Green juice, vodka and sex: Doctors reveal their hangover cures – New York Post

Instead of nursing a vicious hangover in the new year, let the experts nurse you back to health. Just in time for the ball drop, we called up five local doctors and nutritionists to hear their secrets to kicking off 2016 pain-free. Their tips for stemming next-day headaches, both physical and mental, might surprise you. Cheers!

Dr. Christopher Calapai, osteopathic physician

Photo: Getty Images“Drink a good amount of water before [going out] — at least 6 to 8 glasses, with a little lemon or orange, which are acidic and balance your pH,” says Calapai (above).

And don’t forget to take your vitamins!

“Drinking wipes out your B vitamins,” says Calapai, who offers a nutrient-packed IV to hangover sufferers in his office. “It consists of vitamin C, magnesium, calcium and glutathione — great antioxidants and great for your brain.”

As for the doc’s own trick to nursing a hangover?

“I just jump in the ocean,” he says. “Maybe it’s the cool water, but it makes me feel great getting back to the earth.”

Dr. Judith Hellman, cosmetic dermatologist

Photo: Shutterstock“Why do people look so bad after a hangover?” asks the Hungary-born skin doc (above). “The skin is dehydrated, so be sure to eat a lot of food before you start drinking and a tablespoon of olive oil to coat the stomach to help absorb the alcohol,” she advises.

Don’t forget to pop an aspirin before hitting the sack, either: “The anti-inflammatory properties can help prevent a headache.”

Finally, when in doubt, down vodka:

“I only drink straight-up Grey Goose — you get less of a hangover,” she says. “I drink it when I want to go out and enjoy myself.”

Dr. Daniel Yadegar, cardiologist

Photo: Shutterstock“Evidence shows that prickly pear cactus pads can help when taken before going out drinking,” says Yadegar (above). “It’s a certain type of fruit — exotic, but still accessible [at specialty stores] — that can prevent, or decrease, the effects of a hangover, hydrating your body and helping you retain water better.” (If you can’t find the plant, extracts and juices are also available.)

But the best hangover cure of all time?

“Some studies show that having sex is helpful for a hangover,” he says. “Maybe it’s the endorphins that are released, or that it just helps the time go by faster.”

Dr. Vincent Pedre, integrative physician

Photo: ShutterstockPedre (above), who has a practice in Midtown, suggests drinking coconut water as soon as you get home from a night on the town. “Coconut water is a great way to hydrate — the potassium replenishes your minerals,” he says.

Leafy greens are also key the morning after.

“You can get a lot of healing through veggies — a green juice with some papaya, [which] provides digestive enzymes, and ginger, [which] helps with nausea. To cleanse the system, add apple and different greens, like celery and spinach, which are high in magnesium, which gets depleted by excessive drinking, exacerbating headaches. Include a little cleansing cilantro — it’s hydrating and provides minerals.”

Danielle Pashko, nutritionist

Photo: ShutterstockPashko (above) recommends taking activated charcoal, available at health-food stores and in pill form. “Charcoal helps to absorb any toxins and removes chemicals from anything you ingest,” she says. She recommends taking two before going out: “It prevents the absorption of any [toxins] in the body,” she says.

She also warns against chugging coffee the next day. “The caffeine in coffee can help with the headache, but it’s dehydrating,” she cautions. “[Drink] green tea, instead — it has the caffeine to offset the headache, and it’s not dehydrating.”

And remember: Alcohol can destroy gut bacteria. “Probiotics help replenish gut bacteria, so take a powder or capsule to reinoculate yourself” the day after, she says.

Do these wacky hangover ‘cures’ really work?

With the world’s biggest drinking holiday on the horizon, I did a test run on a few hangover “cures” — some classic, some newfangled — to see which would help me ring in 2016 headache-free.

First, I consulted my local witch doctor (Amazon) and ordered an alleged hangover cure called KÜRE ($ 15) — pills containing a cocktail of vitamins, calcium and other ingredients — that describes itself as “the most powerful all-natural hangover treatment on the market today.”

As recommended, I downed two pills before going to bed after drinking a lot of vegan eggnog (a k a whiskey on ice), followed by two more in the morning. The only thing KÜRE managed to cure me of, however, was my delusion that a miracle remedy would be hanging out on Amazon.

I’d read on the Internet that milk thistle ($ 14.50 at the Herb Shoppe in downtown Brooklyn) contains substances that help protect the liver from toxins, so I purchased it in liquid-extract form. After a night of heavy revelry, I put some drops in a glass of water, which I drank before going to bed. It had only a faint, anise-like taste. The next morning, though, I discovered the thistle had done about as much as most herbal remedies do — which is to say, absolutely nothing.

Milk thistle helps protect the liver from toxins — but doesn’t work as a hangover cure.Photo: Shutterstock

Finally, one recent Saturday morning, groggy from a late night at the bar, I leaned into my hangover and took it to rock-climbing gym Brooklyn Boulders.

Climbing requires problem-solving, so it gets your brain moving out of last night’s mud bank, while talking to other climbers takes your mind off that last shot of Fireball. Even if you don’t quite kick the hangover, you can at least go back to bed feeling like you accomplished something.

My pro advice to you: Ditch the fad cures and the snake-oil pills, and sweat it out — it’s the New York way.

— Tim Donnelly