Whether you are a social drinker, party animal, or like to have a cocktail in the comfort of your own home, more than likely at one time or another you’ve overdone it and ended up with a hangover. While the perfect cure for a hangover has been elusive, there are preventative measures you can take and things you can do to offset or reduce the damage.

One of the major aspects of a hangover is dehydration, loss of nutrients in the body and exhaustion. Making sure you drink plenty of hydrating fluids before, during and after can be very helpful in preventing the most common symptoms. Drinking alcohol also causes the body to metabolize vitamins and minerals that need to be replaced. Sleep also plays a major role in how you will feel the next day. Get plenty of rest to help the body restore. We have a few suggestions to make all these things easy to address.

Keep tea handy when partying. Tea in general helps hydrate the body as well as replenish a level of electrolytes and nutrients (read more). Healthier than grabbing a sports drink! (Read more.) A one to one drink ratio should help--one beer/wine/cocktail, one cup of tea. Don’t want the caffeine at night? A cup of herbal tea will serve just as well; try a rooibos, peppermint, or lemongrass.

If a hangover is the inevitable result, pick a tea that can help metabolize elements in the blood like alcohol. Mate and puerh are great for this (read more on Mate). A blend like our Minty Mocha Mate Madness not only has mate but also has peppermint which can be helpful for the headaches and nausea. In addition, sage is a very useful herb to have for cleansing the blood. Sip on a cup of our Wild Blackberry Shaman which is a blend of black tea, blackberry, and sage.

To help get more restful sleep before and after, try drinking a cup of our Sleepeze or AnxieTea herbal wellness blends. Getting some solid shut eye gives the body a chance to recuperate and heal.

Finally, if you’re going to be drinking, why not reach for a tea infused cocktail like those we will be discussing at our Tea Mixology Workshop on June 24th, 2016. A cocktail infused with tea may be a way to prevent the headaches and possibly provide some of the minerals and vitamins lost while enjoying life. Technically it’s a version of an herbal tincture. A much healthier option than using an artificially ‘flavored’ vodka. At the Tea Mixology Workshop we will also touch on the subject of Bitters which are an amazing health tool as well. That will have to be another blog in the future!