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Joan Fitzpatrick, Reader in Renaissance Literature, Loughborough University

A brief history of the hangover and its cures – from cabbages to cloves and the lungs of a goat

Purging was one of the hangover cures prescribed in the Middle Ages. Tacuinum Sanitatis manuscript

Anyone who has ever woken up with a hangover will recognise its physical and psychological effects: headache, nausea, self-loathing, regret, and perhaps even some shame at the uninhibited behaviour that accompanied the intoxication.

In these days of smartphones, any shame experienced by the foggy memory of drunken behaviour the night before is invariably worse when there is photographic evidence online forever for all to see and judge. The old adage that the best thing for a hangover is not drinking too much alcohol the night before is of little help to the afflicted.

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