How to avoid a hangover: pace, food, water and the myths

Short answer

The only reliable way to avoid a hangover is to drink less — or not at all. A systematic review of randomized trials found no compelling evidence that any pill, supplement or remedy prevents or treats a hangover; the authors concluded that abstinence or moderation is the most effective approach (1). NIAAA puts it the same way: there is no cure for a hangover other than time (2).

What lowers your risk is simple: count standard drinks, set a limit before you start, drink slowly, eat a real meal first and alternate with water. In a randomized trial of 90 adults, the order of drinks didn't change hangovers at all — but feeling very drunk and vomiting were linked to worse ones (3).

If you've ever woken up feeling far worse than "a few drinks" should explain, you're not imagining it. Drinks are often bigger than they look, and short sleep makes everything harder.

Note: this article is for general education for adults of legal drinking age (21+ in the US) and is not medical advice. It does not encourage drinking: not drinking is always the lowest-risk choice. Do not drink if you are pregnant, under 21, driving, or taking medicines that interact with alcohol. Confusion, vomiting, seizures, slow or irregular breathing, or being hard to wake are signs of alcohol overdose: call 911. This guide is published by Welltory, which makes one of the apps mentioned. Welltory is a general wellness product and does not diagnose or treat any condition.

What actually causes a hangover

A hangover is the set of symptoms that follow drinking too much: tiredness, thirst, headache, nausea, stomach pain, sensitivity to light and sound, anxiety, sweating and higher blood pressure (2). Symptoms peak as your blood alcohol returns to about zero and can last 24 hours or longer (2).

NIAAA lists several contributors (2):

Look at the right-hand column. Almost every row ends in the same place: the total amount of alcohol. Water, food and timing help at the edges. The number of drinks drives the result.

How to avoid a hangover: a step-by-step plan

If you've decided to drink, these steps lower your risk. None of them makes heavy drinking safe.

1. Set a number before you go. US guidance describes moderate drinking as two drinks or less in a day for men and one or less for women, and notes that drinking less is better for health (4).

2. Count in standard drinks, not glasses. A US standard drink is 14 grams of pure alcohol: 12 ounces of 5% beer, 5 ounces of 12% wine or 1.5 ounces of 40% spirits (5).

3. Eat a real meal first. In a small controlled study, a light meal lowered peak breath alcohol by about 30% compared with an empty stomach; a snack did little (6).

4. Start with water. Arriving thirsty makes the first drink disappear fast.

5. Slow down. Sip. Put the glass down between sips. Avoid shots and drinking games.

6. Alternate. One glass of water or a non-alcoholic drink after every alcoholic one.

7. Choose lower-strength drinks. Regular beer instead of a 10% craft beer (which counts as two standard drinks (5)), wine spritzers, or a single rather than a double.

8. Prefer clear over dark spirits if you drink spirits — darker drinks like bourbon contain more congeners and may make hangovers worse for some people (2).

9. Stop if you feel drunk. Feeling very drunk was one of the clearest predictors of a bad hangover in the beer-and-wine trial (3).

10. Stop well before bed and drink water before you sleep. Alcohol fragments sleep (2).

11. Plan your ride home before the first drink.

How to get less drunk: pace, count and stop

People search "how to not get drunk" for many reasons: a work party, a family dinner, a wedding where they want to stay present. The honest answer is that there's no trick that lets you drink more and feel less. What works is drinking less alcohol, more slowly.

Know where the line is. NIAAA defines binge drinking as a pattern that brings blood alcohol to 0.08% or higher — for a typical adult, about five or more drinks for men or four or more for women within about two hours (7). Keeping well under that, spread across the evening, is the core of drinking less drunk.

Remember the lag. Blood alcohol can keep rising after you stop drinking, as alcohol still in the stomach and intestines is absorbed (7). If you feel "fine" and order another, the earlier drinks haven't finished arriving.

Practical ways to slow down:

• Order a non-alcoholic drink first and another after each round.

• Hold a sparkling water with lime — people rarely ask what's in it.

• Skip rounds. You don't have to buy or accept every round.

• Use a smaller glass, and don't let others top up your wine before it's empty — topping up makes counting impossible.

• Eat throughout the evening.

• Give yourself a cutoff time.

• Leave a little earlier.

What doesn't make you less drunk: coffee, energy drinks, cold showers, fresh air or walking around. They may make you feel more alert, but they don't lower your blood alcohol (7).

Who should skip alcohol entirely

For some people, the best way to avoid a hangover is the only safe one: not drinking. CDC lists people who should not drink at all, even in moderation (4):

• Anyone younger than 21.

• People who are pregnant or might be pregnant.

• People with certain medical conditions, such as some liver diseases.

• People taking medicines that can interact with alcohol.

• People who can't control how much they drink, or who are recovering from alcohol use disorder.

Add to that anyone who will drive, operate machinery or look after young children later that day. CDC also notes that even moderate drinking may carry health risks (4), so "less" is always the direction that lowers risk.

Holiday situations: how people drink less without making a scene

The work party. Arrive having eaten. Take a sparkling water first, then decide whether you want a drink at all. One drink you sip for an hour looks the same to colleagues as four.

Family dinners. Relatives top up glasses. Keep your glass full of water, or turn it over once you're done. "I'm good, thanks — I'm driving" or "I've got an early morning" ends most conversations.

Weddings and long celebrations. These can run eight hours. Set a pace, such as one drink per hour at most with water in between, and a cutoff time. Eat at every chance — the cocktail hour is not the time to skip food.

New Year's Eve. Many people drink fast before midnight. Start later rather than earlier, and plan how you get home before the evening begins.

When you're the host. Put good non-alcoholic drinks where people see them first, serve real food early, and stop serving alcohol well before the party ends.

The morning after: what helps and what doesn't

Even with a good plan, you may wake up feeling rough. NIAAA's core message is that time is the only cure (2). A few things make the wait easier:

• Water and a simple meal. Rehydrating is part of recovery (2), and bland food is easier on an irritated stomach.

• Rest. Your sleep was likely broken. A quiet morning helps more than a hard workout.

• No more alcohol. A morning drink can prolong the hangover (2).

• Careful with painkillers. Avoid acetaminophen while alcohol is still in your system; aspirin and ibuprofen can irritate the stomach (2). Ask a pharmacist if unsure.

• Don't drive until you're sure you're clear and alert.

Hangover myths, checked

• "Beer before liquor, never been sicker" — Not supported. In a randomized trial of 90 adults, drink order made no meaningful difference to next-day hangover scores (3); NIAAA says the more you drink, the worse the hangover, whatever the order (2)

• A pill or supplement before drinking prevents a hangover — No compelling evidence for any conventional or complementary remedy (1)

• Coffee or a cold shower sobers you up — They don't reverse intoxication and can't prevent a hangover (2, 7)

• "Hair of the dog" — a morning drink — May briefly ease some symptoms but can prolong the hangover (2)

• Electrolyte drinks or IV drips prevent hangovers — NIAAA notes they have no proven link to hangover severity (2)

• Taking acetaminophen (Tylenol) before bed prevents a headache — Combining alcohol and acetaminophen can be toxic to the liver (2)

• Food "soaks up" alcohol so you can drink more — Food lowers the peak, but every drink still counts (6)

• Sleeping it off is always safe — Not after heavy drinking: an unconscious person may not be fine (7)

What to take before drinking to prevent a hangover

This question gets hundreds of searches a month, and the honest answer is short: nothing has been shown to work reliably. The systematic review looked at randomized trials of a range of remedies and found no compelling evidence for any of them (1).

What you can "take" before drinking:

• A meal with protein, fat and fiber.

• A glass of water.

• A plan — your number, your ride, your cutoff time.

What to be careful with:

• Acetaminophen with alcohol, because of the liver risk (2).

• Aspirin and ibuprofen, which can irritate a stomach already irritated by alcohol (2).

• Any medicine you take regularly. Some interact with alcohol; people taking them may be advised not to drink at all (4). Ask a pharmacist.

• "Hangover prevention" supplements that promise you won't feel the effects. Read the claims critically — the evidence isn't there (1).

Does the type of drink matter?

Less than people think, but a little.

Strength matters most. A large pour of strong wine, a double, or a 10% beer adds standard drinks fast (5). The "best drink to avoid a hangover" is a smaller, weaker one — or a non-alcoholic one.

Congeners may matter for some people. Darker spirits such as bourbon have more congeners than clear spirits such as vodka, and may make hangovers worse for some (2). This is a modest effect compared with the amount you drink.

Order doesn't matter. Beer then wine, or wine then beer, ends the same way if the total is the same (3).

Mixers matter in a practical way. Sweet, fizzy cocktails go down fast and hide how strong they are. Count a cocktail by the shots in it, not by the glass.

Common mistakes that make the morning worse

• Drinking fast early. The first hour on an empty stomach sets the tone for the evening.

• Losing count. Topped-up glasses and shared bottles make it impossible to know how much you've had.

• Drinking late. Alcohol close to bedtime cuts into the second half of the night.

• Mixing alcohol with sleep loss. Arriving tired makes alcohol hit harder and the morning harder still.

• Ignoring "I feel drunk." That feeling predicted worse hangovers in the trial (3). Treat it as your cue to switch to water.

• Taking a painkiller without thinking. Acetaminophen and alcohol is a risky combination (2).

• Driving the next morning. Hangovers impair attention, decision-making and coordination (2), and you may still have alcohol in your blood.

What a hangover looks like in your body data

If you wear a watch or ring, the morning after drinking often looks different: a higher resting heart rate, lower heart rate variability and more broken sleep. That fits what NIAAA describes — fragmented sleep and higher blood pressure the next day (2). Our guides go deeper:

• Alcohol and next-day HRV, heart rate and sleep — what changes and for how long.

• How long your body takes to recover after drinking — the timeline, day by day.

• Hangxiety: anxiety after drinking — why the morning after can feel anxious.

Seeing this in your own numbers is often more convincing than any rule. One evening with dinner, water and two drinks versus one with five drinks and no dinner usually tells the story.

Living with holiday drinking: the questions people ask next

Does drinking water prevent a hangover?

It helps a little, mainly by slowing your pace and replacing fluid you lose. It won't prevent a hangover if you drink a lot. The amount of alcohol matters most (2).

How many drinks cause a hangover?

It varies by person, and no number guarantees you won't get one. NIAAA says the more you drink, the worse the hangover (2); binge drinking — about four drinks for women or five for men within about two hours — is a clear line to stay well below (7).

Why do I get hangovers worse than my friends?

Body size, sex, sleep, food, medications and how fast you drink all play a role. In the beer-and-wine trial, women tended to have slightly worse hangovers than men (3).

Why do hangovers get worse with age?

Many people report this. Changes in sleep, body composition, medications and recovery may all contribute, but research doesn't give a simple answer. Drinking less, slower and earlier in the evening is the practical fix.

Can I drink and still feel fine at work tomorrow?

The safest plan is to stay well within moderate limits, stop early, eat and drink water. Even then, sleep after drinking is often worse. If tomorrow matters, consider not drinking.

Before you blame yourself

A rough morning can feel like a verdict on you. Before you blame yourself, look at your data. Usually the cause is visible:

• How many standard drinks you really had, not how many glasses.

• When you last ate before the first drink.

• How you slept the night before — and the night of.

• When you had your last drink relative to bedtime.

Then pick one lever for the next one or two weeks: "a real meal before any event," "water after every drink," or "last drink two hours before bed." Notice how the next morning feels — and, if you track it, how your resting heart rate and sleep look.

When to see a doctor

Call 911 if someone who has been drinking shows signs of alcohol overdose (7):

• Confusion or stupor

• Trouble staying conscious, or can't be woken

• Vomiting or seizures

• Slow or irregular breathing

• Slow heart rate, clammy skin, very low body temperature, or bluish or pale skin

Don't leave them alone, and roll them onto their side if they're lying down (7).

See a doctor if:

• Hangovers are frequent, or you often drink more than you planned.

• You need a drink in the morning to feel normal.

• You notice your heart racing or skipping after drinking.

• You have stomach pain, vomiting or heartburn after drinking regularly.

• You take medicines and aren't sure about alcohol.

How to bring this up with your doctor

What to ask, by name:

• "Do any of my medicines interact with alcohol?"

• "Given my health, what limit makes sense for me?"

• "Are my liver tests normal?"

• "Could my sleep problems or palpitations be related to drinking?"

What to bring: an honest count of standard drinks per week, a list of all medicines and supplements, and notes on symptoms. If you track sleep or resting heart rate, bring a few weeks that include nights with and without alcohol.

What to say if you feel brushed off: "I want to understand how alcohol affects me specifically. Can we go through my medicines and symptoms together?"

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How Welltory helps — and what it cannot do

What it cannot do. Welltory is a general wellness product, not a medical device. It doesn't measure blood alcohol, can't tell you whether you're safe to drive, doesn't prevent hangovers and doesn't diagnose or treat any condition.

What it can do is help you see your own mornings after:

1. A morning spot reading with your phone camera. Place a fingertip over the camera and flash for a spot reading of heart rate and HRV (8). Measure at the same time each morning for comparable results (9). Camera measurements don't work on Google Pixel phones (8).

2. Connect a watch or ring through Apple Health or Health Connect; available data depends on the device (10, 11).

3. Sleep Analysis with Apple Watch or Oura on iPhone, or through Health Connect on Android (12, 13).

4. Compare evenings. Look at mornings after nights with fewer drinks, dinner and water next to mornings after heavier nights. The goal is to understand your own pattern — not to find a way to drink more.

How we made it

We based this article on NIAAA's fact sheets on hangovers, standard drinks and alcohol overdose, CDC guidance on moderate drinking, a systematic review of hangover interventions (Pittler et al., 2005), a randomized trial on drink order and hangovers (Köchling et al., 2019) and a controlled study of food and breath alcohol (Sadler and Fox, 2011). Search questions came from what people in the United States most often ask about avoiding hangovers and drinking less. For the product section, we checked every function against the Welltory Help Center on November 8, 2026.

Made with AI tools, then edited and fact-checked by the Welltory team. See our Editorial & AI policy.

Jane Smorodnikova, co-founder of Welltory, built the methodology behind how we read physiological data.

Written by Tatsiana Yashyna.

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