Alcohol: Pick the right drink to stay healthy and hangover-free this festive season

It's all very well telling us to drink moderately and be sensible over the festive season, but realistically, many of us are going to be hitting the bars and snaffling down one too many free cocktails at the Christmas work party.

It's not clever but we'll be dealing with a hangover-at-work situation at least once or twice in the next week, so we asked Dr Emma Derbyshire, advisor to the Natural Hydration Council, for her advice on sensible drinking this holiday.

"There is a lot you can do to avoid a hangover," Emma explains.

"But it's not just your hangover you need to worry about. The calorie content of alcoholic drinks is alarming and you can easily drink at least half of your RDA at an evening do, so picking smart is key to not feeling bloated and awful the next day.

"Key things to do are plan ahead, pick your drink of choice and prepare your body," Emma says.

We've all been told to make sure we eat before we go out drinking, to line the stomach. But it's not always practical or possible to sit down to a full on meal in the early evening.

"Try to eat a snack and have a glass of water before you go out. It gets tricky if you're 'pre-drinking' but just giving your body something to hang onto will stop the alcohol being absorbed so fast. That will give you longer to enjoy your time out and will help prevent you going overboard because you're hungry or thirsty and potentially making yourself sick."

Which drinks?

We all have a particular drink we believe makes us the drunkest, or that given us an earth-shattering hangover in the past. Emma explains that alcohol is processed by the body in the same way whatever form it's in - from wine to tequila slammers - but other factors contribute to your morning-after headache.

"What can contribute to a hangover is all the other things that are found in alcoholic drinks. Dark drinks, for example, are more likely to give you a serious headache the next day because they contain more congeners, chemicals produced during the alcohol's fermentation. They have slightly toxic effects and are found in drinks such as dark rum, red wine and whisky.

"So stick to light coloured drinks if you can."

Long drinks, cocktails or spirits?

In terms of both hangover-prevention and calories, Emma says the classic white wine spritzer is the way to go.

"Anything that reduces the concentration of alcohol in your drink will help prevent a hangover. Spritzers are a good idea because they put back a little of the hydration you lose when you drink.

"Spirits are the worst as they're very concentrated and you usually only mix them with a small amount of soft drink or juice so you're getting a big hit of alcohol, which gets into the bloodstream quickly."

When it comes to calories, alcohol is packed full of them. Per glass, beer is probably the worst.

"In a can of beer there's around 180 calories so if you have five, you've drank half of your daily allowence right there.

"White wine has around 150 in a large glass, but as there's less liquid, you may find yourself drinking more."

And don't forget your mixers.

"You might think your fruity cocktail is a healthy choice, or a vodka and orange, but it's really not. Both fruit juices and fizzy drinks are packed with sugar (natural or not).

"A shot of gin, say, may have only 89 calories, but top it up with tonic and that can go up to as much as 170," warns Emma.

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Keeping up

Emma has a final word of warning of the ladies: "One really important thing for women to remember is not to try and keep up with the amount of drinks their male friends are getting through.

"Generally speaking, women are smaller. We have smaller livers and so can't process the same quantities of alcohol, which is why we can end up in worse shape and suffering much more the next day."

When you get home

What you do when you get back after a night out can make or break your hangover. You may feel like all you can do flop into bed in all your clothes and make up but (and our beauty writer will certainly disagree here) if there's one thing you can do, make it drink water.

"We all know how dehydrating alcohol is so when you've finished drinking get on the water. Have a bottle in your bag for the way home and have a few glasses when you get in.

"And have something like a piece of toast to soak up any excess alcohol left."

Go forth and be merry (without the hangover). Tell us your best morning after cures over on Twitter.