Coffee, aspirin best antidote to hangover

LONDON - A hangover leaves you wallowing in depression and anxiety with waves of headache, nausea, lethargy, sensitivity to light and noise. But the antidote to such a bleak state of mind could be something as simple as coffee and aspirin.

Scientists found that caffeine in coffee and the anti-inflammatory ingredients of painkillers countered the effects of alcohol, the Daily Mail reports.

Michael Oshinsky and colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, US, tested the effect of low doses of pure alcohol on rats prone to migraines.

Because low doses typically cause headaches in migraine patients, this allowed them to study an alcohol-induced headache without the complication of the rats being drunk, according to a Jefferson statement.

Four hours after drinking, the skin around the rats’ eyes became sensitive, a sign they had a headache. They were then given doses of caffeine and anti-inflammatories which relieved the pain.

One of the major causes of hangovers is a chemical called acetate, a by-product of how the body processes alcohol. Caffeine and certain types of painkillers block its effects.

Because of this, the best time to take them would be about four hours after drinking, when acetate levels begin to peak, Oshinsky said.