You crushed a night out—but your body is paying the price. The dreaded hangover isn’t just “feeling rough”; it’s a complex physiological state driven by toxic metabolites, immune activation, disrupted glucose and electrolyte homeostasis, sleep disruption, and more. At its core, a hangover represents the body’s response to acute ethanol exposure as blood alcohol concentration returns to zero, triggering systemic inflammation, gastrointestinal irritation, and neurochemical imba