DECEMBER – the month of festive cheer, endless toasts, and, let’s be real, a lot of drinking.
From office parties to Christmas catch-ups with friends and those impromptu mulled wine nights, it feels like there’s always a glass in hand.
But, of course, with all the fun comes the inevitable downside: the dreaded hangover.
You know the drill – dragging yourself out of bed after one too many, staring down a full day of work (or worse, another party) when all you really want is to curl up under a blanket.
And let’s not forget the grand finale of the month, New Year’s Eve – the ultimate night of celebration that guarantees the first day of January won’t be as fresh as we’d like.
So how do you survive the season of endless celebrations without completely crashing?
Well, as someone who’s practically a professional in the art of hangovers (and a lover of parties, too), I’ve tried just about every ‘cure’ out there.
From fry-ups to carb-heavy lunches, sugary drinks, and the infamous hair of the dog (which, let’s be honest, I wouldn’t really recommend), I’ve searched high and low for the miracle hangover fix.
But nothing really did the trick, until I discovered ginger.
One day, while scrolling through TikTok, I started seeing a ton of videos praising ginger as the ultimate hangover hack.
It was being hailed as the number one remedy for nausea, so naturally, I was curious.
A quick Google search revealed that ginger has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries to treat nausea, and a 2016 study even confirmed that it’s “an effective and inexpensive treatment for nausea.”
A cup of ginger tea the morning after a wild night out seemed like a simple, budget-friendly way to tackle the situation.
Not only would I be hydrating, but I’d also be soothing my stomach with that trusty ginger. So, I decided to give it a shot.
After all, if ginger can help you get over a cold and get back on your feet, surely it could handle a hangover, right?
Instead of shelling out for pricey ginger shots or tea bags I decided to make my own version.
Once you get past the intense flavour, the warmth of it really does seem to hit the spot.
Yasmin Harisha, 29
TikTok was full of videos showing off different recipes, so I found one that seemed promising.
I didn’t really follow the exact measurements (who’s counting when you’re a little bleary-eyed?), but I roughly chopped up a piece of ginger, added 50-70ml of lemon juice, and poured in a splash of apple juice into a large jug, whilst boiling the kettle.
I then filled the rest of it with boiling water and let all the ingredients infuse together.
After about five-ish minutes, I then poured myself a small cup.
If you’ve woken up with a groggy head and an aching body from a day or night on the booze, you need to nourish your body to help it regain strength.
Unhealthy, high calorie foods could derail you weight loss efforts as well as make the hangover worse.
Shona Wilkinson, Nutritionist at Dr.Vegan says: “Excessive alcohol consumption damages your liver. To detox your liver and alleviate nasty hangover symptoms such as nausea, headaches, and dehydration, try some of the below ingredients.”
Onions and garlic
Both of these foods contain a nutrient called sulphur, according to Shona, which is essential in liver detoxification.
“Toxins in the body essentially join to the sulphur and are then excreted from the body.”
Lemon peel
Adding some lemon peel to a glass of water or shaving some onto your food could help alleviate some of your hangover symptoms.
Shona says: “Lemon peel contains a substance called limonene, which helps your body to detoxify itself by removing carcinogens from the body.
“There is research that suggests lemon peel may even offer an effective solution to migraines and headaches, given that it’s a great source of Vitamin C.”
Grapefruit
It’s the substance naringin in grapefruits, which helps to protect the liver from all kinds of damage.
Shona says: “There are a lot of medicines out there that don’t mix too well with grapefruit however, so consult your GP before adding too much grapefruit into your diet if you’re on any prescribed medications.”
Pickle juice
An odd one, but pickle juice is packed with electrolytes like sodium and potassium, which Shona says are essential in a whole host of the body’s vital processes.
She says: “Electrolytes help to keep us hydrated by regulating the amount of water in our cells to ensure they’re able to function properly.
“If you’re hungover, it’s the perfect remedy.”
Let me tell you – the taste is STRONG.
The ginger packs a punch, and it definitely wakes you up, that’s for sure.
But once you get past the intense flavour, the warmth of it really does seem to hit the spot.
And while it fixed the nausea instantly and gave me a much-needed jolt of energy, I’ll admit the brain fog from my hangover didn’t exactly vanish.
I was able to go about my day without needing to be next to a toilet, as the sickness disappeared completely, and it felt like it added nutrients back into my body.
And because I had made a big jug of it, the mixture went a long way and lasted me through quite a heavy nights.
All in all, it works out to around 10p a shot as my ingredients came to £3, having got my ginger from the market at a bargain price.
But honestly, I think the only real cure to completely banish that groggy, grimy feeling is a good night’s sleep – and maybe refraining from that extra glass of wine at the end of the night.
