How to cure that Christmas Hangover

If you're nursing a nasty hangover after Christmas and have reached your limit on water and painkillers, there are other things that are SCIENTIFICALLY proved to kick it in the butt.

In fact, according to physiologist Kevin Strang, from the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Medical School, drinking litres of water might not even be the best idea.

This is because the alcohol in your system blocks a hormone that tells your kidneys how much water you should lose when you pee. So basically, it just passes through your system without being absorbed.

So what instead? There are two things your body desperately craves after a night of drinking.

Salt and sugar.

Now before you go and break out your sugar bowl and salt shaker - there's a much better way to ingest these.

You may already be aware that sports drink is great for this, which makes liquids like Powerade one of the best things you can have when hungover.

The other thing might not be so obvious.

The liver is unable to give you the glucose you need because it's too busy detoxifying the alcohol. So to get rid of your hangover, you need salts, sugars and B vitamins - found in meat and in chicken broth.

This makes Chicken Noodle Soup (or miso soup for vegetarians) the best meal you could feed your dusty soul the morning after one too many wines.