Things Guaranteed To Give You A Hangover

As if you didn't have enough reasons to quit already, smoking can actually make your hangover worse. A study done at Brown University found that people who smoke the same day they drink are more likely to have more severe hangovers (or even have a hangover at all) than people who didn't smoke. The study compared people who drank the same number of drinks, but one group smoked while the other did not. Additional research has shown that tobacco smoke contains acetaldehyde, which also builds up in your system when you drink and is linked to hangover symptoms. Other studies have shown that nicotine receptors in the brain are related to our subjective response to drinking. The study didn't narrow down whether nicotine alone is a contributing factor to hangovers, so the jury is still out on whether you can safely vape while you imbibe.

Next time you go out, consider nixing the soda or juice in your adult beverages. As any soda addict can tell you, sugar-filled or carbonated drinks contribute to dehydration. The carbonation also causes your stomach to empty faster than it normally does, which can affect your blood alcohol level. While dehydration alone doesn't cause hangovers, it does cause the wicked headache that frequently goes along with it. So next time you crave a whiskey and cola or vodka and cranberry juice, consider ordering the whiskey on the rocks or the vodka in a martini instead.

That's right: the amount you exercise can affect your hangover. The reason ties into the whole dehydration factor we just discussed. The body is 90% water, and people who work out have more muscle mass, which is more effective at storing the body's water. That means that if you're in good shape, your body will lose less water through the dehydrating effects of alcohol. Use this as motivation next time you're toiling away on the treadmill — you're actually preparing for your next pub crawl.

It sounds ludicrous, really — who believes that something as unimportant as the color of their drink would cause their hangover? But actually, this is the most important factor in alcohol-induced hangovers (besides drinking too much ethanol in the first place). During the process of making alcohols, chemical by-products called "congeners" are created by the fermentation and distillation procedure. These congeners are a chemical mixture of impurities and often give dark beers and liquors their color. They also are sometimes purposefully added to alcohol to create certain flavors. High-congener beverages are known to cause worse hangover symptoms when compared to drinks with less of them. While present in light alcohols — like white rum, gin and vodka — congeners can be found in much larger quantities in dark alcohols, such as whiskey or stout beers. Additionally, you are much more likely to find congeners in lower-quality liquors than in higher-quality spirits, which have typically been distilled more times to reduce the amount of impurities. So next time you're ordering a drink, ask the bartender to reach for the top-shelf instead of the well liquor, and opt for light over dark rum.