Does the Type of Alcohol Affect How Bad a Hangover Is?

A study from the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University found that the type of alcohol consumed can affect how bad a hangover is. Darker liquors, such as bourbon or whiskey, tend to cause more serious hangovers than lighter liquors, such as vodka. This is because darker liquors have more congeners, which are toxic byproducts of fermentation and can exacerbate the effects of a hangover.

More facts about hangovers:

• About 25-30 percent of people might be resistant to the effects of hangovers, according to trials done at the Kalmar Maritime Academy in Sweden and the General Clinical Research Center at Boston Medical Center.


• Though the amount of congeners in a liquor affects how bad a hangover is, it does not appear to affect cognitive performance. Participants in the study from Brown University performed the same on cognitive tasks the day after drinking whether they had consumed bourbon or had consumed vodka.


• There are many folk remedies for hangovers, including one from the Roman author Pliny the Elder, who stated that raw owl's eggs or fried canary could cure a hangover. There are, however, no proven cures for a hangover except rehydration, painkillers and time.