When you have a hangover, you are ready to do about anything to get rid of it. Between the incessant headache, nausea, and dehydration, the misery surrounding a hangover can ruin your day, and many hangover suffers have developed strange and gross ways of fighting the symptoms. From drinking sauerkraut brine to concoctions that might actually induce vomiting instead of combating it, the selection of natural remedies can be less enticing than just dealing with the symptoms until they dissipate on their own.
However, the last time I got a headache and nausea from drinking a bit too much, I was on the search for a beverage that would rehydrate me instead of going for a glass of soda or a cup of coffee. That’s when I had the wonderful idea of drinking a cup of green tea. This idea was more than appealing at that moment, as the thought of a hot, clean beverage that has plenty of caffeine seemed like an ideal solution, but I wasn’t sure if it would actually work until I gave it a try. Amazingly, the green tea worked beautifully in alleviating my hangover, and by the end of two cups, I felt completely better. No headache, no nausea, and I was rehydrated.
My curiosity was peaked by this accidental discovery, and I then searched online to see if others had also realized that this hangover cure works as well as I had experienced. The answer was, of course, yes, and green tea is often recommended as a natural hangover cure, amongst other herbal teas that can help with upset stomach and nausea symptoms. The antioxidants in green tea help in detoxifying the liver and improve its function, which is one of the reasons this cure works so well. Since a hangover is technically a combination of withdrawal symptoms from alcohol, the headache experienced, in addition to the stomach related symptoms, comes from constriction of the brain’s blood vessels after the alcohol is gone, as alcohol opens up the blood vessels. Therefore, the caffeine in green tea dilates the blood vessels in the brain to relieve the pressure that causes headaches.
Another recommendation for the green tea hangover cure is to add honey to each cup of tea, because honey is rich in sodium, fructose, and potassium, which are depleted in the body after excessive alcohol consumption. Other teas, besides green tea, that can help with the upset stomach and nausea from a hangover are peppermint and ginger tea. Ginger, especially, has been heralded as an effective homeopathic remedy for nausea and has been used for this purpose, outside of hangover symptom relief, for centuries.
Why choose this homeopathic remedy instead of an over-the-counter pain reliever and water? Well, don’t skip the water, but do pass on the pain medicine. Acetaminophen and ibuprofen are both rough on the stomach and could lead you to feel more nauseated than you were before, and they are also hard on your liver, as it has to process medicine as well as alcohol. So the next time you have a hangover, or the beginnings of one, get your relief from a soothing cup of tea. We recommend finding a great green tea variety from our catalog to have ready the next time those annoying hangover symptoms strike.