A fun night out with friends can quickly turn into a painful morning-after when a hangover hits. One moment you’re partying the night away with friends, and the next, you’re doubled over the toilet with a splitting headache and avoiding sunlight at all costs.

Although there’s no fool-proof way of avoiding a hangover — besides not drinking — there are seven simple tips you can follow to minimize the chances of a hangover the following morning:

1. Eat a Meal Before Drinking

You should always have a snack or light meal before or while drinking. Drinking on an empty stomach causes the alcohol to enter your bloodstream significantly quicker. This means it takes less alcohol to get you drunk and therefore, less alcohol to cause a hangover.

Try to choose foods that aren’t too heavy but will keep you feeling full. Don’t eat a very large meal before drinking, as too much food can cause a significant delay in alcohol absorption. This can cause you to drink more than you normally would because you aren’t yet feeling the effects.

2. Stay Hydrated

Alcohol is known to dehydrate your body because it is a diuretic. Dehydration significantly worsens hangovers. That’s why it’s important to drink plenty of water before, during, and after drinking alcohol.

As a general rule of thumb, you should alternate between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Ideally, you should drink water since it provides the most hydration, but almost any non-alcoholic drink will do in a pinch.

3. Avoid Sugary Cocktails

Sugary drinks and cocktails may give you plenty of energy to dance the night away, but they also cause your blood sugar to temporarily spike and inevitably crash. This crash can cause headaches and feelings of nausea. By avoiding sugary drinks, you can reduce your chance of experiencing a killer hangover.

4. Pace Yourself

Drinking too quickly can cause you to get drunker than you intended and significantly worsen the impending hangover. You should always pace yourself when drinking, especially if you plan on being out for several hours. Take breaks between drinks to give your body time to metabolize the alcohol.

5. Stick to Light-Colored Booze

This one may sound like an old wives’ tale, but evidence suggests that colorless and lightly-colored alcohol — such as vodka, gin, and white wine — may be less likely to cause bad hangovers. This is because darker alcohol, like bourbon, brandy, and red wine, contains larger amounts of congeners.

Congeners are compounds found in alcohol that are known to increase the intensity and frequency of hangover symptoms.

6. Eat a Hearty Breakfast the Next Morning

For some people, eating a big hearty breakfast can help ease the symptoms of a hangover — mainly nausea and headaches. Toast, bagels, and other classic breakfast grains are great for soaking up leftover alcohol and can help your blood sugar levels recover.

Listen to your body while you eat. If your stomach feels full or you begin to feel more nauseous, don’t push yourself in hopes of eating away the hangover.

7. Consider IV Therapy

Despite your best efforts, hangovers may occur any time you drink alcohol. Typically, once a hangover hits, it takes several hours to subside. However, you can prevent the prolonged effects of a hangover with IV therapy.

At Vital Flow Infusions, we offer a Hangover IV Drip that delivers powerful hydration and a special blend of vitamins and minerals to fight off even the worst hangovers.

The unique formula contains a liter of saline solution for optimal hydration, vitamin C, electrolytes, zinc, B-complex vitamins, and glutathione to help speed up your recovery. You can also choose to add Toradol and Zofran for additional pain relief.

An IV hydration drip only takes about 30 to 60 minutes to complete, and many people notice an immediate improvement in their symptoms.

IV Drip Therapy for Hangovers in Sioux Falls

IV drips are a fast and effective way to treat a hangover and recover from a night out. But when you’re hungover and dreading everything around you, the last thing you want to do is get out of bed and drive somewhere. That’s why at Vital Flow Infusions, we bring the hydrating hangover cure to you anywhere in Sioux Falls.

Whether you’re at home, in a hotel room, at a friend’s apartment, or even at work, you can schedule a mobile IV therapy appointment, and one of our licensed practitioners comes to you to administer the drip.

Whether you’re interested in IV drip therapy for hangovers or other vitamin injections, book your IV therapy appointment online or by phone today.