The GuardianThe Guardian

Can taking a pill really stop you getting a hangover? There’s one way to find out …

By Tim Dowling

13 Jul 2022 · 8 min read

Editor's Note

An exercise in Schadenfreude: Tim Dowling suffers a hangover for our entertainment—all in the name of research.

We tend to think of a hangover as the price of inebriation: a little bit of wellbeing borrowed from the future for the sake of a good time, at a cost to be confirmed in the morning. Studies show that commonly touted remedies – ginseng, Korean pear juice, prickly pear, clove extract – don’t do anything, which feels like justice.

But what if a hangover cure really existed? What if you could drink too much and avoid the consequences? How would that affect your evening plans?

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