Tips to avoid a hangover.....

[Emerald84]

.....and please don't say 'just don't drink' 😁

For the past few months, I've noticed my alcohol tolerance has really gone down. If I have more than 2 or 3 glasses of wine, I usually wake up with a headache and it's quite depressing. I LOVE a few glasses of wine at the weekend. It's my treat- my only treat really, but I'm not sure my body sees it as a treat anymore.

I am definitely cutting down. I have no choice, but it's quite difficult this time of year. The thing is, I don't feel anything at the time. It's not like I get tipsy/drunk quicker these days, I just wake feeling rubbish. Oh and my sleep is minimal after drinking these days too 😒 The joys of aging.

Anyway, realistically I know I will overindulgence over Christmas, so is there anything I can do (as well as drink less, obviously) to minimise the side effects?

TIA

Yeah I can hardly drink these days either!
I would say make sure you eat enough, don't mix your drinks and stop a good couple of hours before you go to bed and drink lots of water.

I usually drink water in between drinks and a large glass when I get home. If I've particularly indulged, I take painkillers before bed which seem to help.

Have a pint of a vitamin C drink (Berocca type though supermarket own is much cheaper and just as good) before you go to bed, and take a couple of painkillers. Have another pint by your bed so you can drink it if you wake up in the night.

Alka Seltzer before bed...works like a charm

Drink in the afternoon and stop around 6pm.

Eat, drink water in between alcoholic drinks, consider how you’re feeling as you’re drinking.

Weirdly, one of the things about getting older is that my tolerance has gone way up. Alcohol has less effect on me than it did, and I never get hangovers.

@motherboredd sucks doesn't it? Although it's probably a good thing really. I come from a family of wine drinkers and my dps are into their 70's and can still drink into the night, with minimal side effects. Same with my dsis, who's in her mid 40's.

I know stopping early is sensible 😬

Switch to water for the last hour of your evening - you're not going to feel the "benefit" of more drink at that stage anyway. More water when you get home and a couple of Ibuprofen before bed. Run in the morning, followed by a fry up.

I do the usual stuff, a decent meal before going out, don't mix drinks, have a rehydration sachet before bed. Have a soft drink between alcoholic beverages.

Andrews salts before bed and when you wake up!

A big glass of water (pint) before you start and alternate water/wine. Eat a carby meal. Water before bed.
don’t allow other people to keep topping you up.

Lots of good advice here.

I’m 46 and perimenopausal. My tolerance has reduced to almost zero so for me the only solution has been to basically not drink- sorry! I might have one or possibly two on Christmas day but that’ll be early afternoon and then soft drinks and tea till bedtime!

I tend to add some sparkling water to my white wine and alternate with just water.

@SunnySomer ah, well this is what I'm concerned about this year, as we are being hosted and by people who will undoubtedly be topping us up at every opportunity. I know I can insist and I could just not drink it, but in reality, I knowI will drink more than I should.

These hydration sachets sound good. So you take them before bed? I'm assuming that it's more effective than water alone?

I tried having spritzers with a lot of soda to dilute and to make my drinks last longer, but that actually gave me the worst hangover ever! I'm wondering if the fizz kind of brought out the effects of the alcohol more (?) Strange, because I can have a few glasses of champagne and not really feel anything. Prosecco on the other hand 😬 I guess soda and prosecco are made in the same way though. Oh well, I guess the only solution is to soley drink champagne 🤷‍♀️😆

My friend swears by this and rarely gets hangovers since using it so there must be something in it!

I make sure to intersperse my drinks with water and sit down with my water each time so that it spaces out the alcohol.

I find that wine in particular disagrees with me more than it used it. You might find other drinks more manageable eg light cocktails. A couple of my friends have switched to tequila-based mixed drinks and seem much better for it, so maybe give that a try!

Lots and lots of vitamin c before you go to bed. Eat lots of cheese snd full fat milk before you go out.

I can't drink Prosecco at all, one small glass gives me terrible heartburn and makes me be sick. Champagne however doesn't have that effect at all. So maybe just try swerving Prosecco and see if that helps?

All the above and.....

My husband does weights in the house after drinking to 'sweat it out' and swears by it (obviously he's not super drunk as he can do this safely)

Ice lolly before bed is another to try

Also a meal/milk before starting drinking

Wine with lemonade

I find more expensive or organic wine is much better! Cheap wine gives me a hangover every time. I also try to buy 11% or 12% wine rather than 14%, I find it really makes a difference.

Don’t drink before you’ve eaten (which is fairly obvious). Always spend the last hour before bed drinking water and no booze. An antihistamine before bed seems to help after wine as well.

I also suggest getting some nice non-alcoholic drinks in so you’ve got other options.

Definitely alternate alcohol and soft drinks. Also, I found that switching to gin and tonic instead of wine cut my weekly units down a lot.

This is what I do.

No hangover and a great night's sleep 🥂

@WavingCatsandDogs I haven't heard that vit c is good for this. Vodka and orange is actually one of my favourite drinks, but I rarely have it because it's full of sugar. I think I might prefer more sugar and no hangover now though.

Alternate water with the wine. Dioralyte before bed and then again when you wake up (avoid the blackcurrant flavour one though, it’s really foul).

I used to drink vodka and tomato juice as I found orange juice/coke/lemonade too sweet.

My student days hangover cure was (apologies for this in advance!), imagine eating something really disgusting to make myself sick, then a bag of prawn cocktail or salt and vinegar crisps and a can of Tango.

However, the only thing that really worked for me was to try and drink water during the night then take paracetomol or ibuprofen on waking up, and keep them topped up every 4 hours, or have Alka Seltzer.