Hangovers tend to get worse as you grow older. People over 40 not only suffer more acutely from a hangover, they take more time to recover from the one than they did when younger. Incidentally, women recover quicker than men. Maybe, nature didn’t want them to be immobilised for long; they have to feed and take care of their infants.

What exactly causes a hangover when you overindulge? A few scientific explanations are forthcoming but a clear understanding of the phenomenon has yet to emerge.

Ninetytwo to 94 per cent of ingested alcohol — known by the chemical name ethanol — is metabolised by the liver; the rest excreted directly through breath and sweat. In the liver, first and enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase converts ethanol into acetaldehyde, a rather poisonous substance. But soon thereafter, another enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase converts acetaldehyde into the less harmful acetic acid. And the latter in turn finds its way to the bladder from where it gets drained out through urination.

One explanation is that hangovers — the headache and nausea part — are caused by the residue of acetaldehyde left uncoverted. This theory gets support from the fact that pills given to alcoholics to put them off drinks, such as Antabuse, actually interfere with the action of the liver to convert acetaldehyde into acetic acid, and thus trigger a bout of vomiting and a throbbing head.

Alternatively, Wayne Jones, a researcher at the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Toxicology, makes out that the real culprit is methanol, not ethanol. All alcoholic drinks contain methanol in varying amounts; from around 2,000 milligrams per litre in matured whiskies and brandies, to around 500 milligrams per litre in wines and beers, to less than 33 milligrams per litre in relatively purer drinks like vodka and gin. As a general rule, the darker and sweeter the drink, the more methanol it contains. So, if you’re prepared to stand the monotony, better restrict yourself to vodka or gin.

Methanol takes much longer to break down into formic acid than ethanol into acetic acid. And formic acid is far more poisonous. In fact, Jones discovered that the timing of the methanol breakdown coincided with the worst hangover symptoms. And he goes on to concede that taking a drink again, a "hair of the dog", does ease hangover symptoms as the breakdown of methanol is momentarily blocked; the enzymes switching to the priority task of breaking down ethanol.

Others make out that the most likely cause of hangovers is the severe body dehydration consequent upon heavy drinking. Alcohol suppresses the production of a hormone whose function is to keep the body’s fluids in balance. Deprived of this chemical hydrostat, we expel far more water through urination than we take in with drinks.

To overcome this internal drought, the body borrows water from other organs, including the brain. The theory is that the withdrawal of water in t he brain area causes a swelling and could be contributing to headache.

Alcohol also depletes our blood sugars. An evening of heavy drinking diminishes considerably the body’s stock of glycogen, the substance that serves as a sugar store. It is this loss of blood sugar which makes you feel weak and lethargic during a hangover, often accompanied by sweating.

How to alleviate the horror of a hangover? Over centuries, people have tried all sorts of remedies but a quick and sure fix has proved elusive. "Like the search for God, with which it has other things in common, the search for the infallible and instantaneous hangover cure will never be done," says Kingsley Amis, a noted novelist.

Yet the following remedies do have at least some scientific basis.

If you think about measures beforehand without spoiling your evening, then the precautionary glass of milk really is worthwhile. It will retard the absorption of alcohol, and protect your stomach against the worst consequent irritations.

One age-old and obvious remedy is to drink large quantities of water before and after sleep. All non-alcoholic beverages help but nothing compares to plain water; no other liquid is 100 per cent water. Mineral waters like Perrier prove better; they not only quench thirst, they are alkaline as well. Sometimes one could be too drunk to remember taking water or where to find it at night. Best is to have a water bottle on your bedside table. And better pop in a couple of antacid tablets if your stomach is irrigation-prone.

Fructose helps the body metabolise alcohol. It also replaces blood sugar, which may be low in the morning. Breakfast on bread and honey, yogurt or cereals, chased with mugs of sugared tea. Repeated cups of black coffee aren’t as effective as they are believed to be; indeed coffee is a gastric irritant.

A good shower or better a bath. Washing of hair is recommended; it removes the general feeling of grubbiness that goes with so many hangovers.

One researcher has recently come up with an interesting conclusion: people who were in a good mood while they were drinking were much less likely to have a hangover than those who had been tense and grumpy throughout the evening.

You have to be a bit wary of headache pills, as these might increase the risk of liver damage when taken with excessive alcohol. Anyway a hangover headache often persists for hours at low levels despite the intake of pills. Better stick to ones that suit you.

Of late a British company, Soba International, claims to have discovered a natural hangover cure made from volcanic rock, which absorbs alcohol during consumption. The company calls it "one of the most significant discoveries of the 21st century". The green-coloured powder is sold in sachets containing an effervescent lime flavour. A 8.5 gram sachet is supposed to absorb alcohol contained in roughly four to five beers. The product is claimed to act as an alcohol magnet, attracting undigested alcohol in the stomach before it is absorbed into the blood stream.

So the search goes on. Some make out that the absence of a sure-cure for hangovers is all for our good; without a hangover the known damper on heavy bouts of drinking would disappear.