If you’ve woken up with a pounding head, dry mouth, dodgy stomach, and a strong desire to cancel the entire day, you’re probably looking for one thing: the fastest way to feel human again.
Here’s the honest answer. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says there’s no proven hangover cure, and you can’t make your body process alcohol faster. Most hangovers improve with time, rest, fluids, and food you can tolerate. The useful bit is knowing how to ease each symptom without making yourself feel worse.
What should you do for a hangover right now?
Start with this simple recovery plan:
- Check that your symptoms aren’t an emergency.
- Sip water or another non-alcoholic drink.
- Eat something plain if you can tolerate food.
- Rest and avoid driving, swimming, exercise, or caring for children alone.
- Ask a pharmacist before taking pain relief.
- Avoid more alcohol.
- Give your body time to recover.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says hangover symptoms usually peak when your blood alcohol level returns to around zero and can last 24 hours or longer. Duration depends on how much you drank, your sleep, hydration, health, medicines, and how your body processes alcohol.
Step 1: Make sure it’s actually a hangover
A typical hangover can cause:
- thirst and a dry mouth
- headache and muscle aches
- nausea, vomiting, or stomach pain
- tiredness and weakness
- dizziness
- sensitivity to light or noise
- irritability, anxiety, or a low mood
- poor concentration and coordination
- sweating or a racing heart
Healthdirect Australia warns that severe alcohol poisoning can look like someone who is simply asleep. If a person can’t be woken, is breathing slowly or irregularly, has a seizure, collapses, or has pale, blue, grey, or clammy skin, call triple zero immediately.
Don’t leave them to “sleep it off”. Stay with them and place them on their side if they’re unconscious but breathing.
Step 2: Rehydrate without upsetting your stomach
Alcohol increases urination, so mild dehydration can contribute to thirst, fatigue, dizziness, and headaches.
Start with small, regular sips of water. Drinking a huge amount at once may make nausea worse. If you’ve been vomiting, an oral rehydration drink from a pharmacy may help replace lost fluids and salts.
Sports drinks and electrolyte powders aren’t magic hangover cures. Research hasn’t shown that extra electrolytes reduce overall hangover severity. They may still be easier for some people to sip than plain water, but they won’t make your liver process alcohol faster.
Avoid drinking more alcohol. A morning drink may briefly dull some symptoms, but it delays recovery and can keep the cycle going.
Step 3: Eat what your stomach can handle
Food won’t cure a hangover, but it can help if you’re hungry, shaky, or struggling with an empty, irritated stomach.
Try small amounts of plain food, such as:
- toast or crackers
- banana
- rice
- soup or broth
- porridge
- eggs
- yoghurt, if dairy agrees with you
- fruit
You don’t need a giant fry-up. Greasy food may make nausea, reflux, or stomach pain worse. Eat slowly and stop if your stomach objects.
If you can’t keep fluids down, have signs of dehydration, or continue vomiting, contact Healthdirect on 1800 022 222 or seek medical care.
Step 4: Rest and lower your expectations
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism explains that alcohol can make you fall asleep quickly but disrupts the quality of your sleep. That’s one reason you can spend eight hours in bed and still wake up feeling completely wrecked.
Rest somewhere quiet and cool. Dim the lights if you’re sensitive to them. A short shower may help you feel fresher, but it won’t sober you up or shorten the hangover.
Skip the gym, sauna, and strenuous exercise. Exercise doesn’t “sweat out toxins” or speed alcohol metabolism. If you’re dehydrated, dizzy, or poorly coordinated, it can make you feel worse or cause an injury.
Don’t swim while hungover or possibly still affected by alcohol. Dizziness, fatigue, poor judgement, and reduced coordination are a bad combination around water.
Step 5: Be careful with pain relief
Pain relief isn’t as simple as grabbing whatever is in the bathroom cupboard.
Healthdirect Australia warns that alcohol can interact with prescription and over-the-counter medicines. Paracetamol and alcohol are both processed by the liver, while aspirin and ibuprofen can irritate the stomach. These risks may be more important if you drank heavily, are still affected by alcohol, have been vomiting, are dehydrated, have liver or kidney problems, have a stomach ulcer, or take other medicines.
The safest option is to ask a pharmacist which pain relief, if any, is suitable for you. Follow the label and never exceed the recommended dose.
Don’t take sleeping tablets, sedatives, opioids, or anti-anxiety medicines with alcohol unless a doctor has specifically told you it is safe. Some combinations can dangerously slow breathing.
Step 6: Settle nausea and heartburn gently
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism explains that alcohol irritates the stomach lining and increases acid production. This can cause nausea, stomach pain, reflux, or vomiting.
Small sips of fluid and plain food are a reasonable place to start. Sit upright if you have reflux, and avoid another alcoholic drink, a heavy meal, or anything that reliably irritates your stomach.
A pharmacist can advise whether an antacid or another medicine is appropriate. Seek medical advice if your stomach pain is severe, you vomit blood, your vomit looks like coffee grounds, or your stool is black.
Step 7: Deal with hangxiety
Feeling anxious, restless, flat, or irritable after drinking is common. Alcohol changes brain activity while you’re drinking, and your brain then works to regain its balance as the alcohol wears off. Poor sleep, dehydration, embarrassment about the night before, and a racing heart can add to the feeling.
Keep the day simple. Rest, eat, hydrate, and avoid trying to fix the feeling with more alcohol. Too much caffeine may make shakiness, anxiety, or a racing heart feel worse.
If your anxiety is severe, you feel unsafe, or you’re having thoughts of harming yourself, get immediate support. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or triple zero if there is an immediate danger.
How long will the hangover last?
A hangover can last 24 hours or longer. There’s no dependable way to cut that time in half.
Your liver needs time to process the alcohol and its by-products. Your body also needs time to rehydrate, settle inflammation and stomach irritation, and recover from disrupted sleep.
You may still have alcohol in your system the next morning, even if you feel awake. Coffee, food, a shower, and sleep don’t reduce your blood alcohol concentration. Don’t drive unless you’re certain you’re under the legal limit and able to drive safely.
Even after your blood alcohol level reaches zero, a hangover can affect attention, judgement, reaction time, and coordination.
Hangover remedies that don’t live up to the hype
Coffee
Coffee may make you feel more awake, but it doesn’t sober you up or speed alcohol metabolism. It may worsen anxiety, shakiness, reflux, or a racing heart.
A cold shower
A shower may make you feel fresher. It won’t reduce your blood alcohol level or cure the hangover.
Sweating it out
Exercise and saunas don’t remove alcohol toxins faster. They can worsen dehydration and dizziness.
Greasy food
Greasy food doesn’t absorb alcohol that is already in your bloodstream. It may make an irritated stomach feel worse.
Vitamin drinks and supplements
No vitamin, herbal remedy, electrolyte product, or commercial hangover supplement has strong evidence showing that it cures a hangover.
Hair of the dog
More alcohol may temporarily mask symptoms, but it delays recovery and increases your total alcohol exposure.
Mixing drinks in the “right” order
Beer before wine, wine before beer, or any other drinking order won’t protect you. The total amount of alcohol matters far more than the order.
When should you get medical help?
Call triple zero if someone:
- can’t be woken or loses consciousness
- has slow, irregular, or difficult breathing
- has a seizure
- collapses
- has pale, blue, grey, or clammy skin
- is severely confused or can’t stand
- has chest pain
- vomits while unconscious
Seek prompt medical advice if you:
- can’t keep fluids down
- show signs of severe dehydration
- vomit blood or material resembling coffee grounds
- have black or bloody stools
- have severe stomach or chest pain
- remain confused or disorientated
- feel significantly worse rather than gradually improving
For non-urgent advice, call Healthdirect on 1800 022 222.
How to reduce the next hangover
Once you’re feeling better, these steps can lower the chance of a repeat performance:
- decide your drink limit before you start
- count standard drinks rather than glasses
- choose smaller or lower-alcohol drinks
- avoid rounds and unmeasured glass top-ups
- alternate alcohol with water or another non-alcoholic drink
- eat before and during the event
- arrange transport before drinking
- have alcohol-free days each week
Australian guidance recommends that healthy adults have no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than four standard drinks on any one day. The less you drink, the lower your risk.
An Australian standard drink contains 10 grams of alcohol. Many wine pours, cocktails, and full-strength beers contain more than one standard drink.
This article provides general information and doesn’t replace advice from a doctor or pharmacist.
Sources
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Hangovers, updated December 2025
- National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol
- Healthdirect Australia, Medicines and Alcohol
- Healthdirect Australia, Nausea
- Healthdirect Australia, Dehydration
- Healthdirect Australia, Poisoning
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