And sulfites, used as a preservative in some wines, can trigger headaches in some people. Your blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) measures how much is in your blood. Hangover symptoms are at their worst when that level returns to zero and usually last about 24 hours. The fact that we feel worse after the alcohol has left our bodies has long been a mystery to researchers. That may explain the dizziness and shaking some people get with a hangover. Have a couple of slices of wheat toast or a few whole-grain crackers to bring those blood sugar levels back up to normal.

• The length and severity of a hangover can vary from person to person.
• More-serious symptoms from heavy drinking may be a sign of alcohol poisoning — a life-threatening emergency.
• Some people take pain relievers to prevent hangover symptoms.

Vitamins & Supplements

Typically, your symptoms are the worst when your blood alcohol level returns to zero. Most people who get hangovers can diagnose themselves based on their alcohol consumption and symptoms. If you feel sick after consuming alcohol, you most likely have a hangover.

Are Hangovers Dangerous or Just Painful?

Often, intravenous (IV) fluids can help alleviate the symptoms. But sometimes severe issues, such as vomiting or coughing blood need to be addressed with more intensive medical attention. It’s possible to reduce hangover symptoms by eating food and drinking plenty of water while you’re consuming alcohol, but there’s only so much you can do to avoid one. Scientists have found that a few supplements — red ginseng, Siberian ginseng, and Korean pear juice — can ease some symptoms. Extract of the fruit from Hovenia dulcis, a tree native to East Asia, also showed promise in a small study. And other research suggested that people who took extract of prickly pear cactus before drinking had less severe hangovers.

Congeners

Your hangover might also affect you mentally, making it hard how long does a hangover last to concentrate or making you irritable or depressed. This root has been a feature of Chinese medicine for thousands of years. Herbalists use it to treat everything from stress to asthma. In one small study, a drink made from red ginseng cut down hangover symptoms. Most of us can break down about one drink’s worth of alcohol each hour. They are thought to contain chemicals called congeners that add to ethanol’s harmful effects.

Are congeners found in all alcoholic drinks?

In order to ward off the symptoms of dehydration following a hangover, it is good practice to drink non-alcoholic fluids. In addition, ensuring you have an adequate amount of time to sleep may decrease difficulty concentrating and fatigue the following day. It is commonly believed that the symptoms of a hangover are produced primarily by dehydration, however, this has not been proven. There is also a direct toxic effect of the alcohol itself, which is thought to contribute to hangover severity. Ethanol can cross the blood-brain barrier, where it produces much of its hangover effects, but acetaldehyde cannot.