Pour Decisions: Why More Water Won't Cure Your Hangover
November 2024
By Sean Hugelmeyer
Edited by Emma Tucker
Hangovers. Migraines, queasiness, exhaustion, dry mouth—this is what happens when individuals overindulge in alcoholic beverages. It is commonly believed that an excess of water does not only avoid a hangover but also cures one, which is why so many down so much more to try and relieve one. However, recent studies have found that while excess hydration is beneficial, it is not the final and only answer to what ails you. But before getting into the scientific reason why hydration will assist with hangover recovery, it's important to understand what drinking does to your body in the first place.
For one, alcohol is a diuretic. You urinate more; you start off more dehydrated, so it makes sense that if you rehydrate, you've started the process of feeling better—or at least, not feeling worse. But there are other physiological factors, too. The more you drink, the more your body responds—and not positively. An article in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health notes that alcohol disrupts electrolyte balance, irritates the gastric lining, and induces neuroinflammation. Therefore, it's not fair to say that some water can undo all of that. The myth is that if you hydrate after a night of drinking and attempt to beat a hangover, you won't feel the effects.
Ultimately, however, studies showed that susceptibility to hangover symptoms is a genetic predisposition. Therefore, for this vulnerable population, hydration does not help as dehydration is not the cause of hangover symptoms. In addition, researchers found that although lots of hydration is necessary for healthy living, being hydrated doesn't help when you overindulge for just one night. Yet when one consumes alcohol, it generates acetaldehyde as well—a carcinogenic compound responsible for many hangover symptoms. Thus, when one attempts to combat dehydration-induced headaches through rehydration, it only fails to remove acetaldehyde from the system and does nothing to alleviate the irritants from extended alcohol absorption. This does not change the new biochemical reality that exists within the body after a night of drinking.
Furthermore, the type of alcohol you consume impacts a hangover as well. Darker alcohols contain more congeners—the fermentation by-products—and those who typically drink them experience worse hangovers. These by-products exacerbate the hangover and inextricably bind dehydration and hangover effects on a more complex level; it's not that being hydrated helps that makes it clear why people feel so poorly with certain alcohols—it runs deeper than that. In the end, it doesn't matter if someone drinks water before, during, and after drinking—they'll still never be drunk and have no way to cure a hangover.
But for those people attempting to lessen symptoms, there are more options in control. For example, eating prior to drinking provides a coating on the stomach and slows absorption; clear cocktails low in congeners decrease the severity of a hangover; and of course, the easy, unavoidable fix—sleep—works. Ultimately, the hydration element regarding hangovers makes it not a universal solution. The relationship between dehydration and hangovers is so complex that even over-dehydrating the system fails to combat the chemical and physical reaction to alcohol.
Ultimately, since people are more sensitive to or prone to experiencing hangovers at different levels, universal hydration methods are impractical. However much research emerges and claims change over time, one constant that never changes is that hydration does not cure a hangover.
References:
Willcock, M. (2023, November 16). Will Water Save You From a Hangover? Science Says Probably Not. ScienceAlert.Retrieved from https://www.sciencealert.com/will-water-save-you-from-a-hangover-science-says-probably-not
Wu, D., Xu, Y., Zeng, Y., Zhang, Y., Hu, C., & Liu, L. (2023). Effects of Long-Term Proton Pump Inhibitor Use on Mineral and Bone Metabolism in Patients with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 12(6), 2090. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12062090
Willcock, M. (2022, December 30). This Is What Actually Happens to Your Body When You Drink Alcohol on New Year's. ScienceAlert. Retrieved from https://www.sciencealert.com/this-is-what-actually-happens-to-your-body-when-you-drink-alcohol-on-new-year-s
