Before we truly begin here, let's get one basic thing straight. It's fairly easy to prevent hangovers. There's two basic ways:
Don't drink at all, or
If you do drink, don't drink more than 2 drinks.
Get Real
With that out of the way, we can proceed with a more realistic approach. Or,
conversely, as my parents told their wedding planner when he informed them that
the general approach for bar bills at weddings is to assume that "Mr and
Mrs. Smith will be attending, and having two drinks each…"
"We don't know anyone named Smith."
People like to drink, because drinking necessarily implies being out with
your friends and having a good time. If you want to do that, but don't want to
waste the entire next day curled up in bed moaning and unable to change the
television channel (it's happened to all of us), consider these pointers:
The Over-the-Counter
Approach
The most commonly held belief in hangover
prevention is to take 2 Tylenol, Advil, etc. (whatever your regular choice is,
or whatever is in your friend's medicine cabinet) immediately prior to going to
sleep.
While this theory works on some levels, it assumes
that:
You'll remember to do
it,
You'll have any
analgesics, and
You'll be able to put
them in your mouth and swallow water.
A more practical approach is this: almost always,
following a night of drinking, you'll have to use the bathroom at a time when
you're not prepared to be fully awake (7am
region). At that time, use the bathroom and take 2 of your weapon of choice,
then go back to sleep for more than 4 hours. This is how I beat hangovers on
two consecutive New Year's Days, and still the approach I recommend to others.
When I take the pills prior to bed and sleep straight through, that nagging-headache
and dehydrated-muscle feeling still racks my body. Not nearly as bad if I pop 'em early morning while already in the bathroom for a purpose.
The (Other) Drinks
Approach
Some say, "Drink water as you drink alcohol
during the night." This isn't bad logic, and it certainly makes you feel
better about how drunk you're probably getting ("I'm drinking water too,
you know!"). The drawback here is that water takes up space in your
stomach along with liquor, and can cause you to throw up on a night when you
otherwise wouldn't.