Of all the advice about preventing a hangover, drinking water to prevent dehydration seems the most sensible. A new study has found no evidence to support the claim that drinking a generous amount of water after a night of drinking relieves pain the next day.
An international team of researchers led by pharmacologist Marlou Mackus of Utrecht University analyzed data collected in thirteen previous studies, looking for evidence of a link between dehydration and alcohol consumption or between drinking water and the intensity of a hangover.
Although there is no single cause of a hangover, alcohol has a diuretic effect on our body, increasing the production of urine. This increases the risk of dehydration, which we imagine is the cause of head and body aches, stomach-churning nausea and general hangover malaise. Many people also report feeling thirsty in the morning and having a dry mouth after a night of liquor the night before.
Of course, replenishing that lost fluid should prevent these symptoms.
Although the data did not rule out the possibility that dehydration and hangovers could occur at the same time, there was no evidence that the two were directly linked. One doesn’t cause the other, which means replacing lost water won’t have much effect on the worst parts of a hangover.
“This review concludes that hangover and dehydration are two co-occurring but independent consequences of alcohol consumption,” the researchers write. in their published article.
One of the studies involved 826 students, some of whom tried to ease their hangover by drinking water. However, the effectiveness of drinking water was only very slight in terms of relieving hangovers.
In another study reviewed by the researchers, 29 participants between the ages of 18 and 30 reported on hangover severity and levels of thirst the day after a drinking session. It was shown that a feeling of dehydration did not last as long as other hangover symptoms.
“Although hangovers were typically relatively long-lasting, the effects of dehydration were usually mild and short-lived,” Mackus and her team write. “Survey data showed that water consumption during or immediately after alcohol consumption had only a modest effect on preventing a hangover the next day.”
“Also, the amount of water consumed during a hangover was not related to changes in hangover severity and thirst.”
It’s important to keep in mind that each of the studies reviewed was based on relatively small numbers of people. Furthermore, they all studied different aspects of a hangover – for example why some people suffer from it more often than others – rather than focusing directly on drinking water as a method of preventing a hangover.
Despite the limitations, it appears that drinking a few glasses of water won’t save you from your hangover, a finding supported by previous studies that suggest that while drinking water can counteract some of the effects of dehydration, it will not disappear. cause other hangover symptoms (such as pounding headaches).
“Taken together, the studies reviewed suggest that consuming water during or immediately after the drinking session is not effective in preventing hangovers, and that the amount of water consumed during hangover day is not significantly related to changes in the severity of hangovers.” the hangover,” they write. the researchers.
The research was published in Alcohol.
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