Do: Keep it light.
If you plan to have more than a cocktail or two, limit yourself to clear liquor like vodka and gin. Consuming large amounts of darker pours like whiskey and brandy can increase the severity of hangovers. Here's why: Dark drinks have higher concentrations of congeners, toxic compounds formed when alcohol is fermented. One study in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found that bourbon drinkers experienced significantly worse hangovers than those who reached the same blood alcohol level consuming vodka (bourbon has 37 times as many congeners as vodka does).
From the
August 2013 issue of
O, The Oprah Magazine
