Visual Guide to a Hangover

Why vodka is the best liquor choice to avoid hangovers
While a hangover is nearly impossible to avoid if you drink too much, even moderate or casual drinking can lead to hangovers, too. No matter what your alcohol drink preferences are, it might be worth considering a switch to high-quality vodka if you’re looking to minimize hangover effects. However, the differing fermentation and distilling processes of every alcohol can leave every kind of liquor with different chemicals remaining. The substances created as a byproduct of the fermentation process are known as congeners. Unfortunately, however, some types of alcohol are left with more congeners than others, resulting in worsened next-day hangover symptoms.

Rehydrate with water or an electrolyte-rich sports drink. If you don’t already drink coffee regularly, don’t down a cup in hopes of relieving your hangover. Drinking and smoking at the same time increase the severity of a hangover. She is also the founder of the digital motherhood support platform Dear Sunday Motherhood and a co-founder of the newsletter Two Truths Motherhood and the maternal rights non-profit Chamber of Mothers. She is a mom to three daughters and lives in the Boston suburbs. Many medications are metabolized (meaning broken down) by the liver and kidneys—the same organs your body uses to metabolize alcohol, which can leave those two organs working overtime, and possibly not performing their best.

You drank darker spirits

Alcohol is the main culprit in a hangover, but other components of alcoholic beverages might contribute to hangover symptoms or make a hangover worse. But some people are more likely to have hangovers than others are. A difference in a gene that affects the way the body breaks down alcohol may make some people flush, sweat or become ill after drinking even a small amount of alcohol. Alcoholic beverages contain ingredients called congeners. These give many types of alcoholic beverages their taste and smell. Congeners are found in larger amounts in dark liquors, such as brandy and bourbon, than in clear liquors, such as vodka and gin.

Although antiemetic medication like Pepto-Bismol might help reduce nausea and vomiting, it might not stop it entirely. Alcohol can irritate the stomach lining, causing acid release and inflammation. If you’re not sure which OTC nausea treatment to choose, consider speaking with a pharmacist.

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As stated in the “Causes” section, certain alcohols have different hangover-causing properties based on their congener content. If you are particularly predisposed to hangovers, it may be worthwhile to experiment with alcohols that have low congener content, how long a hangover last such as beer, vodka, and white wine. A good rule of them is that the lighter the spirit is, the fewer congeners it has. It is also commonly believed that hangovers get worse with age. This, however, has also never been proven in a study of hangover severity.