The morning after a heavy session, the bottleneck is rarely water. It is the salt and glucose that water needs to bring with it. Electrolyte drinks fix that bottleneck, which is why they consistently beat plain water for hangover recovery. The science of why is covered in our companion piece, Electrolytes and Hangovers: What Actually Works. This article is the buyer’s guide. This article is also part of our Hangovers hub, the complete guide to preventing and recovering from a hangover.
We spent the past three months working through the products people actually buy. The list below is ten options that genuinely earn their place, ranked by the use case they fit best. None of them is a hangover cure. All of them will rehydrate you faster and more completely than water alone.
# What we looked for
Four things matter when judging an electrolyte product for hangover use:
- Sodium per serving. The single most important number. Aim for 300 to 1000mg. Below 200mg the product is sweetened water with marketing.
- A sensible glucose-to-sodium ratio. Glucose helps sodium absorb. The World Health Organization’s oral rehydration formula is the reference standard. Zero-sugar products work but absorb slightly slower.
- Tolerable taste. The best formula in the world does nothing if you cannot finish the glass. Hangover stomachs are picky.
- Honest cost per serving. Branded sachets can be five times the price of the same active ingredients in clinical-grade ORS. Sometimes the markup is worth it for taste alone. Sometimes it is not.
Every product below was scored against those four criteria. We have flagged the trade-offs, not glossed over them.
# The 10 best electrolyte drinks for hangovers
Liquid IV Hydration Multiplier
The mainstream pick that actually delivers. Strong sodium, decent flavour, easy to find.
Liquid IV uses the WHO oral rehydration ratio with much better flavouring than clinical sachets. The "3x the hydration of water" claim is technically defensible: you retain the fluid better because the sodium is there to hold it. One stick into 500ml of water is the sweet spot.
Pros
- 500mg sodium per stick
- Wide flavour range, none of them medicinal
- Sold everywhere, including most supermarkets
Cons
- Higher price per serve than basic ORS
- 11g of sugar per stick is a lot for some stomachs
Hydralyte
Pharmacy-tier formulation in a more drinkable form than traditional ORS.
Hydralyte sits between bare-bones ORS and the lifestyle brands. The sodium-to-glucose ratio is dialled in for actual rehydration, not energy, and the taste is the closest a clinical product gets to "just fine." If you have ever had Pedialyte from a pharmacy and thought "this works but I cannot face it again," Hydralyte is the upgrade.
Pros
- Properly formulated for rehydration, not sport
- Lower sugar than sports drinks
- Tablet, powder, and pre-mixed options
Cons
- Less flashy flavour than Liquid IV
- Slightly harder to find outside pharmacies
DripDrop ORS
Medical-grade formulation, candy-grade flavour. The one your hangover will not refuse.
DripDrop was developed by a doctor working in disaster relief who wanted ORS people would actually drink. The formulation is honest medical ORS; the flavours are a sharp step ahead of the category. If your problem is forcing down a full glass on a rough morning, this is the one.
Pros
- Best-in-class taste at clinical strength
- 330mg sodium and 195mg potassium per stick
- Used by the US military and medical NGOs
Cons
- Premium price per serve
- Sweetness can read as cloying if over-diluted
LMNT Recharge
Aggressively salty, zero sugar, beloved by low-carb dieters and athletes.
LMNT runs 1000mg of sodium per stick, no glucose, no sweeteners that count as sugar. For hangover rehydration this works, with one caveat: glucose helps sodium absorb, so the absence of it makes uptake very slightly slower than a WHO-formula ORS. Pair with a banana or a slice of toast and the difference disappears. The taste is salty in a deliberate way that some people love and some people cannot get past.
Pros
- 1000mg sodium, the highest in the round-up
- Zero sugar, fits keto / low-carb routines
- Genuinely effective when paired with food
Cons
- No glucose means slightly slower sodium uptake on an empty stomach
- Strong salt flavour divides opinion
- Premium price per serve
Pedialyte
Stocked at every drugstore, ready to drink, the original "adult" rehydration solution.
Pedialyte was designed for sick children but became a hangover staple long before the brand acknowledged it. The pre-mixed bottles are the most convenient option in this list: pop the cap, sip slowly, eat something within an hour. Powder sticks exist for travel. Taste is functional rather than enjoyable.
Pros
- No mixing, no measuring
- Cheapest pre-mixed option that is properly formulated
- Available everywhere
Cons
- Flavour range is functional rather than fun
- Bottles are heavy if you are stocking up
Dioralyte
Half a century of clinical evidence, sold for pennies a sachet. Tastes like medicine, works like medicine.
The benchmark every other product in this list is measured against. Dioralyte uses the WHO oral rehydration formula at the ratios used in the field for cholera treatment and gastro recovery. It tastes medicinal. It costs almost nothing. It works. If you do not mind the flavour, this is the most cost-effective option here by a wide margin.
Pros
- Cheapest serious option in the round-up
- Decades of clinical evidence behind the formula
- Stocked in every UK pharmacy
Cons
- Taste is unmistakably medicinal
- Plain packaging, no flavour variety to speak of
Gatorlyte
Gatorade's serious rehydration line. Not the green-bottle stuff. Worth the second look.
Standard sports drinks have too much sugar and too little sodium for serious rehydration. Gatorlyte is Gatorade's answer to that critique: a closer match to dedicated ORS products, with more sodium and less sugar than the classic line. If you want the familiarity of a bottle from the corner shop with the formulation of an ORS, this is the bridge.
Pros
- Easy to find at any convenience store
- 490mg sodium per bottle
- Cheaper than most lifestyle sachets
Cons
- Easy to grab the wrong (regular Gatorade) bottle by mistake
- Still slightly sweeter than dedicated ORS
Vita Coco Coconut Water
Genuinely good potassium, decent sodium, very pleasant to drink. Mildly effective on its own.
Coconut water has been over-marketed as a hangover cure for years. Reality: it is a pleasant mild rehydration drink with naturally occurring potassium and modest sodium. On its own it is not the strongest option for a serious hangover, but as the easiest electrolyte drink to actually finish first thing in the morning, it earns a place. Add a generous pinch of salt to a glass and you bring the sodium up to therapeutic levels at almost no cost.
Pros
- Pleasant flavour, easy to drink in volume
- Natural potassium without supplement aftertaste
- No artificial sweeteners or colours
Cons
- Sodium is too low for severe hangovers without a salt addition
- Expensive per ml versus dedicated ORS
Nuun Sport
Drop a tablet in water, watch it fizz, drink. Sport-skewed but genuinely useful for mild hangovers.
Nuun's tablet format is the most travel-friendly option in this list. Sodium per tablet is on the lower end (300mg), which makes it better suited to mild-to-moderate hangovers and for following a session where you also drank water properly the night before. The fizzy delivery is novel enough to make sipping feel less like a chore.
Pros
- Tubes fit in any jacket pocket
- Low sugar, easy on a queasy stomach
- Wide range of flavours
Cons
- 300mg sodium is light for a heavy hangover
- You may want two tablets for a litre on a rough morning
Ultima Replenisher
Zero sugar, no artificial colours, no artificial sweeteners. The pick for label-readers.
Ultima Replenisher is the option for people who screen out anything synthetic. It uses stevia rather than sucralose or sugar, six trace minerals on top of the main electrolytes, and natural flavourings only. The trade-off is the same one as LMNT: no glucose means slightly slower sodium uptake. Pair it with food and that mostly stops mattering.
Pros
- Genuinely clean ingredient list
- Stevia-sweetened, no sugar crash
- Trace minerals add a small but real benefit
Cons
- Sodium per serve is moderate, not high
- Stevia aftertaste polarises some drinkers
# How to choose between them
If you want one rule of thumb: pick the option you will actually drink first thing in the morning. The best formula in the world does nothing if it sits on the counter. With that in mind:
- Heavy hangovers, no time for niceties: LMNT or Liquid IV with food.
- Squeamish stomach, need it to taste good: DripDrop or coconut water plus a pinch of salt.
- Cost-conscious, do not mind medical taste: Dioralyte or generic ORS.
- No fridge access, on the go: Nuun Sport tablets.
- Reading every label, avoiding additives: Ultima Replenisher.
- Already at the corner shop, just want something now: Gatorlyte or pre-mixed Pedialyte.
A sachet that is open in your hand is worth two unopened in the cupboard.
# A note on timing
A good electrolyte drink is wasted if you down it in 30 seconds. Your body absorbs fluid at a fixed rate; pouring more in faster just produces a longer trip to the bathroom. Sip 250 to 500ml over 20 to 30 minutes on waking, repeat once or twice through the morning, and eat something proper in between. The food-and-electrolytes combination is what actually closes the recovery loop. We cover the food side in Best Foods to Eat Before, During, and After Drinking.
# The bottom line
Every product on this list works. The differences are at the margins: taste, sugar load, sodium intensity, ingredient philosophy, price. Pick the one that fits your routine and your stomach, and remember that none of these is a substitute for drinking less, drinking slower, or drinking water alongside the alcohol the night before. Recovery starts before the hangover, not after.
For the science of why electrolytes work in the first place, and a deeper look at what each ingredient is doing in your body, see Electrolytes and Hangovers: What Actually Works.
# How AlcoLog supports the recovery side
AlcoLog logs water alongside alcoholic drinks so you can see, at the end of a session, how well you paced yourself with hydration. Hydration reminders in Settings can be time-based, drink-count-based, or both. Over time, the History view shows whether sessions where you alternated water and ate properly produced milder next-morning patterns; the data is not electrolyte-specific, but the trend lines are honest.
