Happy New Year’s! You might be reading this article while you are in bed, reaching for a Gatorade. We have all been there. Starting 2019 with one too many glasses of champagne can take down the best of us. Finding yourself on your bathroom floor in the fetal position is a reminder that you are human and not a candidate for X-Men.

I am not a doctor; if you are experiencing alcohol poisoning, please stop reading this article and go to the emergency room.

The following is just general advice to help you get through your hangover, so you can become the new and improved you, that you set out to be in 2019.

If you are coherent enough to know that you are about to go to sleep, take some ibuprofen and drink a glass of water. This will help your morning-after headache. Alcohol dehydrates you, which is the main reason for your hangover pain.

If your stomach is feeling uneasy, I suggest you vomit. I know, no one enjoys vomiting. However, this will help you sleep. With all that alcohol in your system, your stomach is a like a balloon filled with soda instead of air; it wants to come out. If you can get some of it out of your system before you go to sleep, you will be able to rest and have the energy to fight the hangover the next day.

Now if you find yourself in the bathroom, take your makeup off or wash your face. At the very least, splash some cold water on your face. Your skin needs some hydration as well. You don’t want to wake up, and your skin feels tight.

After you sleep, you might have to go back to the bathroom and vomit. Do it; your body needs it. Once your stomach has settled, have another glass of water. Eat some bread or crackers. You want something that would soak up the rest of the alcohol. Your system cannot handle a salad or fruit yet. After this jump in the shower. The water will refresh you. You don’t have to get a dress. You can go back to bed, with just a towel around you.

Continue to drink water; your body needs the fluids. However, water is not enough. Make sure to have Gatorade, or other electrolyte filled liquids. Ginger ale helps if your stomach is still uneasy. A simple cup of coffee does wonders if a headache is persistent.

All bodies are different, and your hangover might take an hour or several hours to cure.

Go for a swim; the shock to your system will wake you up and help fight a headache.

Drink a beer; when you drink alcohol, your brain holds back a brain chemical called glutamate. When the alcohol wears off, you have a bunch of it floating around in your brain. So if you have a beer the next day, it will hold back the hangover, but once you stop drinking it might come back.

As you rest up, here are some tips to combat the hangover before you start drinking again.

Don’t smoke and drink: Smoking cigarettes while drinking just adds to your dehydration. When you do both, it can lead to poor sleep and therefore make you feel even crummier.

Choose clear alcohol: Alcohol has a chemical compound called congeners. A clear drink such as vodka and gin, or the clear versions of rum and tequila have fewer congeners. Darker drinks like bourbon, scotch, and tequila tend to have higher levels. This chemical compound can bring on the inflammation which makes your hangover worse.

Eat dinner before drinking: Have a good meal before you start drinking. Having food in your stomach while drinking can reduce how high your peak blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) gets.

Alcohol is apart of celebration. So continue to celebrate, but remember to celebrate responsibly.