Top Tips to avoid an Office Party Hangover

Aah, it’s all talk about Christmas Parties here on the blog, I can’t believe it’s that time of year again, to get glammed up after a long day in the office, get rather merry in order to talk to people you work with (and would never usually speak to) and than dance like your dad until you are put into a taxi by the younger receptionist who pays the driver on your behalf. Yes, its office party season again…joy! As a seasoned professional in avoiding the dreaded hangover I’ve teamed up with with top nutritionists, Rob Hobson, of Nutrition Expert, and Claire Ward of Nutri-Kind Nutrition to put together some top tips on how to avoid feeling like death the next day and not suffering with the classic office-party hangover.

Always remember to eat
The worst hangovers I’ve had have been because I’ve forgotten to eat. I’ve learnt the hard way and can’t tell you how important it is to line your stomach. The best food for this stodgy carbohydrates (woohoo). Use this as your excuse to eat that giant bowl of pasta or take that extra roast potato! Eating will also help to soak up the alcohol, keep your blood sugar stable, which in turn helps you to feel less tired and headachey the next day, this also help your liver process the alcohol, helping you to not feel so sick too.


Stick to spirits 
When I’m out with the girls I tend to stay away from beer and indulge in a vodka or gin. This is because white spirits are lower in a byproduct of fermentation known as congeners which are produced naturally and added for taste and appearance. Drinks high in congeners such as red wine and dark coloured spirits normally result in nastier hangovers. They also contain more impurities than the lighter kinds of drinks such as white wine, vodka, gin or white rum which are harder for the liver to process, so if you want to avoid a hangover from hell these are best avoided!

Milk Thistle
Now, one of my best tips for surviving hangovers was given to me from a dear friend of mine. Prior to her having her children, she was a bit of a party girl. No matter how much she had to drink on a school night she alway appeared at the morning meeting bright eyed and bushy tailed. I begged her to tell me her secret. She replied with two words… Milk thistle. It’s a miracle product, I’ll tell you. This traditional herbal remedy is thought to help protect the liver from damage by way of a compound called silymarin which helps neutralise toxic substances and stimulate cell regeneration, this processes the alcohol that little more easily, thus reducing the severity of the hangover.

Avoid caffeine

When I was younger, after heavy night out, I’d spend the following day sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for myself, drinking tea and coffee by the bucketload. NO!! Don’t do it. Caffeine has a diuretic effect, so this is not good to drink on your night out (even at the end to perk yourself up no matter how tempting it may be!) or the next day either. That extra caffeine is also more for your liver to process alongside the alcohol. Try diluting spirits with juice instead of fizzy drinks that increase alcohol absorption. Remember, Coke has caffeine!

Eat the next day
No matter how grotty you feel, try to eat the morning after. For a good morning-after breakfast, choose scrambled or poached eggs on wholegrain bread instead of a greasy fry-up that will leave you feeling sluggish. Eggs contain the amino acid, cysteine that helps to breakdown acetaldehyde (toxin that contributes to hangovers) and wholegrain foods provide a slow release of glucose to balance out blood sugar levels. If your hangover is really bad, try and force a little food down, at least. Trust me, it will help.

Damage control
Hangovers are not all about the physical feeling from excess alcohol, one of the worst ‘morning after’ feelings can be sheer embarrassment of what happened the night before. Limit this by switching off your mobile phone during the evening so you aren’t tempted to text your ex, or your boss with what you really think of him. Remember, that ultimately you work with these people so you need to keep a level of professionalism and not do anything you’ll later regret! Office gossip spreads like wildfire, so don’t think your actions will go unnoticed!

Ultimately, the only way to totally avoid the dreaded Chr​istmas party hangover is to not drink at all (then you can laugh at everyone getting drunk around you) however, if you decide to indulge in a couple, follow the above tips, alternate one alcoholic drink, one soft drink and so on, and this should significantly improve your chances of not feeling so hungover the following morning, giving you the best chance possible to remember your night and still have a great time without writing off a day of your life to get over it!

Share your top hangover tips/stories below – I’d love to hear about them…. ! 
(I’m also giving away some glam Christmas Party Heels here!!)

– This post was written in collaboration with Heathspan, 
however opinions (and stories) are my own!

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