How sleep can help you recover from the festive season and new year celebrations

How to sleep off a hangover

While breaking out the painkillers and chugging water may be your go-to for alleviating headaches, you may recover more efficiently and your hangover symptoms may become more bearable through achieving adequate sleep. Lack of sleep may actually make your hangover symptoms seem much worse. 

Adequate sleep may be the last thing on your mind when welcoming in the New Year, however, getting the required amount of sleep can have incredible healing and restorative effects on your body, including reducing the severity of your hangover symptoms. In fact, a reduction in sleep duration can cause your hangover to be more severe in the morning. 

Other hangover cures

As well as adequate sleep, drinking lots of fluids before and after you go to sleep and introducing more carbohydrates into your diet for your post-night out breakfast, can also help to reduce your hangover symptoms. It’s also suggested that taking certain supplements after a night out may help your body recover better by giving it the nutrients it may have missed, and help to relieve some hangover symptoms. 

How to prevent a hangover before you go to sleep

There are several ways you can prevent a hangover before you head to bed after a night of drinking. We know when you get home from a night out, the first thing on your mind is probably flinging yourself into bed! However, doing these quick tasks before you go to sleep, or asking for help from a sober friend, can mean the difference between waking up with a hangover and waking up feeling fine. Here are the top practices you can do to help reduce and better manage your morning hangover symptoms.

Stay hydrated

Alcohol can cause dehydration, so it is important to remember to drink lots of water which can dilute the alcohol and help to make your hangover symptoms less severe. Dehydration can contribute to more severe hangover symptoms, such as dizziness, nausea, fatigue, and headaches. Chugging water before you go to sleep can enable you to fend off dehydration in the morning. 

Get more sleep

We have mentioned this before, but sleeping better is a very effective way of fending off any morning headaches or sickness. It may be hard to receive quality sleep, especially if you come home in the early hours of the next morning, but getting as much sleep as you can will definitely help to reduce symptoms and allow you to feel more refreshed when waking up.

Sleep related New Year's resolutions

We understand that you may have a lot of resolutions for the New Year, and may want to start it feeling refreshed and focussed on goals, however, your hangover may be preventing you from gaining motivation or a clear perspective.

Based on clear evidence from studies on sleep and its effects on overall wellbeing, prioritising sleep or sorting out your sleep schedule is recommended to be the main New Year’s resolution you should make. Our article on New Year’s sleep resolutions has more detailed information for this. The next time you have a late night drink and are dreading waking up the next morning feeling awful, having your sleep schedule and rhythm in check can reduce the awful hangover symptoms, allowing you to feel more refreshed for the day ahead.