Here Are Our Top Five Hangover Cures:
5.) Yoga
Although you would probably rather stay in bed all day, getting a little active will help you get through a hangover after the raging New Year’s Eve party. The Yoga Journal suggests doing specific, gentle poses and movements to help the blood circulate and move along the recovery process.
There are many movements like the cat-cow pose or corpse pose (we promise it’s not as depressing as it sounds) that require hardly any effort at all. And if you find that some sequences make you feel more nauseated than better, then you can always resort to the child pose and lie on your yoga mat like a happy(ish) clam.
Even if you haven’t tried yoga before or you haven’t had much experience, you may be surprised at the good this form of exercise and relaxation can do for your body. Yoga is certainly one of the best hangover cures, and it can even help improve your mood even when you’re not trying to get rid of a hangover.
Tips:
- Try a YouTube video. If you’re not familiar with doing yoga, YouTube has some instructional videos to get you started.
- Do it with a friend. If you’re having trouble motivating yourself, invite a friend to do yoga with you. The companionship can help you keep going. Bonus points if your friend can help you learn new poses.
- Check out our Ultimate Yoga Guide. We’ve got articles on yoga for beginners, yoga retreats, beer yoga (yes, there is beer yoga) and more!
4.) Sleep
Because alcohol has some sedative components, it can make you feel more relaxed. But this only really happens in small or moderate amounts. So if you’re downing glasses of wine or going for the tequila shots, you’ll probably be more likely to have a harder time falling asleep.
Because you’ll probably be getting to bed at some ridiculous hour, sleeping in is one of the best hangover cures. If you’re planning to sleep into the first day of 2018, perhaps getting blackout curtains for your windows will help you stay asleep and hopefully rid yourself of that pounding headache the morning after.
Tips:
- Use essential oils. Some essential oils can help you get better sleep. Some of the most popular scents to help you get more rest are lavender, sandalwood, bergamot and chamomile.
- Get good sleep products. Our list of gifts for insomniacs might help you find what you need to feel more rested. Or take a look at our best mattress guide for finding possibly the most important part – the thing you sleep on every day!
- Go to bed earlier. If you can’t sleep in to get rid of the hangover, go to bed earlier that night. This will help your body feel rested after you’ve worn it out from partying and trying hangover cures the next morning.
3.) Drink Lots of Water
Even though you’re having drinks, alcohol actually makes you more dehydrated because it has diuretic effects, which also explains why you feel like your bladder can’t hold much. These effects are also what makes trips to the bathroom are more frequent. All the loss of fluids in your body leads to headaches, dizziness and fatigue. But if you drink water in between each cocktail or follow some H2O with every shot, it’ll save you from feeling the effects afterward. Drinking water is one of the best hangover cures because you can start the cure even before the hangover begins!
If you completely forget to hydrate during the festivities, leave a large bottle of water like this S’well bottle near your bed to make sure you have water near you. If you go to sleep before getting a sip, at least the water won’t be too far from you when you wake up with that splitting headache.
Tips:
- Track your water intake. Write down whenever you finish a bottle of water, use an app or [amazon_textlink asin=’B077YYVQZ8′ text=’buy a water intake tracker’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’top50c30-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’b4fefd76-03e3-11e9-8d03-5d214ef4c39f’]. This can help you know if you need to hydrate more.
- Take a drink as soon as you wake up. Even if you’re not hung over, drinking water first thing in the morning can help you feel more awake and get hydrated.
- Drink plenty of water the day of a party. If you know you’re going to a party or a bar where you’ll be drinking more than usual, make an effort to drink more water during the day to prepare your body for the diuretic effects of the alcohol you’ll be drinking later.
2.) Take Some Electrolytes
Electrolytes are some of the most important nutrients that keep us alive. And like water, they heavily decrease when we drink a lot of alcohol.
When you’re hugging a toilet at the end of the night, you also lose massive amounts of electrolytes. So aside from water, it’s best to pump up these nutrients. That way, your body will be able to recover from your celebrating more easily.
Coconut water is a great supplement that will increase electrolytes in your body. You can also consume bananas to load up on the potassium. And if you’re looking for a quicker fix than diving into a fruit salad, you can take the How To Be Single route and load up on the Pedialyte. If you want something less juvenile, you can grab some of these Nuun Hydration tablets.
Tips:
- Try more than one kind of electrolyte supplements. You might discover a favorite you didn’t know about if you only tried one or two options, or some kinds might work better for you when you’re particularly hung over.
- Keep some on hand. You never know when you might need some extra electrolytes. Keep something in your cupboard just in case. You may need to regain electrolytes when you’ve been doing heavy exercise or when you’ve been out in the hot sun for a while, so electrolyte supplements can come in handy even when you’re not dealing with a vicious hangover.
1.) Eat a Nutritious Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And after a night of heavy drinking, it’s extra critical. Eating is one of the most popular (and important) hangover cures. Whether or not you ended up kissing the porcelain at the beginning of the year, refilling the nutrients that left your body throughout the party will surely make you feel better by the afternoon. But before you start digging into anything that’s in your fridge, you should think about what you’re eating before you put it in your mouth.
Although we crave burgers, pizza and the greasiest of foods after all the alcohol, loading up on the fatty foods aren’t going to heal you of all your morning ills — they’re more of a temporary fix. And if you’ve already vomited, your stomach can’t handle all the grease well. Even if you’ve tried greasy foods as a hangover cure before, you may be surprised to see how much better you feel if you try a different option.
Instead, go for more nutritious stuff. We’re not saying you’ll have to go for full-on healthy, but think about the nutrients that your body is lacking at the moment. Amino acids in eggs are great in helping flush your liver of the toxins from alcohol. Maybe make up some scrambled eggs, eat some French toast or grab a breakfast burrito. Chicken noodle soup might not be breakfast food, but it has been good for sick days. So why not try it out for the hungover ones, too? But if you need something a little lighter, you can’t go wrong with some crackers and jam.
Tips:
- Buy food in advance. If you know you’re going to be drinking and that you won’t feel like cooking healthy food the next day, stock your fridge, freezer or cupboard in advance with food you like to eat when you’re hung over. If you’re not sure what you’ll feel up to, gather a variety of options so you can easily find something that will sit well on your stomach.
- Use a food delivery service. Didn’t prepare? Don’t have anything good on-hand? Use services like Doordash, Postmates, Grubhub or UberEats to find someone who can bring delicious, nutritious food right to your door.
What are your best hangover cures? Let us know on social media!
