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If I'm actually hungover, a bacon butty and a can of full fat pop would see me right.

I can't drink coffee when I'm properly hungover. It just doesn't go down. And a full english is unappealing if you're really suffering.

hmm if very very very hungover then yeah I can't do a full English, toast at the most.

If just hungover (So room not spinning) then yes I absolutely can.

Either I drink water, anything else makes me feel even worse.

It's interesting how alcohol producers achieved a monopoly on providing a mind altering substance, and one that is a particularly nasty one.

There is a plethora of substances that can help you relax much better without having to look for "full English breakfast" solutions the next day.

Probably if we also taught at schools how one can defuse build up of emotions and the whole thoughts and feelings connections, without resorting to any substance, then our society would have been in a much better shape. But then, how all those booze peddlers would make their money?

It will be interesting to see when the lockdown ends, whether people will accept having only one drug on the pub menu (I am not counting coffee).

I drink beer because I enjoy the taste and aroma of a well brewed pint. You seem to be making it a bit too complicated.

I am not attacking the substance per se, as you know whatever floats your boat, but the lack of choice.

You know, people who prefer the herb for instance, are being excluded and cannot participate fully in life like the connoisseurs of fermented beverages. This creates societal divide for a financial benefit of the few, but the tide is slowly turning.

Sure, you can't sit there and smoke it in the pub but cannabis is widely consumed; you can go round someone's house or go to the park or up a hill or pretty much anywhere you like. Hell, inconsiderate bastards smoke it on the bus enough.

I take anything I can get my hands on and I've only felt "excluded from life" due to my own selfish behaviour getting out of hand. In fact I feel I can participate more in life since stopping drinking because of how severely impairing alcohol is, both during and after consumption — I'm not generally in the mood anymore to sit around with a bunch of people getting gradually less coordinated while we all repeat what we've just said for hours. Often a drug puts people on a certain wavelength, so it can be uncomfortable to try and e.g. socialise with a group of drinkers if you're on something else, but that's not really exclusion from life — just hang around people who accept your tastes. There's plenty of choice if you know where to look and you're unlikely to suffer any legal repercussions from consumption unless you do something stupid, or are unfortunate enough to be the wrong colour.

You shouldn't feel marginalised — the current system is a crock of shite, but that means you just don't have to participate in it. Lobby for reform by all means — this country (and the world) needs to address drug consumption properly, including alcohol — but remember that the alcohol industry is supplying for a demand, for all its guilt in helping to propagate that demand. It's doing its utmost to keep the problem alive, but it itself isn't the problem.

It will be interesting to see when the lockdown ends, whether people will accept having only one drug on the pub menu

I'm certainly suffering from cravings for a Full English (with black pudding), they'd better not take that off the menu.

I agree that there is a laundry list of mind-altering substances out there.

Alcohol has a major advantage over most of them : it's legal.

It also has another advantage : you can control your consumption of it.

Now I know that that last point will raise the ire of those who will answer "but it's just as addictive !". I will not refute that alcohol can be addictive. Hell, I'd gladly have a whiskey every evening before supper.

But alcohol is not crack. Those who have the willpower can control their consumption. With crack, you take one and you're on it, willpower or not.

In any case, addiction is a difficult subject. Whatever the vehicle.

Weed isn't crack.

( Also nothing is so addictive that one hit is addiction, not even heroin ).

One hit of something can definitely be addiction (or technically the second); depending on the person, their genetics, where they are in life, the drug, the form of the drug and the route of administration (think chewing coca leaves vs. smoking crack) — but not physical dependence, which is a different kettle of soldiers. Addiction's a psychosocial phenomenon.

IT'S A CONSPIRACY!!1!! THE MAN WANTS US TO DRINK ALCHOL! WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!11!

Sheesh.

Alcohol is literally just yeast piss, and has been drunk by humans for thousands of years - and consumed by animals for millions, any time some fruit fell off a tree and was left to ferment.

It's also far from the only "mind altering" substance which people are free to consume. Have some caffeine. Or some e-numbers. Have a smoke. Chew some mushrooms. Hell, just eat a spoonful or two of processed sugar and then wait for the sugar rush... and the crash.

Alcohol has something of an advantage on other substances, in that it's woven into human society across the globe. Not that it's stopped various people from making an effort to do so on religious grounds, with the most famous perhaps being US prohibition. Which went well, at least for the Mafia.

Then too, as per above, it's ridiculously easy to make - since yeast particles drift through the air, you can literally make beer by just leaving the lid off a vat of wort...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic

> Probably if we also taught at schools how one can defuse build up of emotions and the whole thoughts and feelings connections, without resorting to any substance, then our society would have been in a much better shape. But then, how all those booze peddlers would make their money?

Or, we could fix the many social, political and economic issues which lead to peoples lives being a misery. Hell, there's currently 2.5 million children in the UK alone, who are currently experiencing "food insecurity":

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/worried-kids-watch-mums-skip-23799872

But yeah. Let's ban alcohol and tell people to get in touch with their emotions. That'll fix everthing!

The availability of alcohol and the fact that it's so woven into culture and politics is a social, political and economic issue that leads to people's lives being a misery. Drinking will be a factor in that food insecurity in a proportion of cases, though it'd be hard to put numbers on it and I'd be wary of it being seized on as a scapegoat when basic social security should exist and doesn't. I agree that some sort of dispute resolution classes in schools is a bit of an odd idea — generally just asking "how many people that haven't drunk alcohol have you seen fighting?" is sufficient to make people check their consumption a bit :)

I don't think OP was suggesting a conspiracy — the behaviour of the alcohol industry is pretty overt when you look at it — but it is there because the industry wants you to drink alcohol, and they do not want other substances to get in on that money. I believe some of the savvier elements of the industry are making moves to be in a good position to diversify so that they can capture the market of any newly-regulated substance and make sure their margins are protected (some tobacco companies have done this with the recent glut of alternative nicotine and/or smoking products, and you can bet your bottom ass they'll be in on cannabis if anybody lets them).

It's true that alcohol pretty much makes itself, though — but that's a big reason why alcohol is so dominant; it's been making itself everywhere on the planet for time immemorial. Once it started to have taxes levied on it alternatives barely stood a chance (though there's a lot to blame the US and UN for on that front).

And I call alcohol yeast piss too! Int nature brilliant?

"Not that it's stopped various people from making an effort to do so on religious grounds, with the most famous perhaps being US prohibition."

Hmm, I think I can think of a religious alcohol prohibition that is slightly more widespread than that one…

Which reminds me of a really really good theatrical production of "Tales of One Thousand and One Nights" that I saw a few years ago, with a mixed cast of actors from around the eastern Mediterranean (from various countries, from Egypt right up the east coast, and performed in Arabic, French and English, with surtitles).

It took me a little by surprise as, with hindsight, the original stories were written and set sufficiently long ago that many of the characters in the tales (contrary to modern day expectations for the area) were happily drinking wine (which of course also served as a cause for the events in some of those tales).

Further info for downvoters (or anyone interested) — originally from the Lancet paper by Nutt and friends, so you probably know the gist already, but worth a look: [1]https://marlin-prod.literatumonline.com/cms/attachment/df9c8f42-25a2-4cdf-968e-c27b6d23b666/gr4.jpg

I don't believe anybody suggested banning alcohol (we all know how well that goes), but given that the industry's sheer lobbying power and monopoly on getting twisted (using the "woven into culture" as a nice catalyst where it suits) trounces that of the tobacco industry, advertising and lobbying should certainly be outlawed on public health grounds — and minimum unit pricing and possibly larger warning labels should be introduced.

You can say that an "advantage" of alcohol is that it's legal, but I'd argue that that's one of the main reasons that it's such a dominant public health menace.

To directly address points in the original comment though — people will accept one drug (for sale) in the pub because that's what pubs are for. There's always someone doing coke in the toilets, but you'd have a hard time getting cannabis legalisation to mesh nicely with the smoking laws unless you restricted to alternative routes of administration. I'd suggest hanging out at house parties and free parties instead — cheaper, safer (usually), more choice (including the music) and a lot less getting pints thrown on you/sick on your shoes/punched. Though if you like the pub, you can drink whatever you like and take anything that isn't smoked while you're there if you're sneaky — if it needs smoking, that's what "round the corner" is for!

[1] https://marlin-prod.literatumonline.com/cms/attachment/df9c8f42-25a2-4cdf-968e-c27b6d23b666/gr4.jpg

Probably because, with the exception of a burning leaf alternative, which is just as unhealthy, if not even more so, none/few of the other alternative substances are legal (and some/many also have very unhealthy side effects, including severe addiction).

It is probably also only a case of ancient historical precedent that alcohol and tobacco are still legal as well? There are various other chemical substances that have been invented more recently that can (so I'm told) help enhance a good night out, and it certainly could be argued that, as long as they are safe, why shouldn't these be legal too?

Yes, I quite like a drink (although it's certainly a taste that you have to accustom yourself to), but obviously not the short or long term effects of over-indulgence. I think I would tend to agree that it's a shame that there isn't legal research into and sales of safe chemical alternative highs, as that could definitely be quite a profitable business. (I'm aware it is already a profitable 'business' for some, but not helped by the fact that the illegal nature means that the 'product' is manufactured without quality controls and often adulterated, and can have very nasty effects on purchasers, including death!)

Some sort of safe and legal pep pill (or perhaps a little something to sprinkle on your dinner, or perhaps more research into stimulant plants) that could help you enjoy a night out and without any nasty mental or physical health effects wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, I think.

Some sort of safe and legal pep pill (or perhaps a little something to sprinkle on your dinner, or perhaps more research into stimulant plants) that could help you enjoy a night out and without any nasty mental or physical health effects wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, I think.

So MDMA, then? Not something you'd want sprinkled on your dinner though :D

WRT why alcohol and tobacco are legal when other stuff isn't — it is partially entrenched historical use, but the UN's Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1961 and the UK's Misuse of Drugs Act in 1971 are the main culprits for us in the UK. There are a huge number of factors that went into the current situation, but you can broadly categorise them into money and moral grandstanding. It's usually money, though.

> it is partially entrenched historical use

Oh this old chestnut. Herb has been used for ages and is still being used. There is no reason for it to be illegal other than massive corruption.

Thank you Nanny. Mine's a pint with a whiskey chaser.

Full fat original Lucozade and ready salted Hula Hoops as a young 'un.

Now full English. Possibly because I don't go daft on school nights anymore, where the above was consumed on the train on the way in work.

In certain Hispanic pockets of America, menudo, a tripe soup, is regarded as sovereign. Or so I've heard: I've never actually consumed menudo, hungover or not.

The cure that always worked for me was a hard run of four to six miles.

Just make sure you don't accidentally run to Windsor, you know when endorphins kick in.

This crack is very moreish

For most of my life, no matter how drunk I have been I have always tried to knock back a pint of milk before retiring, that will either purge the system quite rapidly or help to rehydrate.

At any rate a BGB( big greasy breakfast) is the perfect start to new consiousness, whenever it happens.

My misspent youth lasted until I was nearly forty and has been revisited quite a few times since.

A BGB has never failed to get me back to a reasonably functionable level.

A full english, or if you can manage a hollandaise then eggs benedict, in fact the best way to master the hollandaise is while one is hungover based on the premise of if you can do feeling that bad you can manage it any time!

So I guess the makers of tabasco are hoping we'd be using one of their products to help with our hangovers? Sorry guys in the UK its tomato sauce, brown sauce (HP) or worcestershire sause/henderson's relish

There's two solutions I have for avoiding a hangover.

The first is to mix up a Muddy Puddle first thing in the morning (1/2 Pint Full-fat Coke + 1/2 Pint fresh OJ) and chug it.

The other is simply to not stop drinking in the first place.

(1/2 Pint Full-fat Coke + 1/2 Pint fresh OJ) and chug it.

I fear that the consequences of that would be an immediate technicolour puddle on the backswing.

You know that the hangover is the punishment, don't you?

You don't need to compound it.

I may be blessed, but when I used to cane at least half a bottle of whisky a night I soon found that I just didn't have hangovers. I only realised much later that I definitely didn't feel "normal" during the day back then, but I was certainly very functional and felt that I was fine. About twice a year I'd get a full-day hangover though.

WRT this Muddy Puddle, which I've never tried and now really want to, have you had the pleasure of trying Mezzo Mix?

"The 3 per cent of respondents who suggested a day with a hangover should best be started with sweet and sour pork balls (30th) are clearly suffering from a hangover caused by something other than alcohol. Possibly crack."

Nope. It's an indication of our changing population and Student demographic.

It's crack.

And it's moreish

No mention of "Cold Carry Out" (Chinese or Indian according to taste) eaten at silly o'clock? That, plus hot, sweet, tea is my sovreign cure for over-indulgence.

Although rehydrating with a couple of cups of tea helps.

The cure is just not to get them. I don't get hangovers. Not that I'm gloating or anything... My only problem is when drinking until stupid o'clock in the morning, and then having to get up early - while still drunk. That's not so pleasant. But I'm older and wiser now, so that doesn't happen too often, maybe once every 5 years.

Obviously it's not true that I don't have any ill effects. But it's just a thirst that's hard to shift, no headache or sickness or anything. And you can deal with the dehydration by drinking a lot before bed - or drking a lot while you're drinking a lot, which I try to do. Although I'm mostly pretty sensible nowadays, I've barely drunk during lockdown and not only am I becoming more sensible with age, but so are my friends - and I tend to be a social drinker.

Bacon sandwich, tea (then more tea), glass of orange juice - happiness. But then that's a nice way to start any day.

Also, were the organisers hung over? There survey doesn't appear to add up to 100. So how come they're giving percentages?

A big yay to everyone who admitted to enjoying this little unsophisticated pleasure! Cheese and Onion crisps definitely the best.

Who the hell eats dry roasted peanuts as a hangover cure? It would be like pouring sand into your dehydrated mouth.

I hate dry-roasted peanuts. They're all coarse, and rough, and irritating. And they get everywhere.

Savoy recipe corpse reviver number 2 for preference.

Works as well today as it did 100 years ago.

Rosie

I do not understand how prawn vindaloo failed to get into that list!

It probably did, but then went straight through & off again.

Lots of water and 2 ibuprofen, something salty, more water, something sweet, a good cuppa and a short nap!

Can of special brew, left over cold kebab, and a handful of Nurofen and you're good to go.

Ready for round two!

Don't forget a line of crushed caffeine pill from poundland

Churros and a carajillo (expresso and whisky) every time. All the essential nutrients - sugar, fat, caffeine, hair-of-the-dog - without that awful bloated feeling.

Surely any hangover cure needs some serious salt?

Wish I even had options like those listed back then, although I would certainly avoid eggs in that situation, even to this day.

After many Friday night benders, Saturday morning came with waking by 0800 [1], no dormitory meal service until 1100, and plenty of homework to be done at the engineering computer lab before everyone else showed up in the afternoon. Despite the dehydration, plain water would not sit well, so the salt & fat components were often provided via vending machine, usually opting for a bag of chips/crisps and a candy bar. Pop (soda, etc.) was optional for the calming carbonation but I tried to avoid the additional dehydration of caffeine.

[1] No matter how late I staggered in, the traffic noise and general discomfort (stomach and/or headache) would always rouse me, save maybe once. I remember after a particularly bad night I had crashed with some friends, woke to my watch alarm, staggered back to the dorm, then crashed again. Not sure I even made "brunch" service that day.

Well, if you've slept through brunch, there's always "linner". Linner is traditionally eaten at about 4pm, between lunch and dinnertime. I think I prefer dunch though - for rhyming with brunch - but it doesn't sound terribly appetising.

The best way to avoid hangovers is to stay young! More years ago than I care (or can) remember a hangover used to last an hour or two tops, some tea, aspirin and a bacon sandwich and all was well with the world. These days a really good one can last easily 48hrs, filled with pain and self-loathing. Doesn't stop me though, which probably says something...

Aspirin was my painkiller of choice too back in the day! Seemed to work for the morning after where paracetamol and NSAIDs didn't.

Worth mentioning for anyone reading however that it should not be taken immediately before or after alcohol (or with, pedants), especially if there's a lot of alcohol involved or it's being done on the regs. Stick to paracetamol or ibuprofen if they work as they're arguably safer than aspirin overall.

No mention of yesterday's pizza? What the hell kind of demographic ignores that as a hungover breakfast option?

It's on the list.