The Scourge of Morning After

Hangovers have afflicted the recently drunk since the Stone Age, yet a dependable remedy remains elusive. A hangover takes hold just as the body succeeds in eliminating the alcohol from the blood stream, Joan Acocella notes in the New Yorker. It results from a pileup of insults the system sustains in getting the job done, she explains, deconstructing the telltale symptoms in vivid detail.

Acocella applies the same intense scrutiny to a plethora of homemade solutions from across the globe,  including eating chilies, peanut butter, or oysters, chewing coca leaves, or taking a shot of pickle juice. “Have breakfast at Denny’s," recommends one American philosophy professor. The most widely employed cures are ingesting great quantities of water and, of course, the hair of the dog, aka more drinking. (More alcohol stories.)