It’s nice to get some downtime now and again, but when things start to go awry you know it’s time to get up off the sofa and have some fun outside. In case you can’t tell the difference between a day off and a write-off, here’s 6 signs to look out for:

You’re surfing channels like an Australian pro

Whatever‘s on television, it’s not something you want to watch. As a result, you’re constantly flicking over, surfing channels like an Australian pro, in the hopes of landing on something that might interest you in the slightest.

Sadly you’ve either seen it before, seen it too many times, or can’t stand Holly Willoughby.

Wikipedia is more enthralling than you remember

Whether or not it’s a credible source of information doesn’t matter, all of a sudden Wikipedia is the most enthralling thing on the Internet – scratch that, the world!

Instead of actually reading whatever is at the top of Amazon’s bestseller list, or investing days in a Breaking Bad boxset, you’re glimpsing over the synopsis in a fraction of the time.

Everybody else is having fun, obviously

You can’t be sure, and without resorting to Facebook there is no way to prove it – but you’re fairly certain everybody in the world is having a better time than you.

For the first time in forever, you feel guilty about not exercising

Usually you couldn’t care less about how many sit-ups you can do, or that your arms aren’t quite ‘big’ enough, but for some reason this is really eating away at you today. You should be pumping iron, eating protein, piling on the muscle. Everybody else is winning at fitness and you’re just a scrawny, out of shape weakling!

It’s 2am and you’re still on Wikipedia

You don’t know how it’s happened, but somehow you’ve found yourself on a Wiki page detailing the last recorded witch-burning. Why this interests you, you cannot say, but it does, and it’s probably going to get even creepier until you fall asleep.

You’ve discovered your tea ‘limit’

Until this point you never knew how many cups of tea you drink in a single day. It’s seven. For everybody, it’s seven.

So with that in mind, we’ve trawled through some of the best ways of preventing a hangover, alongside some of the myths, and taken some alternative suggestions from members of the MixingOut Community. That way you can make the most of a great night out, meet friends, and not have to worry about paying for it the following morning.

Before you start drinking…

The Myth – Drinking milk: Remember this one? Milk coats the lining of your stomach and that helps minimise the amount of alcohol you absorb – which depending on how much is ingested, causes the noticeable after effects we commonly associate with being ‘hungover’.

At least, that’s the theory. There’s no real evidence to suggest drinking milk before you go out actually does anything to prevent a hangover, but a lot of people still do it anyway. It’s a remedy as old as the hills. But if you really want our opinion, we like our milk in tea and coffee, and over our cornflakes… and not as something we’d drink before a big night out.

Top Rated – Eat something: Everybody knows you shouldn’t drink on an empty stomach, but still forget to eat something before heading out. A lot of people (the guys in particular) recommend fatty foods because the fat sticks to the stomach lining longer and absorbs more alcohol. But in actual fact, the main idea is to put volume in your stomach, as this will dilute the effects of alcohol. So listen to what your mum used to say, and be sure to eat something before you go out!

And Alternatively – Take multivitamins: Drinking depletes the nutrients in your body, and taking multivitamins beforehand can help minimise the loss, which reduces that groggy, nauseous feeling you would typically get the next morning. And that sounds brilliant to us!

When you start drinking…

The Myth – The tactical vom: Somepeople seem to think that forcing themselves to be sick while they’re out can help reduce the effects of the alcohol they’ve already ingested. When in actual fact, all this does is dehydrate the body even further and makes a hangover worse the next morning – not to mention leaving a mess down the front of perfectly nice clean top. D’oh!

Top Rated – Drink water constantly: Yeah, yeah, we know it sounds counter intuitive to ‘having a good time’, but matching every drink of alcohol with a drink of water will keep you from getting drunk too fast, and (this is where you’ll thank us) from feeling the effects the next day. So order one bottle of water with every drink if you want to keep things even.

And Alternatively – Don’t mix your drinks: Let’s face it, most drinks don’t mix too well and your body is going to have a tougher time trying to handle them all together. So make a decision to drink just beer, or wine, or spirits and stick with it for the rest of the night.

And when the drinking is done…

Give your body time to recover: There’s only one sure fire way of recovering from a hard night out, and that’s plenty of rest. Give your body one or two days recover before you head out again, and drink plenty of water and eat plenty of food in the meantime. Even party animals need to take a break now and then.

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