• Mixing sugar and alcohol won't directly cause a hangover — but sugar could contribute. 
  • Sugary mixers mask the taste of alcohol, so you may drink more liquor without knowing it.
  • But too much sugar could also cause a "sugar hangover" a few hours after consuming something sweet.

Got a severe hangover the morning after too many margaritas or Mai Tais? It's a common misconception that the sugar in your cocktail is to blame. 

But truth be told, it's the alcohol, not the sugar, that's making you feel so ill.

That said,  sugar, especially a lot of it, can make you feel tired or sluggish even if you don't drink any booze with it. This is called a"sugar hangover."  

Unlike an alcohol-induced hangover, sugar hangovers come on in just a few hours and are related to changes in your blood sugar levels. 

Here's why sugary cocktails aren't directly responsible for your alcohol hangover and what you may experience during a true sugar hangover. 

Do sugary cocktails make your alcohol hangover worse?

Sugar won't cause alcohol-induced hangovers, but it can make them worse. 

"Sugary cocktails can be easier to consume in excess because the sugar can mask the strong flavor of alcohol," says Amargo Couture, a registered dietician at Staten Island University Hospital. 

The more alcohol you drink, the more dehydrated you'll become, and the worse that next-morning headache will feel, says Dr. Seema Sarin, medical director of lifestyle medicine at EHE Health. 

What about a sugar hangover?

Consuming too much sugar can cause similar symptoms to a hangover.

"When your body digests sugar, it's absorbed into the bloodstream, causing a spike in your blood sugar that can make you feel foggy, tired, or have a persistent headache," says Sarin.

But you digest sugar faster than alcohol, so you'll feel these effects sooner. In particular, within two hours of consuming sugar, your blood sugar spike causes the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine to fluctuate, which can affect the blood vessels in your brain. That's why you may feel like your head is throbbing. 

After your blood sugar shoots too high it can drop too low, leading to reactive hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. 

That can cause symptoms like shakiness, irritability, anxiety, and sweating because your body releases stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol in response to low blood sugar. This typically occurs within four hours of consuming sugar.

A sugar hangover can happen if you consume more than the recommended limit of 24 grams for women and 36 grams for men.  For context, a can of alcoholic cider contains about 22 grams of sugar.

So, if you're having a night out and drinking a ton of sugary drinks, you might have a long stint of discomfort ahead starting with the sugar hangover later that evening followed by the alcohol-induced hangover the next morning. 

How to avoid an alcohol hangover

If you want to avoid a hangover, the best thing you can do is to drink in moderation or not at all, Sarin says.

"If you're choosing to drink alcohol, you're choosing to consume at least a small amount of sugar, and alcohol intake is associated with many diseases," including high blood pressure, liver disease, and cancer, Sarin says. 

Despite that, most people drink. Following these tips can help reduce your hangover risk:

  • Avoid binge drinking, defined as drinking 4 or more drinks in a sitting for females and 5 or more for males. 
  • Hydrate. Alcohol dehydrates you, so drink a glass of water for each alcoholic drink to counteract that. 
  • Choose drinks with less sugar. Red wine, beer, and neat spirits have very little sugar, so you won't compound the effects of feeling hungover. 
  • Skip dark alcohols. Darker liquors like brandy and bourbon have congeners, an ingredient that can make hangovers worse.  

Best nonalcoholic drinks and spirits

Foto: TOST

If you want to enjoy a drink but limit your alcohol intake, try subbing in some of our favorite nonalcoholic drinks and spirits, several of which are low-sugar.

How to cope with a hangover

If the damage is already done and you're waking up with a hangover, the best thing you can do is to hydrate, Couture says. 

"Replenishing yourself with adequate fluids is an extremely important key to feeling better during a hangover," she says. "Having electrolytes on hand, such as a sports drink or Pedialyte, can help rehydrate you faster and get you feeling back to normal after a hangover."

Other remedies for a hangover include taking an over-the-counter NSAID pain reliever like Aspirin or ibuprofen. Skip Tylenol, which can damage your already-taxed liver, Sarin says. 

Insider's takeaway

Any time you drink too much, you risk waking up with a hangover. Sugary drinks can compound that by making you feel bloated or giving you a headache from too much sugar as well as leading you to drink more than intended. 

Next time you order a sugary drink, pace yourself. 

"Make sure you're paying attention to the amount you are ingesting," says Couture. "It is very easy to drink a larger amount of alcohol when in combination with a yummy and sweet mixer that masks the flavor of alcohol."

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