What Alcohol Dehydrates You the Most? - Birdsall Obear & Associates LLC (2024)

FAQs

What type of alcohol dehydrates you the most? ›

Perhaps you should avoid those the next time you hit the town. In general, drinks with a higher alcohol content – think spirits such as vodka, gin, whiskey, and rum – are higher on the spectrum of alcohol content, making them more dehydrating per ounce than alcohols such as beer and wine.

The rate of dehydration is higher for tertiary alcohols rather than secondary or primary alcohols.

Any alcoholic drink, whether beer, wine, vodka, whiskey, rum, gin, or tequila, will inhibit the body's production of vasopressin, which will cause you to pee more and increase your chances of becoming dehydrated. That said, the higher a drink's alcohol content, the more of a diuretic it's believed to be.

Beer and cider have lower alcohol contents than other alcoholic drinks and are less dehydrating. The alcohol content of beer can vary widely but typically ranges from 2–8% alcohol by volume (ABV).

That makes beer the clear contender as the least dehydrating, with a big caveat. As important as alcohol content may be, even more important is how much you drink in a given sitting. Drink too many beers too quickly, and you'll end up as dehydrated as you would taking a shot at the bar.

Alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, and liquor increase urine output and could cause dehydration if consumed in large amounts.

Alcohols dehydrate easily in the following order: tertiary secondary primary. The stability of the intermediate carbocation can be used to justify the ease with which alcohols can be dehydrated. The higher the stability of the produced carbonation, the faster the reaction.

Sip coffee or tea.

These can help you wake up, but be sure to drink plenty of water, too, since they're both diuretics.

Water. While it likely comes as no surprise, drinking water is most often the best and cheapest way to stay hydrated and rehydrate. Unlike many other beverages, water contains no added sugars or calories, making it ideal to drink throughout the day or specifically when you need to rehydrate, such as after a workout.

What is the best drink to replace electrolytes? ›

Drink plenty of water before, during, and after a night of drinking alcohol. This helps to space out your alcohol consumption so that you don't drink too quickly.

"A glass of water when you first wake up will help you rehydrate from the night before," says Beaver. "If you got to the point of vomiting, drinking Gatorade and Pedialyte are good choices to help replenish the lost electrolytes."

All margaritas are OK to enjoy in moderation if you're of legal drinking age and don't live with conditions or take medications that are affected by alcohol. Still, some have more calories and sugar than others. If you consume margs on the regular, you might seek a healthier version.

"Beer would result in less water loss than whiskey, because you are ingesting more fluid with beer," Maughan said. "Strong alcoholic drinks will dehydrate, dilute alcoholic drinks will not."

But because wine has a higher alcohol content than most types of beer, it's more dehydrating than the latter. In addition, beer usually has more water content as beer is typically served in more ounces per glass or bottle than wine, which may be as little as five ounces or so per glass.