How Long Does a Hangover Last? What to Expect

It will give your body more time to digest the alcohol, reducing hangover symptoms. Mixing different types of alcoholic beverages will increase your risk of severe hangovers. An over-the-counter (OTC) pain medication may relieve hangover headaches and muscular pains.

Congeners are more likely to produce a hangover or make a hangover worse. But drinking too much alcohol of any color can still make you feel bad the next morning. Pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) filter through the liver the same way alcohol does. Healthcare professionals caution using this type of medication regularly along with alcohol as it can increase the risk of liver damage. A 2020 study found evidence to suggest that red ginseng may reduce hangover symptom severity by reducing the ethanol concentration in the blood.

How to prevent future hangovers

“People tend to have interrupted sleep following a drinking episode,” says Dr. Goggans. Research shows that hangovers generally last for about 14 to 23 hours, with some extending up to about the 72-hour mark. But on average, a hangover should end about 12 hours after stopping drinking. If you or a loved one has a chronic drinking problem, it is important to seek professional help. Alcohol abuse can cause health problems, as well as social, interpersonal, and work issues.

Common symptoms include tiredness, dry mouth, headache, nausea, problems thinking clearly, and low tolerance for light and sound. Although many remedies for alleviating hangovers are mentioned on the web and in social media, none have been scientifically proven to be effective. There is no magic potion for beating hangovers—and only time can help. A person must wait for the body to finish clearing the toxic byproducts of alcohol metabolism, to rehydrate, to heal irritated tissue, and to restore immune and brain activity to normal.

This substance can cause a fast pulse, sweating and nausea. In most people, the body breaks down acetaldehyde mixing.naltrexone.and hard alcohol before it causes problems. But it can cause inflammation in organs, leading to uncomfortable symptoms.

But the only guaranteed way to prevent a hangover is to not drink alcohol. But some people are more likely to have hangovers than others are. A difference in a gene that affects the way the body breaks down alcohol may make some people flush, sweat or become ill after drinking even a small amount of alcohol. However unpleasant, most hangovers go away on their own, though they can last up to 24 hours.

Amount of Rest You Receive After Drinking

That means limiting your alcohol intake to one drink a day or less for women, and two drinks a day or less for men, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Antibiotics can also affect how your body processes alcohol, says Dr. Cox. Booze can also affect your blood sugar, says Chaun Cox, MD, family medicine physician at Mayo Clinic Health Systems. Because drinking is often an evening activity, hangovers are commonly described as “morning-after” effects. However, you can have a hangover any time of the day—they usually begin between three and ten hours after drinking. Hangovers tend to occur after heavy alcohol consumption.

Beer before liquor? Busting 6 popular myths about hangovers

Take these medications with a meal to avoid stomach irritation or further harming your stressed liver. Most hangover symptoms disappear independently after your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) drops significantly. However, it’s not unusual for the symptoms to last up to 24 hours.

1. While you wait for your hangover to end, try to rest and drink plenty of hydrating fluids.
2. Some people take pain relievers to prevent hangover symptoms.
3. And “it can come before physical symptoms or without physical symptoms at all.”
4. There are treatment approaches that can relieve some of the severe effects of a hangover.
5. If you’re vomiting frequently, it’s important to be mindful of dehydration symptoms, like dark-colored urine, decreased urination, and fatigue.

These medicines may not work well together with other medicines you take. More-serious symptoms from heavy drinking may be a sign of alcohol poisoning — a life-threatening emergency. Alcohol poisoning is a serious and sometimes deadly result of drinking large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time. Drinking too much too quickly can affect breathing, heart rate, body temperature and gag reflex.

Myth: Taking painkillers before bed can help you get ahead of hangover symptoms.

Plus, hangovers tend to be more severe after drinking on an empty stomach. There’s evidence that reduced sleep after drinking leads to more severe hangovers. Hangover headaches are common enough, but they can have an impact on daily life.