It turns out that it might not be the amount you drink on a Friday night that’s leaving you worse for wear, but rather your beverage of choice.
Sure, we all know that consuming large amounts of any one kind of alcohol is going to leave you hugging the porcelain bowl for most of the weekend, but you may also want to rethink what you choose to drink on a night out if you want to avoid the pounding head the next morning.
Related: You can get drunk without actually touching a drop of alcohol. Seriously.
1. White wine, red wine, champagne
While all alcoholic products contain ethanol, it’s also the additives in our beverages which contribute to the hungover feeling we get the next day. For example, beverages like white wine, champagne and red wine are more likely to leave you feeling crummy largely due to their sulphites, methanol (in red wine) and in champagne’s case, bubbly content. The idea being that preservatives found in these drinks are harder for the body to break down and process, therefore leaving your liver working overtime for a lot longer.
Related: The concerning diet trick Kendall Jenner uses to prepare for runway shows.
2. Vodka
If vodka is your drink of choice, we’ve got good and bad news for you. A study conducted by the British Medical Association has found that despite the high percentage of alcohol found in vodka (around 40 per cent) vodka itself is actually fairly low risk when it comes to hangovers.
Because of the purity of the substance, it doesn’t need additives like wine and champagne and is therefore easier for the body to process. However, because a lot of people choose to mix their vodka with other drinks such as cola, lemonade or juice, the body is left to not only process the alcohol in the vodka, but the preservatives and sugars found in the mixers too. Vodka, lime and soda is therefore the best option if you’re concerned about the next day. (Post continues after gallery.)