“Electrolyte packets prevent hangovers.”
Electrolyte packets have not been shown to prevent hangovers.
An electrolyte packet will not prevent or undo a hangover. Drinking less alcohol, or none, is what lowers your chance of one, and once a hangover starts, only time ends it.
If you want to avoid a hangover, drink less alcohol or none. If you already have one, rest and drink water for thirst, and expect time, not a packet, to end it.
Safety note: An electrolyte packet does not lower blood alcohol or protect against alcohol poisoning. Call 911 right away if someone who has been drinking is confused, cannot stay awake or cannot be woken, is vomiting, has a seizure, has slow breathing (fewer than 8 breaths a minute) or long pauses between breaths, or has clammy, bluish or very cold skin. Cold showers, coffee and walking do not reverse alcohol poisoning.
Research has found no link between how much alcohol upsets the body's electrolytes and how bad a hangover is, and no sign that added electrolytes make hangovers milder. Easing thirst is not the same as preventing a hangover, and no trial has tested electrolyte packets head-on, so confidence is limited.
Electrolyte packets have not been shown to prevent hangovers. Alcohol does make you lose some fluid, but dehydration and hangover are largely separate effects, and research has not found that added electrolytes make a hangover any milder.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) says mild dehydration likely adds to hangover thirst, tiredness and headache, but that the body quickly restores its electrolyte balance once alcohol wears off, and that no hangover remedy has been proven; only time ends a hangover. A 2024 review found that dehydration after drinking was usually mild and short, while hangovers lasted longer; drinking water during or right after alcohol had only a modest effect on the next day, and drinking water during a hangover did not ease it. In a 2020 trial of 214 people, alcohol did not cause a meaningful change in body water, and a vitamin and mineral supplement did not improve hangover symptoms. A 2022 review of 21 trials of hangover remedies rated all of the evidence very low quality.
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Hangovers. niaaa.nih.gov. Updated December 2025
- Mackus M, Stock AK, Garssen J, Scholey A, Verster JC. Alcohol hangover versus dehydration revisited: The effect of drinking water to prevent or alleviate the alcohol hangover. Alcohol. 2024;121:9-18. DOI: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2024.07.006. PMID: 39069212
- Lieb B, Schmitt P. Randomised double-blind placebo-controlled intervention study on the nutritional efficacy of a food for special medical purposes (FSMP) and a dietary supplement in reducing the symptoms of veisalgia. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention and Health. 2020;3(1):31-39. DOI: 10.1136/bmjnph-2019-000042. PMID: 33235969
- Roberts E, Smith R, Hotopf M, Drummond C. The efficacy and tolerability of pharmacologically active interventions for alcohol-induced hangover symptomatology: a systematic review of the evidence from randomised placebo-controlled trials. Addiction. 2022;117(8):2157-2167. DOI: 10.1111/add.15786. PMID: 34972259
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Understanding the Dangers of Alcohol Overdose. niaaa.nih.gov. Updated December 2025