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Study finds doing regular ‘vigorous’ exercise helps hangovers in two key ways
After a heavy night out, the first thing you do is search online for the best hangover remedies. Sadly, there isn’t a miracle cure that will suddenly have you feeling on top of the world, but a new study has found one thing that can help – exercise.
As well as eating a breakfast rich in nutrients, drinking lots of water and taking painkillers, the new research suggests the best thing to help a hangover is regular physical activity, which is more of a preventative measure than a cure.
Study finds ‘vigorous’ exercise helps hangovers in two ways
The research, published in the Addictive Behaviours journal, analyzed undergraduate students from two large universities in the United States who had at least one hangover in the past three months and engaged in at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise per week.
They were asked to complete online questionnaires about their alcohol consumption, physical activity and severity of their hangover symptoms and the study found that “vigorous” physical activity positively influences hangovers in two ways:
- Vigorous exercise reduces the “likelihood” of a hangover
- Vigorous exercise reduces the “severity” of hangovers
That doesn’t mean you have to exercise the morning after drinking while you have a headache. The study looked into how being generally active over the month prevents a hangover when you do decide to drink alcohol.
The college students who consumed more alcoholic drinks over the past 30 days reported having more hangovers and more severe ones. However, those who had engaged in vigorous exercise in the same period had better hangovers.
This is the first study to report that physical activity influences the number of hangovers experienced and the severity of hangovers.
What is ‘vigorous’ exercise? And how much should you do?
So, what is vigorous exercise? And how much should you do to make your hangovers better? Well, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans say adults should do 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise or 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week.
Vigorous intensity exercises are ones that make you breathe “hard and fast”, the NHS explains. You should not be able to say more than a few words without pausing for breath. Most moderate activities can become vigorous if you simply work harder.
Some examples include: running, swimming, riding a bike fast or on hills, walking up the stairs, football, rugby, netball, hockey, skipping, aerobics, gymnastics and martial arts.
Exercises that you perform in short bursts of maximum effort broken up with rest are also vigorous, such as lifting heavy weights, circuit training, sprinting up hills, interval running, running up stairs and spinning classes.
Adults should also do strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups on two days of the week. Exercise needs to be spread evenly across all seven days and everyone should reduce time spent sitting down with some activity.
However, remember, while exercise may stop you from feeling quite so bad after drinking, the only way to prevent hangovers is to reduce your alcohol consumption.
