Water is the single best drink for a hangover, but it’s not the only one worth reaching for. Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it pulls fluid out of your body faster than normal, and much of what makes a hangover miserable (the headache, the fatigue, the dizziness) traces back to dehydration and lost electrolytes. The right drinks can speed up that recovery. The wrong ones can set you back.
Water First, Then Electrolytes
Plain water is the foundation. Nothing fancy is required to start rehydrating, and no specialty drink outperforms water for the basic job of replacing lost fluid. The Mayo Clinic notes that coconut water, despite its reputation, is no more hydrating than plain water.
That said, alcohol doesn’t just flush water. It also depletes sodium and potassium, two electrolytes your body needs to retain fluid and keep your muscles and nerves functioning. This is where an oral rehydration solution like Pedialyte has a real edge: it contains two to three times more electrolytes than standard sports drinks, with about 25 to 50 percent less sugar. The lower sugar content actually helps your gut absorb fluid more efficiently. Sports drinks like Gatorade work too, but they’re designed to replace sweat during exercise, not to correct the kind of electrolyte loss alcohol causes. If you’re choosing between the two, Pedialyte is the better match for a hangover.
Coconut water falls somewhere in between. It’s naturally rich in potassium, sodium, and manganese, so it offers more electrolytes than tap water. But if your main goal is rehydration, it’s not a magic bullet. Drink whatever you’ll actually finish.
Ginger Tea for Nausea
If your hangover is more stomach than headache, ginger is one of the most reliable options. Research across multiple settings (post-surgery, pregnancy, general nausea) consistently shows that about 1 gram of ginger per day significantly reduces nausea and vomiting. That’s roughly a half-inch piece of fresh ginger root steeped in hot water for 10 minutes, or a strong ginger tea bag.
You can sip ginger tea throughout the morning in smaller doses. Adults can safely take up to 4 grams per day, though most people find relief well below that. Avoid ginger ale from the store if it’s mostly sugar and artificial flavoring. Real ginger, whether fresh, dried, or in a quality tea, is what delivers the anti-nausea benefit.
Tomato Juice and Broth
A glass of tomato juice or a warm cup of bone broth might sound unappealing when your stomach is fragile, but both bring something useful to recovery. Tomato juice supplies potassium, a small amount of natural sugar, and the full spectrum of compounds found in whole tomatoes. Animal research has shown that whole tomato (not isolated extracts) reduced alcohol-related liver stress in over 90 percent of subjects. That finding hasn’t been fully replicated in humans, but tomato juice also provides fluid, salt, and vitamins you’ve lost, which makes it practical regardless.
Bone broth offers a different advantage. It’s warm, easy on the stomach, and rich in amino acids. One of those, L-cysteine, has drawn attention because it may help the liver process acetaldehyde, the toxic byproduct your body creates when it breaks down alcohol. Acetaldehyde is responsible for many of the worst hangover symptoms. The evidence for L-cysteine as a standalone hangover cure is thin, but broth also delivers sodium, gelatin, and hydration in a form that’s gentle enough to keep down when solid food feels impossible.
Why Coffee Can Backfire
Reaching for coffee is instinctive. You’re exhausted, your head is pounding, and caffeine is your usual fix. The problem is that caffeine is also a diuretic, which can deepen the dehydration driving your symptoms. The Cleveland Clinic advises avoiding caffeine when you’re already experiencing dehydration symptoms like a headache, noting that caffeinated drinks can make things worse.
A small cup of coffee is unlikely to cause major harm if you’re also drinking plenty of water. But if your hangover is headache-dominant, caffeine is a gamble. It may briefly constrict the blood vessels causing your headache, then trigger a rebound as it wears off. If you do drink coffee, pair it with at least an equal volume of water and keep the serving small.
Skip the “Hair of the Dog”
Drinking more alcohol the next morning is one of the oldest hangover remedies, and one of the least effective. A morning beer or mimosa may create a mild buzz that temporarily masks your symptoms, but it does nothing to resolve them. Your liver is still processing the alcohol from last night. Adding more just delays that work and extends the timeline of your hangover. As researchers at Cedars-Sinai put it: you’re only delaying the inevitable.
The temporary relief people feel is real, but it comes from the numbing effect of new alcohol, not from any metabolic benefit. Once that drink wears off, the original symptoms return, often alongside the effects of the additional alcohol.
Timing Matters More Than the Drink
The most effective hangover drink is the one you have before bed. Alternating one glass of water between each alcoholic drink slows the dehydration process, but the biggest window of opportunity is right before sleep. A large glass of water (or an electrolyte drink) before you go to bed gives your body fluid to work with during the hours when your liver is processing the bulk of the alcohol.
By the time you wake up with a full hangover, you’re already several hours behind on hydration. Morning drinks help, but they’re playing catch-up. If you can manage 16 to 20 ounces of water before sleeping, you’ll wake up in measurably better shape. Keeping a glass on your nightstand is the simplest hangover strategy that actually works.
A Practical Morning Lineup
If you’re reading this with a hangover right now, here’s a reasonable order:
- First: 16 ounces of water, sipped steadily over 15 to 20 minutes rather than chugged
- Next: an electrolyte drink like Pedialyte, diluted sports drink, or coconut water
- For nausea: ginger tea made with real ginger, sipped warm
- When you can handle flavor: tomato juice or warm broth for sodium, potassium, and amino acids
- Coffee: only after you’ve had at least two full glasses of non-caffeinated fluid, and only if your headache isn’t severe
Recovery typically takes 12 to 24 hours depending on how much you drank, your body size, and how dehydrated you got. No single drink eliminates a hangover, but the right combination shortens the worst of it considerably.