Hacks for minimizing the hangover from a night of drinking

For most people in finance careers, drinking alcohol is inevitable.

Post-work drinks with colleagues, dinner out with clients, or bottles on the weekend with friends—it's going to happen.

The upside of all that drinking is the camaraderie and bonding with colleagues, clients, and friends and the much needed stress-relief after a long day at work.

The downside of all that drinking is the brutal next-day hangover where your pickled brain is operating at half-speed and you feel like shit.

I worked for 4 years as a management consultant and there were some days when I don't know how I survived. But, toward the end of my 4 years I became really interested in 'bio-hacking' and advanced health & nutrition concepts, and found a number of super-effective ways to reduce my hangovers.

I recently quit my consulting job and am now an exercise and nutrition coach with the sole goal of helping people overcome their crippling hangovers (not really my goal, but it's a decent place to start...).

Want to enjoy a night out but without the hangover? Read on...

Hacks to minimize your hangover

As an exercise and nutrition coach, I feel obliged to tell you that drinking is bad for you. This should not be surprising news to anyone.

Despite this obvious truth, I still choose to drink alcohol—often too much—and I assume most of you will too.

Therefore I'm not going to tell you to drink less. Instead, I'm going to tell you what to do to minimize the negative effects regardless of whether you choose to have 1 or 20 drinks.

The recommendations below are curated from some of the leading bio-hackers and health experts on the web—people like Dave Asprey, Tim Ferriss, Robb Wolf, and Mark Sisson—and have been tested and refined through my own experience.

Think of this advice and it's effectiveness as a sliding scale of potential outcomes: on one end you have the worst hangover of your life, and on the other end you feel a little tired but overall pretty great. The more of these steps you implement, the closer you'll get towards the 'pretty great' end of that sliding scale.

Here's my advice on what to do before, during, and after you drink to reduce your hangover.

Before you drink:

  • Eat a meal with protein, veggies, and healthy fats. This will help keep your blood sugar stable, reducing the big spikes that usually accompany alcohol consumption.
  • Take 100 mg Vitamin B1* and 250mg Alpha Lipoic Acid* a few hours before you drink. These substances may be depleted by alcohol consumption and may help with detoxification of acetaldehyde (a substance that causes many of the worst hangover effects).

While you drink:

  • Drink distilled spirits like vodka, gin, tequila, whiskey, or scotch and avoid wine and beer. Clear spirits are better than dark spirits. This will reduce your consumption of the various toxins in alcohol (e.g. mycotoxins, sulphites, congeners, and phenolics).
  • Mix spirits with sugar-free liquids—club soda / soda water is what I use. Try the NorCal Margarita recipe—the freshly squeezed lime will also increase insulin sensitivity and help with the blood sugar spike caused by alcohol.
  • Take 500 mg Vitamin C* and 200 mg N-Acetyl-Cysteine* before each drink. This will reduce the acetaldehyde toxicity from alcohol, and is probably the most important step on this list.
  • Drink water. This will help with the dehydration that usually accompanies excessive alcohol consumption. I combine this with the step above, and have a quick glass of water with the two pills between drinks.
  • Skip last call. While crushing tequila shots right before you leave the bar may be a lot of fun at the time, it will not be as fun when you wake up still drunk.

After you drink:

  • Take ~1000 mg activated charcoal before bed. This will help absorb leftover toxins, especially congeners produced during the distillation and fermentation of darker alcohols like whiskey and rum. Be aware that activated charcoal absorbs everything, including any medications that you are taking.
  • Skip breakfast the morning after and try doing a short fast until lunch. This gives your body and liver time to focus on cleaning up the toxins from last night without the additional demand from a greasy breakfast. Spend the morning drinking a lot of water or a rehydrating drink like Pedialyte, and then eat your first meal at lunch or later in the afternoon. (There are also other benefits from this type of fasting. Check out my article on intermittent fasting for more detail.)

*instead of taking Vitamin B1, Alpha Lipoid Acid, Vitamin C, and N-Acetyl-Cysteine separately, you can try a combined pill like the one produced by Nutri-Dyn. I have never tried this product, but the ingredient list looks promising.

Here's what to do next...

The next time you have a few drinks try some or all of these hacks and see how you feel. Leave a comment below with what does or doesn't work for you.


Alistair Clark is a former management consultant and current exercise and nutrition coach that runs worklifefitness.co. He has a free guide to exercise and nutrition that helps busy professionals get better fitness results while saving a few hours each week.

 

I used to do the same, but have stopped because of the high amounts of added sugar in Vitamin Water. They do have a couple of sugar-free options you could try, or else I'd stick to water or any another sugar-free liquid.

www.worklifefitness.co
 

Simple answer: yes.

In actual practice I am not pulling out baggies like a drug addict every-time I have a drink. I act according to the context I'm in. If I'm at home having drinks with my girlfriend or friends, then it is not hard to go to the kitchen and have a pill with water. If I'm out at a bar or restaurant it's obviously harder to be discrete, but I've basically decided it's worth a little bit of effort if it's going to decrease my hangover.

www.worklifefitness.co
 
Gray Fox:

I can't fathom carrying around vitamins and popping them at the bar. I'm sure this is great advice but I think if I said "wait guys I can't have another cocktail until I take my N-acetyl-cysteine" at Peter Luger I would get laughed at and stuck with the check.

It probably works really well but like you said you'd get laughed at or more likely someone would think you're popping pills and a drug addict.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with both of your comments. If you make a big show about taking your vitamins before you have another drink then you will be laughed at and you will deserve it.

For most people in most scenarios though, it's relatively easy to discretely take a couple pills throughout the night. If you don't have one after every drink it's not a big deal, it just means you might not feel as good as if you did have one after every drink.

Basically, with all nutrition advice like this you are making a decision about whether the effort required / time invested / risk of laughter is worth the benefits you may accrue (e.g. reduced hangover). For some people, the effort of having to take multiple pills and the risk of ridicule won't be worth it, so maybe they can make use of some of the other more discrete recommendations.

www.worklifefitness.co
 
Cruncharoo:

You are not drinking enough if this is true.

So true. These little things make a difference if you're a little drunk, but not if you're really drinking, like a real man, real men drink - a lot.
"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

Skimmed the article — really interesting and I hadn't seen it before. One key difference is that his advice applies to "How to Drink All Night and Never Get Drunk" whereas I'd assume most people are drinking to get drunk.

www.worklifefitness.co
 

I've heard of this but never personally tried it. Most online references to Milk Thistle seem to refer helping repair the liver damage in recovering alcoholics, so I'm not sure about it's acute effectiveness as a hangover cure.

www.worklifefitness.co
 

Baby a bottled beer or trade off between booze and water. The downside is you'll have to piss every 11 seconds. If you're intent on just pounding away, coconut water before bed, wake-up, smoke a bowl (or take some tylenol...) and have pancakes, eggs, sausage, OJ + 2 glasses of water for breakfast. At this point you should shower and then nap. Avoid coffee, especially if you were drinking tequila. Also the whole "hit the gym" mantra, is the most bullshit advice I've ever attempted.

 

I have nothing to add other than the advice that you basically need to restrict the hardcore drinking for light days. I hit the booze pretty damn hard and I simply hate functioning in a financial setting while still shit rocked. Unless your group is really cool with you reeking like booze I would probably shelve it unless needed.

With that said, deff crush a gatorade or something before you sleep. Dehydration is the cause of 50% of the hangover. I don't think eating shit does anything in the morning other than helping your gutrot/alcohol breath.

I feel like if you can wake up an hour before you have to be to work, shower, hydrate, red eye drops, etc and basically compose yourself, you'll be a lot better (or at least look better). I sleep until the last minute, don't shave and look glassy eyed until like noon. Blows.

 
Withoutapaddle:

Also, the key is to keep drinking and moving the next day. Once you lay on that couch you're fucked

Here's where you're wrong. Lay on the couch for a few hours in the afternoon. Take a nap. Never keep the Bomb Sapph too far away. When you wake up, take a huge pull on the bottle. Afternoon naps help the cause immensely.
 
DickFuld:
Withoutapaddle:

Also, the key is to keep drinking and moving the next day. Once you lay on that couch you're fucked

Here's where you're wrong. Lay on the couch for a few hours in the afternoon. Take a nap. Never keep the Bomb Sapph too far away. When you wake up, take a huge pull on the bottle. Afternoon naps help the cause immensely.

Dick, if I'm home on a Sunday laying on my couch going in and out of consciousness watching NFL games none of this matters, of course napping and having a few afternoon tall boys will fix anything. I thought we were driving at how to be less hungover at work.

If I'm cognizant enough to crush water before bed (rarely remember) then great, but if not whatever. Hangovers are temporary and not the end of the world. This giant thread devoted to this is kinda pussyish imo.

@"0cool" Have you ever heard of killing an ant with a bazooka?

 

Ibuprofen ( not acetaminophen), multivitamin, at least 3 glasses of water before bed. For the brave, a run in the morning, usually the worst thing ever, but afterwards I feel much better. Followed by gatorade / water / smart water, eggs and toast. Sneaking in a glass of water here and there in between drinks helps. For really bad hangovers.......you just have to bend over and take it.

 

Yeah this is the sticking point for most people, but unfortunately it's also the one step that has the biggest beneficial effects. Basically, clearing up the toxicity as you go is much more effective than trying to do it after the fact the next morning.

The 'pills as you drink' recommendation falls in that general category of "stuff that's good for you but is a pain in the ass". For some people it's worth the extra effort and discipline, and for others it's not.

www.worklifefitness.co
 

Popping supplements while out is stupid. Without getting fancy, water and staying away from beer makes your night better.

Daily, as maintenance

1 Liver Rescue or Milk Thistle (the best)

2 Fish or Flax Seed Oil

Before drinking

3 Water

During drinking

4 Water

After drinking and before bed

5 Calcium + Magnesium + Vitamin D

6 Water

7 Melatonin, or something a bit stronger (you may sleep in)

If you tend to get down, depressed, or unfocused a day or two after drinking

8 L-Tyrosine

9 5-HTP

10 Acetylcholine

Also, I geeked out at work once. Hard liquors actually have the least alcohol per typical serving.

Drink Type / Size (oz) / Alcohol % (1) / Ethanol Content (ML)

Hard Liquors
Single shots / 1.00 / 40.0% / 11.83

Wines
Red wine (small) / 4.00 / 13.0% / 15.38

Beers
Beer (355ml bottle) / 12.00 / 5.0% / 17.74 Beer (500ml pint) / 16.90 / 5.0% / 24.99

Don't fall for bullshit, especially your own.
 

A hangover is dehydration resulting from excessive alcohol consumption and is no different from dehydration resulting from anything else. It can be treated the same way that one would treat dehydration in general, namely by hydrating.

Eat a banana and drink at least a liter of water before bed. Preferring liquor to beer is a very bad idea as it will lower your water intake.

Go into the drinking session well hydrated and continue to drink water throughout. Yes you will piss constantly but it's the only thing that really works.

Source: I've had two hangovers in my life.

 

Loved this read, and great timing since it's the holiday season. Had a work Christmas party this week and replaced the red wine with vodka sodas ...and had no problems the next morning - Thank you!!

 

Jesus I fee like this is a little overkill.. If I'm going to the bar I'm there to have fun and be care-free, not constantly worrying when I need to take my next pill. It also doesn't look great carrying a bag of pills into the bar...

What works for me -

  • Get something in your stomach before you start drinking
  • Drink
  • Before bed put back at least three glasses of water with a multivitamin.

When I wake up I feel fine.

 

If you're looking for a non-kids version of Pedialtye then try DripDrop (http://dripdrop.com/). I've used this many times as well, but find that it's a bit harder to find than Pedialyte.

It's designed for everyone from children to athlete's & military so it probably has a bit more powerful effect.

www.worklifefitness.co
 

I swear by the Pedialyte packets from Amazon. Ends up being ~$1/packet and acts as a "super Gatorade". There's still a little bit of the next-day brain fog, but I've found that a packet before bed/when waking up (mixed with a bottle of water) helps a lot.

 

Really seems like a hassle to do all this...

I usually just have something to eat, not too heavy. Drink spirits, stay off heavy liquor. Stay hydrated through the night, 2-3L of water. Finish the night off with a sports drink/berroca etc, wake up the next morning with a sports drink/berroca.

 

The best cure no doubt is to start your day with another drink. I'm sure Bombay Sapph does the job well, I prefer Margaritas or Blody Marys. Adding a bowl or two helps the nausea and it will guarantee you return to your normal eating habits. When I go out hard, sometimes I can't eat nothing for the whole day, even though I feel hungry.

If you need to be in working condition the next day and can't get stoned/a drink, you need to think about this during the night. I have an uncle who is very active on the 'scene', and he always tells me to have a big, greasy meal, before going out. This will help you last longer. Drink a lot of water, especially before bed. It's hard ti remember, but it will help you a little bit. If you hit the booze hard, nothing is going to really save you the next day, except things mentioned above. There are no hacks, if you're man enough to drink it, you better be man enough to suffer the consequences.. or keep drinking.

The pills before every drink is not very efficient. If you have 5 beers, you won't really have nothing to worry about the next day. If you have 5 beers, 5 cocktails a bottle of tequila/vodka and all the misc. you wont remember to take your pills anyways. So having this annoying pill ritual for 3-5 beers, which are not going to affect me next day either. Or on a big night I would probably forget about them, and be sick of them after my 6-7th drink. Not really useful.

 

Agreed on #1. This shouldn't be difficult if you bring a girl home. Do your best to get after it for 30 mins or so and then give up telling her you want to finish in the morning (Drink more water, makes it easier to actually finish in the morning). This is a double whammy because it'll get a sweat going in the morning as well.

 

Not that good. You can actually prevent the hungover or at least try to cure it. Before you go to bed drink at least 1L of water and eat something, (anything) and have some ibuprofen (for future headaches). When you wake up have more water, coffe and breakfast, more ibuprofen and antacid stomach. You are welcome.

 
Citizen:

Not that good. You can actually prevent the hungover or at least try to cure it. Before you go to bed drink at least 1L of water and eat something, (anything) and have some ibuprofen (for future headaches). When you wake up have more water, coffe and breakfast, more ibuprofen and antacid stomach. You are welcome.

You must drink like a pussy if that gets rid of your entire hangover.
 

Two things that have helped improve (reduce?) my hangovers recently. Obviously I chug as much water or juice as I can before I go to sleep (talking 2+ water bottles if possible). Then I set an alarm for about 3 hours later, so if I go to bed at 2 or 3, I'd wake up around 5 or 6. At this point, I chug some more water - as much as I can stomach - and then because I'm likely still drunk, I pass right out again.

I wake up at the time that I'm supposed to (say 830am) and I feel slightly better than I would've had I not had the mid-sleep water. First meal of the day is a soup of some sort because it's easy on the stomach, restores vitamins, and contains water as its primary ingredient. Big fan of chicken noodle obviously, and minestrone soup is great too, but tortilla soup has been growing on me.

Continue to drink water throughout the day, and if you're lucky, your head will clear up enough in 3-5 hours so that you don't hate everything in your life.

Also, don't eat a ton of stuff at night too because the drunchies are the worst thing that could happen to you. Your body digests the alcohol first, so if you drank a ton (I'm talking blacked out), it'll take your body forever to clear that out so the food just sits in your stomach. Then you wake up and feel like shit because your stomach is full and you can't drink water.

"You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are." - Mister Rogers
 

Hangovers are a combo of dehydration and lack of minerals and nutrients. Drinking water while you drink or before you go to sleep should help. The banana and aspirin would probably help in the morning. I suppose the key is to drink, but not black out. There are some levels of drinking that only time can repair.

 
thebrofessor:

7. sauna: 20 minutes, then ice cold shower without soap, 10 more minutes in sauna, then ice cold shower.

8. eat a big breakfast. I mean really power through it. but don't get something out of the ordinary, remember you want to be easy on your stomach. my go to is Chick Fil A with an extra fruit cup and a powerade.

Chick Fil A and easy on the stomach don't typically go together

speed boost blaze
 

9 and 10 are my favorite. If you are in/around Michigan ever and/or you can get your hands on McClures bloody mary mix then do yourself a favor and try it. Hands down best mix in the world. Will put some hair on your chest

This to all my hatin' folks seeing me getting guac right now..
 

The ibuprofen before bed is just bullsh*t, the effects of ibuprofen wear off in a few hours, so unless you're getting to bed at 4am and then up again at 7am it's pointless.

The things I have found useful are:

  • obviously as much water as you can, whenever you can
  • temperature changes: as the OP said, the sauna/cold shower combo is vital. This is why your hangover disappears when you go skiing
  • exercise
 

I've found that a few bong rips, 1-2 Klonopins, pedialyte and greasy mexican food work pretty well.

If I'm out during the week I try and drink a glass of water every 2-3 drinks, and it helps a little the next day.

I would agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong.
 

I also try to drink a glass of water every couple of drinks (or when I think of it), that makes me feel way better in the morning (and ofc more water when I come home and soup in the morning).

"All I ask is the chance to prove that money can't make me happy." - Spike Milligan
 

The key in the morning is lots of water, more specifically, highly-diluted, ice cold gatorade. Gatorade alone is way too much sugar during a hangover, which you want to avoid. Also, coffee will definitely give you a headache, so 5-hour energy is the way to go for the caffeine. But, before anything, the absolute first thing you find upon coming to in the morning is ibuprofen. Get that in and working as soon as possible for the head pain. And yes, a balanced breakfast with some chicken and starch is great - gotta give it to you on the Chick-Fil-A suggestion. But really, in addition to all of this, the number one cure to a hangover is SLEEP.

"Yeah, you know whatcha doin."
 

As much water as possible before bed, Advil liquid gels in the morning (faster absorption). THE KEY is taking anti-nausea medicine like Dramamine before you go to sleep. This will kill any morning nausea, which is what gets many people.

 

speaking from extensive experience, IV banana bag + oxygen is the only way to go. hangover heaven in vegas changed my life forever. they need to get that shit in nyc

for non-crazy nights (just alcohol, no blackout/multiple drug combos) a lot of vitamin water prior to bed will mitigate the pain.

 

Alcohol splits in your blood ­­­­­~0,15 promiles an hour, you will still be drunk no matter what, although you may feel better. Drink something that will make you piss a lot (raspberry), that will accelerate the process a bit. Drinking more alcohol in the morning is very bad your health.

One thing that may help you get sober is vitamin C, since it disintegrates ethanol. Eat a big spoon of butter, half an hour before you drink, it will cover the stomach and alcohol will not get in to the blood too quick (also bad for the health, but it helps).

You killed the Greece spread goes up, spread goes down, from Wall Street they all play like a freak, Goldman Sachs 'o beat.
 

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heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/

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