Why Alcohol Makes You Bloated, and How to Debloat

Alcohol bloat isn't one thing. Before you reach for a fix, take 30 seconds to work out what you're dealing with, because each kind responds to something different.

• Gas from bubbles: beer, champagne, hard seltzer, cider and soda mixers all make you swallow more air (1). This kind feels like pressure and burps, and it usually passes within hours.
• Gas from sugar: the fructose in wine, beer and sweet mixers, and the carbs in a few pints, can reach your large intestine undigested, where bacteria turn them into gas (2). Beer and sugary cocktails are the worst offenders for exactly this reason (2).
• Water weight: alcohol suppresses vasopressin, the hormone that tells your kidneys to hold on to fluid, so you pee more and end up mildly dehydrated (3). Then the wings and fries land, and sodium pulls water into your tissues, leaving you puffier around your belly and eyes (4). This kind feels soft and heavy rather than gassy.
• An irritated stomach: alcohol directly irritates your stomach lining and increases acid, which is behind the nausea and that tender, overfull feeling (3).

Most people wake up with a mix of all four.

Start with a glass of water, and keep one within reach for the rest of the morning. Alcohol makes you lose more fluid than you take in (3), and it also draws water into your intestines, which is why a big night can end in loose stools too (2). Sip steadily rather than chugging, because drinking too fast adds swallowed air (1).

Do you need electrolytes? Usually not. NIAAA notes that in most people the body restores its electrolyte balance on its own once the alcohol wears off (3). Water and a real breakfast do the job!

One honest note, since you may have a bottle in the fridge: The Plug Drink lists D-sorbitol, a sugar alcohol, on its Supplement Facts label, and sugar alcohols can add gas in people who are sensitive to them (5). So we don't pitch The Plug as a debloat drink or a hangover remedy. This morning, water comes first.

Whatever you drink today, make it still and unsweetened. Carbonated drinks, including sparkling water, soda and that hair-of-the-dog beer, make you swallow more air (1), and your gut is already full of it.

Sugar is the quieter culprit. Drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, like soda, juice and sports drinks, are on NIDDK's list of gas triggers, right alongside gum and candy sweetened with sugar alcohols like sorbitol and xylitol (5). Last night's margarita mix and vodka cranberry were basically that list in a glass, so skip the sweet stuff for the rest of today.

Your stomach lining took a hit last night, so feed it something gentle. Bland food helps settle a gut that's still upset from drinking (2). Think eggs and toast, oatmeal, rice or a banana, and save the greasy, spicy hangover brunch for a day when your stomach feels like itself.

Then there's the salt. Late-night wings, fries and pizza are loaded with sodium, and sodium attracts water. Eat a lot of it and you hold on to fluid, which leaves you puffier, especially around your abdomen and eyes (4). Keep today's meals low in salt and lean on potassium-rich foods like bananas, potatoes and avocado, which help counter some of sodium's effects (4). Our post Don't Get Too Salty breaks down where sodium hides.

Once breakfast is down, get outside. Physical activity like walking helps move gas through your gut, and it also helps keep water retention down (7), so it works on two of your four bloats at once. Twenty gentle minutes is plenty! This isn't the day for a brutal workout.

If you're in a hurry to feel better, the general fast-relief moves for trapped gas (a belly massage, a few floor stretches, some warmth on your stomach) all still apply. Alcohol bloat is regular bloat with extra causes stacked on top, so the usual tools work. Just avoid long stretches on the couch, since prolonged sitting keeps gas from moving along (7).

A pounding head makes it tempting to grab whatever's in the cabinet, but your stomach has a stake in this. Aspirin and ibuprofen can increase acid release and irritate the lining of your stomach, the same lining alcohol just irritated (3). Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is gentler on the stomach, but combining it with alcohol can be toxic to the liver (3).

1. Try water, food, rest and time first. NIAAA is blunt about it: there's no cure for a hangover other than time (3).
2. If you do take something, take it with food and don't double up on doses.
3. If you drink regularly or take other medications, ask a pharmacist first.

Here's the honest answer: it depends on which bloat you've got, but after a single night out, most of it clears within about a day.

• Gas from bubbles and sugar: hours. Once the bubbles burp out and the bacteria finish with last night's sugar, the pressure drops. Walking speeds it up (7).
• Stomach irritation and the hangover feeling: up to a day, sometimes longer. Hangover symptoms peak as your blood alcohol returns to zero and can last 24 hours or more (3). Cleveland Clinic gives the same 24-hour window for alcohol-related diarrhea (2).
• Salt and water puffiness: a day or two. Your kidneys clear the extra sodium through your urine, and drinking enough water helps that along (4).
• If you have IBS: possibly longer. In a month-long diary study of women with IBS, binge drinking (four or more drinks in a day) was linked to next-day gut symptoms like diarrhea, nausea and stomach pain, while light and moderate drinking mostly wasn't (8).
• A waistline that grows over months: that isn't bloat at all. Alcohol and mixers carry plenty of calories, and regular drinking can add up to stored fat around the middle, which takes weeks of steadier habits to lose, not a morning.

Bloating that drags on past a week, or comes back every time you drink even a little, is worth a conversation with your doctor (7). It might be IBS, a food intolerance, or your stomach telling you something about the drinking itself. Our post on what really happens after you drink covers the rest of alcohol's effects.

A puffy Sunday is one thing. A belly that keeps swelling when you drink regularly is another, and it deserves a real answer. Alcohol irritates the stomach lining every time you drink (3), and with frequent heavy drinking that irritation never gets a chance to settle. Ongoing stomach pain, feeling full after a few bites, or nausea that outlasts the hangover needs a doctor, not a home remedy.

Persistent abdominal swelling with heavy drinking can also signal a liver problem. Severe liver damage, including from alcohol overuse over many years, can cause fluid to build up inside the abdomen, a condition called ascites, which brings abdominal pain and bloating and, as the fluid grows, shortness of breath (9). We're not diagnosing anyone here, and neither should you. If your belly is steadily growing, your ankles are swelling too, or you're gaining weight quickly without eating more, see a doctor promptly. If you're ready to ease up, our week-by-week guide to helping your liver recover from alcohol is a good place to start.