It’s a situation many of us have been in before. Waking up after a night of drinking, you think you’ve had a ‘responsible’ amount of alcohol only to find that you now have a pounding headache to contend with.
There are many recommended remedies for helping with a hangover, but what about showers? Do showers help hangovers go away? Well, no to be honest they don’t. However, they can be beneficial for waking you up and making you feel more alert.
Unpleasant hangover symptoms are something that you want to try and get rid of fast, especially if you need to be up and about for the day. Depending on the degree of excessive drinking that was had, this will depend on how effective the shower is in ridding those hangover symptoms.
Will a Shower Help a Hangover?
Hangovers occur due to alcohol dehydrating your body. Alcohol is a diuretic, which means it will increase the amount of urinating you do, as well as fluid loss. The result of this can be unpleasant hangover symptoms like a headache, dizziness, or feeling nauseous, for example.
Showers may be helpful when you’ve been drinking alcohol and want to reduce the impact of the hangover symptoms. Due to their refreshing nature, showers are often considered a useful option when tackling these uncomfortable symptoms.
While they do offer temporary relief, a hangover will certainly not just vanish into thin air once stepping out of the shower, much to the disappointment of many who have already tried and hoped for that very result.
Is a Hot or Cold Shower Better For a Hangover?
You may need a few more remedies to try alongside a shower in order to achieve a hangover cure. When it comes to taking a shower, many argue between a hot or cold shower for hangover relief.
According to the experts, a cold shower is the preferred choice when tackling hangover symptoms. Cold water will boost your alertness as those lower temperatures initially hit your skin. The shock of a cold shower may also help increase your adrenaline levels and, as a result, alleviate some of the hangover symptoms.
However, if you’ve had a cold shower regardless of whether you’re hungover or not, it’s not a pleasant experience. For some, taking a cold shower may make a hangover worse, so consider what temperature makes you feel more comfortable than anything else.
How Cold Showers Can Help With Hangovers
The symptoms of a hangover can be helped with a cold shower, but in what ways is it beneficial to your body when trying to reduce hangover symptoms?
1. Helps Reduce Inflammation
When you drink alcohol, alcohol increases inflammation in the body. Cold therapy, which includes taking cold showers, helps because it has an anti-inflammatory effect. This is beneficial for hangovers because it helps specifically with the headache or muscle aches you may feel when you’re hungover.
2. Helps Fight Nausea
There’s nothing worse than feeling nauseous after a night out, and with nausea, it’s likely to occur when you’ve been drinking heavily. The effects of alcohol can be felt for days after drinking, so it’s good to know that cold showers may be able to alleviate this feeling.
This is particularly useful to know at night when you might want to take a shower before going to bed, still feeling hungover. It may help you sleep better as a result. Some alcoholic beverages that you drink may naturally give you a more upset stomach or cause more dehydration due to the alcohol content.
It’s worth knowing what the drinks are that make you worse during a hangover so you can avoid them, maybe opting for a light beer or clear spirits instead of red wine for example.
3. Recovery From Fatigue
When you’ve drunk alcohol, the hangover can impact your energy levels, making you feel that fatigue long after alcohol consumption. To fight fatigue, you can take a cold shower as this can help invigorate the body, shocking it into feeling more awake.
4. Can Relieve Headaches
Along with nausea, after consuming alcohol, a hangover can result in headaches as a symptom. While you might not feel what’s going on in your liver after drinking, you will do it when it comes to your head. Cold therapy can reduce the inflammation that’s been caused due to excess alcohol.
5. Can Help You Sleep
Sleep is important for your body to recover, and when you’re getting disrupted sleep at night due to alcohol, it can make the hangover feel pretty bad. Cold showers can help improve your sleep quality, so it’s good to take one before going to bed or in the morning before returning to bed once more.
The more sleep you’re getting, the quicker you’re going to recover from the hangover. For hangover recovery and fighting that fatigue, make sure you drink a glass of water before going to sleep too.
How Long of a Cold Shower For Hangover Relief
In order to feel the effects of a cold shower and to somewhat cure it for a brief period of time, you should spend around 1-3 minutes under the cold water. This is the optimal duration in which you’ll need to spend to feel the temporary relief that cold water therapy can provide.
When drinking alcoholic beverages, it’s important to be aware of how long it takes for your body to process and break down the alcohol so it can be eliminated - this is something called alcohol metabolism. Hangovers can’t simply be fixed by standing in a shower.
Risk of Taking a Cold Shower While Hungover
Of course, there are always risks when it comes to anything in life and that includes taking a cold shower.
After drinking alcohol, the body is dehydrated, and so no matter how much you drink, showering can make hangovers dangerous because it shocks the system. Not only that, but you might not be as nimble on your feet as you would usually be sober. That could increase the chances of slipping and falling in the shower.
How Hot Showers Can Help With Hangovers
Does a shower help a hangover when you’ve had too much alcohol? Hot showers might be useful for helping with hangovers. Depending on the hangover severity, that is.
1. Eases Muscle Tension
When you drink alcohol, the effects of the spirits you consume can vary. From muscle aches to how effective your muscle coordination is. With a hot shower, the warmth of the water can help to relax muscles and relieve tension.
2. Promotes Relaxation
A warm shower can be a great way to help your body sleep well at night after a day that’s full of hangover symptoms. After consuming alcohol, you’re likely to be tense from all the discomfort you’re in. A hot shower can help to ease both the mind and body.
3. Improves Blood Circulation
Your blood pressure is likely to be higher when you’re drinking, and with high blood pressure, your body will take longer to recover from the hangover. Taking a hot shower after you’ve had a drink - or three - the next day, can help to enhance blood circulation and aid in your recovery.
4. Helps with Detoxification
With a hot shower, you’ll find that you’re sweating and therefore detoxing from the hangovers. While it might cause more dehydration, you should be drinking water with the hangover anyway, which will help replace the water you’re losing through sweat and detoxification.
Can Showers Help with Alcohol Detoxification?
Showers can contribute to alcohol detoxification, especially if you’re willing to take a hot shower. This is because the hot water will cause your body to sweat and thus detoxify the body.
This, referred to as alcohol metabolism, is helpful in many ways. Your body breaks down the alcohol consumption within the liver, and so when you have a drink or several, your body and digestive system need time to process everything you’ve consumed.
It’s important to be mindful of your body and the rate at which it can detoxify alcohol from the body. Too much alcohol can often lead to an alcohol use disorder, which is not a problem you want to have.
Can Using a Showerhead Filter Improve Hangover Relief?
A showerhead filter is a great way to help relieve your hangover and any other symptoms you might be feeling from the after effects of alcohol. Filtered water can enhance the shower experience and contribute to your body’s recovery. It also helps keep out any nasties that might be in your water.
Additional Tips for Hangover Relief
If you’re looking to battle the hangover after too much alcohol, then here are some additional tips if you’re looking for relief from any future hangovers.
Hydration
Hydration is key to beating a hangover. Your body will be dehydrated after excessive alcohol consumption and so you’ll want to drink water to help with the hangover. Start hydrating your body with water as soon as you get back from your night out.
Make sure you also have drinks for electrolyte balance and to help tackle the dehydration. The more you can drink fluids to replenish what you lost through alcohol, the faster you’ll recover.
Nutrition
To help your body recover from a hangover, it’s good to provide your stomach with nutrition. Now you might be experiencing some stomach discomfort from drinking alcohol, and the hangover symptoms might be saying not to eat and drink, but you want to replace those lost fluids and boost your energy levels.
Drinking coffee might be a temporary relief, but you should look at bland foods like toast or bananas to help with digestion and keep nausea at bay.
Rest and Recovery
Do showers help with hangovers? Yes to a certain extent, but in order to cure a hangover, your body needs to get rid of the alcohol through alcohol metabolism, even if it was only one drink or two.
Regardless of hitting the caffeine throughout the day, the body’s ability to break down alcohol in the liver takes time after a big night. Therefore, give the body time by resting and allowing it to recover.
Over-the-Counter Remedies
To help with the toxic byproducts that come from drinking alcohol. You want to look at over-the-counter options for hangover remedies. From B vitamins, to painkillers, these can all be helpful with the hangover.
You could also consider getting IV hydration therapy to hydrate the body and restore it to good health. The more alcohol you drink, the worse the hangovers will feel, so over-the-counter remedies will certainly help battle the pain.
Take Advantage of Showers for a Temporary Relief from Hangovers
Your liver will bear the brunt of the alcohol and thus need a day or so to recover fully. It’s important to be aware of your responsibility when drinking so that you don’t slip out of control.
Addiction to alcohol, like an alcohol use disorder, is fairly common nowadays for those who don’t drink responsibly. After a night of heavy drinking, there are many common myths that are shared in order to help those with a hangover, recover. However, few will work fully, whether that’s drinking coffee or trying to stay hydrated by drinking water.
Consider the benefits of taking a shower with our showerhead filter for maximum effectiveness for your hangovers - even if only temporary!
Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a healthcare professional for personalized medical guidance.
