Research proves: gin and tonic hardly gives you a hangover

A bit thirsty from all that cold outside? Of course, a nice drink keeps even the coolest frog warm. So pour it in, that drink.

What you especially want to drink according to experts is the famous gin and tonic. Delicious, especially since it is now garnished with cucumbers, elderflower, orange slices, and God knows what else. According to the drink experts of this world (what a job), a gin and tonic can cause few problems on your night out. And here's how.

Go gin

The strong drink is mixed with tonic, yo, and that's why your hangover is less severe the next day. The more water it contains, the better it is for your stomach. The sugar in the tonic also keeps your stomach a bit more busy, which means you suffer less from that nausea. And there's more. You actually get less severe hangovers from light drinks than from dark drinks, multiple researchers confirm. For example, bourbon contains no less than 37 more chemicals than vodka, which is very light in color, just like gin. Those are toxic substances that make you feel hungover, like acetone. Researchers had a group of people drink either bourbon or vodka and looked at the symptoms of a hangover the next day. Guess who felt worse. It's logical that light drinks are popular, then. Go gin.

The Netherlands is officially the sixth largest consumer country for gin in the world, and we drink an average of one bottle per person per year. Gin, so, huh, and we haven't even talked about beer and wine and all the other poison. Only the Philippines, the United States, Spain, England, and India rank above us in this chic list. It is also a descendant of Dutch genever, so yeah, that makes sense that it is so beloved here. Still, we have a boss above us: in England, they drink more than a billion gin and tonics per year. We can still learn from that.

Here are some handy facts for everyone doing a ‘Wet January’:

• Cheaper drinks are not necessarily worse for your hangover than expensive drinks. Look, that saves some euros.
• It can take a day to get rid of your hangover. Sleeping a lot helps, but in that sleep, you don't drink water, which your body mainly needs.
• Eating a greasy snack afterwards when you're already tipsy doesn't make much sense according to toxicologists.
• Taking a paracetamol before you go to sleep doesn't help. Sorry.
• A glass of water with lemon doesn't help against that headache either.
• And cola doesn't either. Actually, the only thing that helps is: drink less alcohol. And drink a lot, a lot of water in between.

The most effective way to prevent a hangover? According to researchers, there is only one good answer: drink water between your alcoholic pleasures to. You'll still have something left for your Sunday, the day after.

Cheers, huh.