TOP TIPS FOR BIG NIGHTS OUT

While Public Health England has declared there is no ‘ safe’ level of alcohol consumption, there are ways you can reduce the unpleasant short- term side effects.

1 Eat something substantial before drinking to slow alcohol absorption.

2 Avoid cocktails. It’s not just the alcohol in the drinks, it’s also the additives and flavourings which can cause mayhem for some drinkers.

3 Try to stick to the same drink throughout the night.

4 Avoid fizzy alcoholic drinks and mixers – blood alcohol levels rise significantly faster as carbon dioxide speeds up the delivery of alcohol to your system.

5 Skip dark spirits and red wine on big nights out. In addition to alcohol, other compounds in booze linked to hangovers include chemicals called congeners, which are by- products of the fermenting process ( and include the solvent acetone and oils). One study found that on average, dark drinks such as bourbon have 37 times more of these than vodka. “The darker your poison the more likely it is to have impurities – which can make that headache worse the next day,” explains Dr Norton.

6 Go slow. Four drinks in an hour = hangover. Four drinks over four hours = not necessarily.

7 You get what you pay for. “The more expensive your alcohol, the greater the chance of it being free of impurities,” explains Dr Norton. That’s because lower- quality booze is often made with lower- quality ingredients, while top- shelf, premium alcohol is distilled and filtered the most to remove more toxins. And, there’s the psychological effect, she adds. If you are paying through the nose for your drinks, you are more likely to sip them so they last longer. So go for quality, not quantity.

8 Drinks LOTS of water – before you go out, in between drinks and just before you go to bed.