What do you do to cure a hangover?

Matthew SmithHead of Data Journalism
March 31, 2017, 1:27 PM GMT+0

YouGov asks Brits what methods they try to mitigate their morning-after misery

Tonight is Friday night, so it would be fair to say that a decent proportion of young Brits are going to be sporting hangovers tomorrow morning. Anyone who's ever suffered the after effects of a heavy night’s drinking knows how badly it can eat into precious weekend hours and how making the symptoms go away can become a top priority.

Now new YouGov research looks at what Brits are likely to be doing to mitigate their morning-after misery.

The survey shows that a third of Brits either don’t drink or are lucky enough to not get hung over. Removing these people from the equation to look only at hangover sufferers reveals that the simplest method is by far the most popular: three quarters of hangover sufferers drink water to try and get rid of their hangover.

Unfortunately for those hoping to escape their hangover hell, however, recent scientific studies have found that drinking water neither prevents nor cures hangovers.

The next most popular method of hangover relief was taking painkillers, with almost half (46%) of hangover sufferers popping some pills after a night drinking. Women were particularly likely to try this hangover cure, at 53% (compared to 38% of men).

Just over a quarter of sufferers (27%) swear by the classic fry-up breakfast cure, while an identical proportion try eating high-carb foods like toast. These options were both especially popular with younger people, with 41% of 18-24 year olds trying to eat their hangovers away.

“Hair of the dog” – the dubious belief that drinking more alcohol will cure or stave off a hangover – is only attempted by 7%.

A hardy (or foolhardy) 9% of sufferers simply power through the pain and don’t attempt anything specific to get rid of their hangover.

Photo: istockphoto

See the full results here

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