Everything you ever wanted to know about hangovers (but were too queasy to ask)

The Romans treated hangovers with raw owls' eggs; the Assyrians went for powdered birds' beaks. Do any of the 'miracle cures' really work?

Reflecting on life in 1920s New York, F Scott Fitzgerald opined that "the hangover became a part of the day as well allowed-for as the Spanish siesta". But while 21st-century bosses may not be quite as accommodating as the Wall Street tycoons of the roaring 20s, hangovers are certainly part of the Christmas party season.

Whether it's how to avoid them in the first place or negating the suffering after the event, hangovers have been pondered over for millennia. In ancient Rome, Pliny the Elder declared it advisable to line the stomach with a meal of roasted sheep's intestines before hitting the drink, while centuries later the English herbalist and botanist Nicholas Culpeper wrote that hangovers could be relieved by stuffing the nasal passages with the juice of tree ivy. However, despite having socio-economic consequences higher than many common diseases in terms of absenteeism and reduced work productivity, it is only relatively recently that hangovers have been considered worthy of serious scientific study.