Water is the single best thing to drink after alcohol, but it’s not the only thing that helps. Alcohol suppresses your body’s ability to retain water, so you lose more fluid than you take in while drinking. The goal afterward is to replace that lost fluid and the minerals that went with it.
Why Alcohol Dehydrates You
Alcohol interferes with a hormone called vasopressin, which normally tells your kidneys to hold onto water. When vasopressin drops, your kidneys let more water pass straight through to your bladder. That’s why you urinate so frequently while drinking. By the time you stop, your body is running a significant fluid deficit, and the headache, fatigue, and dry mouth you feel the next morning are largely consequences of that imbalance.
Dehydration also drains electrolytes, especially potassium, sodium, and magnesium. These minerals regulate nerve signaling, muscle function, and how well your cells absorb water. Plain water replaces volume, but it doesn’t restore those minerals on its own, which is why a combination of drinks tends to work better than water alone.
Water With a Simple Upgrade
Start with water. Sipping steadily is more effective than chugging a large glass, because your body absorbs water more efficiently in smaller amounts. A good rule of thumb is to drink a full glass of water before bed and another when you wake up. Adding a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon gives your body a small dose of sodium and potassium, which helps your intestines pull water into your bloodstream faster. This is the same principle behind oral rehydration solutions used to treat dehydration worldwide.
Coconut Water for Potassium
Coconut water is one of the best natural sources of potassium you can drink. A single cup contains about 404 mg of potassium compared to just 37 mg in a cup of a typical sports drink like Gatorade. Potassium is one of the electrolytes you lose most of during a night of drinking, and low potassium contributes to that weak, shaky feeling the morning after.
Sports drinks do have more sodium (about 97 mg per cup versus 64 mg in coconut water), so they have their place too. But many commercial sports drinks also pack in sugar, which can irritate an already sensitive stomach. If you go the sports drink route, look for lower-sugar versions. Coconut water gives you a broader mineral profile, including calcium and magnesium, with less added sugar.
Broth and Soup
Bone broth or a simple chicken or miso soup delivers sodium, water, and a small amount of protein in a form that’s gentle on your stomach. The sodium content in broth is typically higher than what you’d get from water or coconut water, which makes it especially useful if you’ve been vomiting or sweating overnight. The warmth also tends to settle nausea for many people. If you can manage solid food, pairing broth with bland carbohydrates like crackers or toast gives your body fuel without overloading your digestive system.
Tomato Juice and Antioxidant Drinks
Tomato juice has a long folk reputation as a hangover remedy, and there’s some science behind it. Tomato juice is rich in lycopene, a compound that helps counteract oxidative stress in the liver. Research in animals with diet-induced liver stress found that tomato juice partially reversed metabolic disruption, bringing liver markers closer to normal levels. Alcohol generates a burst of inflammatory byproducts as your liver breaks it down, and antioxidant-rich drinks can help your body manage that load.
Other good options in this category include tart cherry juice and pomegranate juice, both high in antioxidants. These won’t cure a hangover, but they support your liver’s cleanup process while also contributing fluid and potassium.
What About Coffee and Tea?
A cup of coffee the morning after feels instinctive, and the good news is that moderate caffeine won’t make your dehydration significantly worse. Research from 2017 found that low levels of caffeine intake do not meaningfully disrupt fluid balance. The threshold where caffeine starts causing real diuretic effects is around 500 mg per day, roughly five cups of coffee.
One or two cups of coffee or tea are fine and can help with the grogginess and headache that come from a hangover. Caffeine narrows blood vessels that alcohol has dilated, which is partly why it eases headache pain. Green tea is a solid choice because it adds mild antioxidant benefits alongside the caffeine. Just make sure you’re drinking water alongside your coffee, not instead of it.
Drinks Worth Skipping
More alcohol (“hair of the dog”) delays your recovery. It temporarily masks symptoms by keeping your blood alcohol level elevated, but it extends the dehydration cycle and gives your liver even more to process. Sugary sodas and energy drinks can spike your blood sugar and crash it again, worsening fatigue and nausea. Drinks that combine high sugar with high caffeine are the worst combination for an already stressed system.
Timing and Order
The most effective rehydration strategy starts before you go to sleep. Drinking water between alcoholic drinks during the night slows the fluid deficit, but even if you didn’t do that, a glass of water with a pinch of salt before bed makes a noticeable difference by morning. When you wake up, start with water or an electrolyte drink, then move to whatever sounds appealing: coconut water, broth, juice, or coffee.
Your body can absorb roughly 1 liter of fluid per hour under normal conditions, so spacing your drinks over a few hours is more effective than forcing down a large volume at once. Most people feel meaningfully better within 2 to 4 hours of steady rehydration, though a heavy night of drinking can leave lingering fatigue for up to 24 hours as your liver finishes processing the alcohol’s byproducts.