We’ve all been there: the morning after a night of celebration, you’re faced with a pounding headache, an upset stomach, and a deep sense of fatigue. It’s a universal truth that hangovers are miserable. What’s less universal, however, is what to do about them.
While many turn to a greasy breakfast or a vitamin cocktail, an increasing number of people are trying to sweat out a hangover with a high-intensity workout. But is this a legitimate cure or just a feel-good myth? A recent study is finally shedding some light on the matter.
Why Hangovers Remain a Mystery to Science
Despite their widespread impact, hangovers are remarkably under-researched. As Professor J Leigh Leasure, a neuroscientist at the University of Houston, points out, “I did a PubMed search for ‘hangover’ and I think it came up with around 600 articles since 1945… It’s stunning.”
This lack of clinical evidence means that many of our so-called hangover cures—from bacon and eggs to electrolyte drinks—are based on anecdotal evidence, not scientific fact. Leasure is one of the researchers working to change that, and her work is offering new insights into a popular folk remedy: exercise.
The First Study to Explore Exercise and Hangovers
In 2024, Leasure and her colleagues published the first study to investigate the relationship between physical activity and hangovers. The study, published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, surveyed 1,600 university students about their alcohol consumption, exercise habits, and hangover frequency and severity.
The findings were revealing. While the unsurprising conclusion was that students who drank more had more severe hangovers, the study also found that students who engaged in vigorous exercise experienced fewer hangovers, and the ones they did have were less severe.
It’s important to note that this was a retrospective study, meaning it looked back at existing habits rather than a controlled lab experiment. The results suggest that regular vigorous exercise, rather than a single workout the morning after, is what provides a protective effect against the worst symptoms.
How a Post-Drinking Workout Might Help
Even with these caveats, there are several biological reasons why a workout after a night of drinking could be beneficial:
- Endorphin Boost: High-intensity exercise releases endorphins, which are natural painkillers. These can help to combat the headache that often accompanies a hangover, but you need to push yourself hard enough to trigger their release.
- Anti-Inflammatory Effects: One of the main theories behind hangover misery is that excessive alcohol consumption triggers a body-wide wave of inflammation. Exercise has the opposite effect. Research shows that as little as 20 minutes of moderate activity can kickstart the body’s anti-inflammatory processes, helping to combat the damage done by alcohol.
A Surprising Link: The Debit-and-Credit Theory
Leasure’s study also uncovered a fascinating and seemingly contradictory pattern: “People who are physically active also drink, which seems a little bit counterintuitive.”
One theory for this is a “debit-and-credit” approach to health. People may engage in an unhealthy behavior like heavy drinking and then feel compelled to “make up for it” with something healthy, like an intense workout.
While a hangover might make a workout feel more difficult, as Leasure points out, the evidence suggests that hitting the gym could actually be the best way to start feeling like yourself again. This research provides a solid scientific foundation for what many have long believed: a good sweat session can indeed be a powerful tool in your fight against a hangover.
