Home Remedies for Hangovers

Hangovers are an unfortunate consequence of drinking more alcohol than your body can process in a short time. If you overindulge, you pay the price with a pounding headache, churning stomach, sensitivity to sound and light, dizziness and bloodshot eyes. Several home hangover remedies are available to help ease your symptoms.

Replacing Liquids

While you won't want to drink more alcohol, drinking liquids helps alleviate the dehydration that occurs when you drink too much. Dehydration is often responsible for the headache that comes with a hangover. Drinking water when you are drinking alcohol can help you from becoming dehydrated and reduce your chance of developing a headache. Sports drinks, such as Gatorade, can help in rehydration and are also effective in restoring salt and minerals that are lost when you are dehydrated. Caffeine, in the form of coffee, tea or cola, can help replace liquids and ease your headache by shrinking swollen blood vessels in the brain.

Bananas

Often the last thing you feel like doing when you have a hangover is eating, but eating the right kind of food can help reduce some of your symptoms. Eating a banana or drinking a banana milkshake may help reduce queasiness. When you develop a hangover, your magnesium and potassium levels drop. Replacing these minerals may help your stomach start to feel a little better.

Salty, Spicy Foods and Supplements

Salty snacks, such as pickles, pickle juice and even pickled herring, can help replace lost electrolytes. Electrolytes are types of bodily salts that conduct electricity and are important in cell function. Salty foods can also encourage you to drink more water. If you enjoy a hearty bowl of tripe soup, you might find some relief from this dish which is made from the lining of a cow's stomach. The soup is made with large amounts of chili and garlic and these spicy ingredients may actually provide more relief than the tripe itself. If you're not quite up to tripe soup, bland food, such as toast or chicken broth, can help coat your stomach and help you start feeling better.

A study by Jeff Wiese, MD; Steve McPherson, MD; Michelle C. Odden, BS; and Michael G. Shlipak, MD, MPH; found that taking two opuntia ficus indica (prickly pear) capsules significantly reduces dry mouth, nausea and appetite loss. The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in June 2004.

Other Home Remedies

Taking a shower can revive you and help break down any toxins in your body from drinking alcohol. Cold showers are recommended, as warmer showers may cause more dehydration. Aerobic exercise is helpful if you have a hangover because it increases oxygen levels in your body. When you exercise, your body breaks down some of the toxins that are causing your symptoms.