This is a ELI5 response with a high school understanding of human biology. Hangovers are from alcohol poisoning (variable levels), and this poison is detoxified by your liver. The waste is either sent to the kidneys to be processed as urine or to the bowels. Your kidneys require water and minerals to process this waste, and water is the vehicle for excreting waste through urine. When you drink all water and no vitamins/minerals, you risk depleting your supply of those essential elements. So, assuming your water has an appropriate balance of those things, I would think that water with electrolytes or minerals is better than plain water at helping your body process and detoxify alcohol.
Tl;Dr: water with balanced electrolytes/minerals > plain water for hangovers.
Not really by much. The only way to avoid a hangover would be to not drink alcohol. Minerals might help a little but they are probably the smallest factor. The easiest way to reduce its impact is with sugar since alcohol impacts your glucose levels. Acetaldehyde builds up in your system without any remedy and that's a big part of the hangover feeling. Minerals won't help.
Water, sleep, and fruit are probably your best bet. I usually take water, fruit juice, and an aspirin if I'm expecting a hangover. In the morning, more water, fruit juice, and bread are probably decent hangover remedies.
I don't think minerals help much. When I was younger, I used to go for a run. Even if I felt terrible, I'd start to feel better after 5-10min of running. But I was younger then. These days, hangovers are rare but brutal.
Yeah everything I can find on the subject shows that dehydration is just one of the many factors in a hangover, and isn't the main one. The primary cause seems to be an immune system response that we do not understand, caused by factors, other than you drank alcohol, we do not know.
So Re:bro-science/sugar, is it worse with dryer alcohol, and is it helpful to selectively sip my lower-but-still-sugar-contianing kombucha as a preferable thing to water?
Edit: bro science is still "science" aha. I love it all
Gross. Having Gatorade will 100% make me vomit the morning after a night of heavy drinking since it's loaded with sugar. Water, greasy food or pho, and a puff or two from a weed cart is the proper way to alleviate a hangover. If you want some electrolytes, pour some salt into your water.
Also, drinking a ton of water and eating before bed helps too.
Had not heard of it until just now. Looks like its comparable based on a quick Google search. With most things we consume/ingest, what works for one might not work for another. Any hydration after a night of drinking alcohol (a dehydrant) is going to be beneficial. My party days are long behind me, but if they weren't I'd be interested to dry nüun as an alternative and see how it goes.
Hell my wife claims she "never gets hangovers", but when we were drinking she was going 1 shot of tequila to 1 glass of water. Which kind of gave me some confirmation bias that hydration was the key. I drink a glass of wine and I'm ready for a nap.
Love my weed though. Weed has never given me a hangover. It did give me an extra 20lbs from munchies though. :)