You’re hungover. Can exercise help?

NEW YORK – Electrolyte drinks, ibuprofen, a bagel overflowing with bacon, egg and cheese – everyone has his or her own way of nursing a hangover. There are also plenty of products that claim to make the experience less miserable, with little evidence to support them.

But what about exercise? Some people swear that a workout can help cure, or blunt, a hangover. If it can, what type of movement could be most helpful?

“There are very few settings where exercise is not beneficial,” said Dr Andy Peterson, a team physician at the University of Iowa. It is “the closest thing we have to a miracle drug”. That includes hangovers – with some caveats, he said.

Here is what experts advise if you are thinking about sweating through a rough morning.

How does a hangover affect your body?

After a night of drinking, several things happen to your body at once, said Dr Shaan Khurshid, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. You might be dehydrated, and you might experience sleep disturbances, digestive issues or a spike in anxiety.

While hangover symptoms and their severity can vary a lot among people – and even for the same person at different times – no one is going to be at his or her physical peak after drinking a substantial amount of alcohol, Dr Khurshid said.

Alcohol is a relaxant, which is why it can make you feel less stressed and more at ease. But as those effects wane, they can be followed by what Dr Khurshid called a “compensatory kind of adrenaline surge”. “That’s why some people will notice that their heart rate is faster or they are a little more anxious or on edge” the next day, he added.

Starting a workout with a higher baseline heart rate could make your go-to routine feel harder than usual. If you are prone to heart arrhythmias, it is best to stay away from intense exercise the morning after drinking, Dr Peterson added.

Alcohol also has a diuretic effect, meaning it makes you urinate more frequently. It also slows your digestion and irritates your stomach lining, which can cause vomiting or other gastrointestinal issues. All of these factors increase your chances of dehydration.

You also may not be eating as much or as healthily when you are drinking. If so, the next morning, you are likely not properly fuelled for exercise.

What type of exercise is best?

There is very little research on exercise and hangovers. Of the small studies that do exist, most have focused on how hangovers might affect athletic performance, rather than the other way around.

But it is well-established that dehydration has a negative impact on exercise performance. For that reason, experts stress the importance of rehydrating and taking in electrolytes before attempting any kind of workout with a hangover.

Dr Khurshid recommends eating a salty snack or breakfast as well as drinking plenty of water.

Some hangover symptoms, like poor coordination and slow thinking, can put you at increased risk for injury if you choose a workout that demands complex motor movements, like boxing or rock climbing, Dr Peterson said. For that reason, you are better off trying low-intensity exercise, like a walk, an easy jog, a gentle swim or a ride on a stationary bike.

But as long as you listen to your body and do not attempt any new, vigorous activities, trying some movement should be safe, Dr Khurshid said.

If the movement feels good or you start to feel better as you exercise, you can increase the intensity, Dr Peterson said. But if you start to feel worse, it is time to call it a day.

Can a workout help you feel better?

If you do not usually exercise, a hungover workout probably will not be a “one-time cure”, Dr Khurshid said. It will be more difficult to push yourself enough to have a productive session when you are feeling less than your best. For that reason, you are more likely to experience some benefit if you already exercise regularly.

Still, this is not the time to push yourself to the edge. “If you start your workout and you feel terrible, but you don’t feel any worse as you go on, you’re doing the right thing,” Dr Peterson said.

If you do start to feel better afterwards, the experts said, it is probably the regular magic of exercise and endorphins at work. There are far worse miracle elixirs to believe in. NYTIMES