The following three hangover cures are meant to address hangover misery before it even occurs – before you drink! Whether they’ll work for you can only be determined by a little experimentation. Cheers to that!

The holidays season is in full swing, which means there’s ever the more reason to let loose and enjoy family, friends, and the accompanying debauchery. If you are anything like me, you tend to drink (read: guzzle) alcohol a lot more than you’re used to during holiday season. This year, don’t just expect and embrace the morning after hangover, defeat it. Add the following three hangover cures to your arsenal and be in better spirits for the next festivity, sans the pounding headache and queasiness aftermath.

3 Natural (and Weird) Hangover Cures

1. Prickly Pear Cactus

Say what? That’s right: prickly pear cactus. I didn’t say this would be your average hangover cure list! Raid your local health food store until you find prickly pear cactus extract. If you can’t find it locally, it’s available online. One study found that when you take the extract a few hours before drinking, it alleviates symptoms such as dry mouth, nausea, and the sick-to-your-stomach feeling. Sign me up.

2. Olive Oil

Olive oil is useful at any stage in the buzz-turned-hangover story line. Before you drink, throw back a shot glass filled with olive oil. Myth has it that the greasiness of the oil lines the stomach wall and thus alcohol takes longer to absorb into the bloodstream. If the folk remedy turns out to be ineffective and you wake up with a hangover, go back to the olive oil. This time, drink a spoonful of the olive oil followed by a glass of water with lemon. Olive oil contains the compound oleocanthal (aka: natural ibuprofen!). Meanwhile, the lemon water hydrates your body with much-needed electrolytes.

3. Ginger, Tangerine Pith, and Brown Sugar

I swear I am not making this stuff up. This odd combination is actually a traditional Chinese remedy for hangover symptoms. It was further investigated in a study, in which researchers tested for its effectiveness in treating discomfort and the cold sensation in the abdomen after the ingestion of large amounts of alcohol. Researchers witnessed a significant decrease in the severity of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea among subjects who consumed ginger, tangerine pith, and brown sugar prior to consuming alcohol.

You don’t have to bite into an unpeeled tangerine to get the benefits of the pith. Instead, zest as much of the pith as you can stomach into a glass of water that also contains ginger and brown sugar. Bottoms up!

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A recent study has found that go-to hangover cures might not be all they’re cracked up to be.

Many of us turn to hangover cures in hopes of ditching that dreaded post-bender feeling the next morning—drinking light-colored cocktails, sucking back loads of water, eating specific drunk-people foods, even falling for that “hair of the dog” foo-foo nonsense. But scientists have discovered what we’ve known all along (you know, deep down): that the only way to avoid a hangover is to drink less, or not at all.

A group of researchers from the Netherlands and Canada surveyed the drinking habits of 789 Canadian students, covering deets like the number of drinks, the timeframe of consumption, and the severity of their hangover. Researchers calculated the estimated Blood Alcohol Concentration in those who experienced hangovers and those who didn’t.

“In general, we found a pretty simple relationship: the more you drink, the more likely you are to get a hangover,” lead author Joris Verster said in a statement. “The majority of those who in fact reported never having a hangover tended to drink less, perhaps less than they themselves thought would lead to a hangover.” (79 percent of participants who claimed not to experience hangovers had an estimated blood alcohol level of less than 0.10%, with the legal limit in the U.S. being around 0.08%.)

Researchers then looked at whether hangover cures like eating or drinking water right after drinking alcohol decreased your chances of experiencing one. They surveyed 826 Dutch students about their latest drinking sesh, and whether they had food or water post-binge. Over 50 percent ate after drinking, and were asked to rate their hangover (from non-existent to brutal). It turned out there was a barely-there difference between the two groups.

“Those who took food or water showed a slight statistical improvement in how they felt over those who didn’t, but this didn’t really translate into a meaningful difference,” said Verster. “From what we know from the surveys so far, the only practical way to avoid a hangover is to drink less alcohol.”

Okay, so you’re probably feeling exactly how you did when you found out the truth about Santa Claus, but don’t fret: “These are early questionnaire-based studies, and are amongst the first of their kind,” said Verster. “This means they have limitations, but they do give us an indication of what happens. Our next step is to move forward with more controlled trials.”

In other words, there may be legit hangover cures coming soon to a dive bar near you. Time for a celebratory cocktail?

Related on EcoSalon

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Hangover image via Shutterstock / Lloyd GIF via Reaction GIFs

The post New Study Finds Hangover Cures May Be a Load of Crap appeared first on EcoSalon.