It's happened to the best of us. An evening of excess and alcohol turns overnight into a wretched morning mess. You slink through the remainder of the day hating life. The queasiness, the raging headache, the multiple trips to the bathroom, the onset of flu-like symptoms, that odd feeling that your insides have been pickled - it is enough to make you swear off drinking forever. Until the next time.
Friends will offer up their secret hangover cures, each nastier than the next: a big greasy breakfast, pickle juice, chocolate milk, a whole cabbage, sauerkraut with tomato juice, or more tequila. Another old fallback, known as 'the prairie oyster', calls for a raw egg with vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce. The strategy is based less on science than witchcraft and works by simply distracting you from your alcohol-induced nausea with an even more stomach-churning concoction.
Remedies are notoriously unreliable because the reason for hangovers is not well understood. While dehydration is commonly thought to be the culprit, alcohol acts on the body in a number of ways, all of which contribute to the development of the hangover.
'Hangovers don't get a lot of attention in the medical community because [they are] your own fault,' says Brenna Haysom, founder of New York-based pharmaceutical company Rally Labs. 'Most doctors don't want to encourage drinking and there are more worthy causes to spend their time on.'
Haysom had been studying hangovers for over a year before she developed Blowfish, a morning-after remedy she claims is effective. She didn't plan to make this her life's work. Before graduating from business school, Haysom was working in finance in New York and leading a lifestyle not unlike many professionals in Hong Kong - long work hours, socialising late at night, drinking, more drinking, wretched hangover and repeat. Frustrated with the 'hocus-pocus hangover products' available on the market, she decided to make her own.
Of course, the best way to deal with a hangover is avoid drinking so much in the first place, which is not quite so helpful while you're in the throes of misery. The body can only process a certain quantity of alcohol in a given time. But just how much is too much depends on the drinker's body mass, gender and genetics. Also, certain types of alcohol (such as whisky, brandy or red wine) contain a higher quantity of compounds called congeners than clear spirits (gin and vodka). Congeners not only lend flavour to the liquor, they also contribute to the effects of a hangover. Typically, a hangover hits several hours after you stop drinking and your blood alcohol levels drop. So by the time you're feeling it, it's often too late for precautions.