It’s the beginning of the new year and although ‘Dry Jan’ might be underway for some of you, others may feel the month is bad enough as it is. We have therefore put together some of the best as well as unusual hangover cures for those of you who haven’t given up alcohol (and for those who will inevitably cave).

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1) Eat

Although you may wake up and feel like anything you eat will make a reappearance, getting a meal down is one of the best ways to start curing your hangover. The classic fry up has actually been proven to help cure your hangover, as it can restore your depleted sugar and fatty acid levels. However, if you don’t think you’ll be able to stomach all that grease (or if you don’t have the energy to make it yourself), some simple toast will help to ease the pain from the night before.

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2) Avoid Too Many Drinks With Congeners

Sounds confusingly scientific but Congeners are toxic chemical by-products in alcohol that are believed to worsen hangovers

Drinks that are low in Congeners include rum, gin and vodka which contains almost no Congeners at all.

On the flip side try and avoid, whiskey, tequila, and cognac as these have the highest amounts of Congeners (with bourbon whiskey being one of the worst)

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3) Drink water

An obvious one, but one of the most effective cures is to stay hydrated. It’s a good idea to keep this in mind on the night of consuming alcohol, as drinking water in between drinks helps prevent dehydration (and therefore a hangover). However, you might be more focused on how many jäger bombs you can down, so be sure to drink lots of water the next day instead. A glass before bed is great too, as long as you aren’t too drunk to remember.

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4) Take a shot of pickle juice

You heard us right! Although it may not sound the most appealing, the salt in the pickle juice is meant to try and restore the electrolytes that were lost as a result of the night before.

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5) Take some painkillers

Before going on a night out of boozing always try to make sure you have painkillers in the house. If drinking water hasn’t relieved your pounding headache, then some paracetamol or ibuprofen should do the trick instead. Be sure to eat something first if you plan on popping paracetamol, as it’s known to cause nausea when on an empty stomach!

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6) Try Canadian Poutine

After a night on the booze, some Canadians indulge in eating poutine the next day. Poutine is a Canadian dish made up of chips, Canadian cheese and gravy; so bad yet so good! Great if you want to try something different to a fry up but just as satisfying.

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7) Get some fresh air

Leaving your bed may feel like the last thing you want to do, but getting out of the house and seeing daylight will not only improve your mood but it will help to relieve any feelings of sickness as well. We’re not saying go for a run or anything too strenuous, but even a 10-minute walk will do you a world of good.

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8) Cover yourself in menthol and mint

Basically, grab anything that’s menthol or mint to treat your hangover. Massage peppermint oil into your scalp and temples, put some Vicks Vaporub on your nostrils and drink some mint tea. These are all meant to relieve feelings of sickness.

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9) Have a cold shower

Not just a convenient way to wash away your sins from the night before, showering helps to get rid of that horrible hot and sweaty feeling the day after drinking. Play some music to get your spirits up again and you’ll hopefully begin feeling like a new person. Better still, if you can get access to a pool, swimming is one of the best hangover cures. Follow this by a trip to the steam room to sweat out the remaining alcohol.

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10) Punish the alcohol that caused your hangover

Some Haitian voodoo practitioners believe that to relieve your headache and feelings of sickness you can stick pins in the cork of the bottle that you were drinking from the night before. We aren’t entirely sure it will prevent you from feeling nauseous, but it will probably relieve some anger towards your deadly drink of choice.

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11) Do Eggs help with Hangovers?

Eggs do actually help with hangovers, but they don't have to be raw. This is because eggs are rich in cysteine, an amino acid that helps your body produce the vital antioxidant glutathione. Drinking alcohol depletes your bodies stores of glutathione, so eating eggs helps replenish that supply and alleviate some hangover symptoms.

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12) Sleep it off

Once you’ve tried some of these cures out you’ll probably feel exhausted, especially if you were partying until late the night before. Have a nap to try and sleep away the remainder of your hangover. It might be a good idea to set an alarm to make sure you’re still tired enough to sleep when it gets to the evening. You don’t want alcohol to completely mess up your sleeping pattern.

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13) Hair of the dog

Finally, this is our favourite cure: carry on drinking! All jokes aside, one drink may lessen the effects of your hangover due to it increasing your sugar levels. We recommend a Bloody Mary: the tomato juice is rich in vitamins and helps to counteract toxins from alcohol, while the Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce will give your hangover a good kick. However, if you carry on drinking too much you’re just going to delay the effects resulting in a double hangover, so be careful!

By Sophie Petrocochino