Court rules hangovers are a disease

Employees in Germany with hangovers after a night of binge drinking now have a legitimate excuse.

A court ruled that hangovers are a disease as any minor disturbance in the body’s normal functioning is considered an illness.

In the ruling by the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt, against an unnamed company that sold ‘anti-hangover’ products, the court noted that hangovers cannot be cured, but they can be helped.

“The company, then, cannot claim that its powders and shots can cure hangovers,” read the ruling in part.

According to The Irish Times, the ruling may be a win for drinkers worldwide who see hangovers as something other than ‘self-imposed punishment’.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism avers that there is no known cure for a hangover.

A hangover usually exhibits itself in form of headaches or other after-effects caused after excess alcohol intake.

“They do not occur as a result of the natural ‘up and downs’ of the body, but as a result of the consumption of alcohol, a harmful substance,” the court said.

The only way to prevent one is actually not drinking in the first place.

A section of physicians however note that eating foods rich in vitamin A, potassium and zinc can replace lost nutrients that alcohol stops the body from absorbing.

Drinking lots of water in the morning after a night out drinking is also important since alcohol dehydrates the body.

The ruling comes ahead of the Germany’s legendary Oktoberfest.

The event officially begins on the second to last Saturday in September at noon and concludes on October 5.

“The German festival is a worldwide phenomenon celebrating Bavarian culture and flowing pints of beer,” the Time magazine reports.