The Finns believe a sauna will do the trick. Others swear by black coffee or swallowing egg whites. But the truth is that nothing can speed up the time needed to sober up after a heavy session.
So, the only piece of sobering advice offered this New Year's Day morning is: don't drive.
If you drank six pints of beer or two bottles of wine last night, even after eight hours' sleep there may still be enough alcohol in your bloodstream to see you register above the legal limit for driving - 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. This is because the liver takes roughly an hour to break down a unit of alcohol - that's half-a-pint of beer, a glass of wine, or a measure of spirits. After a bottle of wine and a few beers, you will take between 10 and 12 hours to sober up.
Doctors say there is nothing you can do - cold showers, long walks in the fresh air or coffee don't work - to quicken the rate at which the liver works when breaking down alcohol.
And remember, driving with a hangover, regardless of the amount of alcohol in your blood, is still a dangerous activity. Even if you pass a breath test, your competence level still may be lowered by as much as 20 per cent.
Researchers at Glasgow University have been studying the effects that hangovers have on driving ability. Results suggest morning-after motorists may consider themselves perfectly sober and fit to drive but reaction time is likely to be slower, as though still under the effects of alcohol.
