Your new year’s eve party will be great, but your hangover won’t. We all know that prevention is better than cure, but hey it’s party time in London town.

With a little planning and only a smidge of self control, you can reduce a hangover from hell to a hangover from Helsinki to make new year’s day just a little more bearable and your new year’s eve party a little more memorable.

Eat before you go out – a fatty meal is recommended as fat is digested slowly and will protect the stomach from the effects of alcohol. Similarly a glass of full fat milk will slow down the absorption of alcohol.

Lighten up on your drinks – literally - stick to lighter coloured drinks as these tend to have smaller amounts of ‘congeners’. Congeners are the nasty and impure substances in alcohol that give you a really intense hangover and are higher in darkly coloured drinks such as whisky, port, brandy, bourbon and red wine.

Drink in between drinks – have a non fizzy soft drink or water between each alcoholic tipple. You’ll drink less alcohol without really noticing and you won’t be so dehydrated (the main cause of a hangover headache) by the end of the evening. New Year's Eve is a looooong night. Make sure it’s a non fizzy drink though because fizzy drinks help to speed up the amount of alcohol going into the bloodstream.

Get some fresh air - walking (if it’s safe to do so) and the fresh air will help sober you up.

And before you collapse into bed – drink of a pint of water to re-hydrate yourself or have some orange juice. The vitamin c will speed up the metabolism of the alcohol by the liver. Also have something to eat – a lack of sugar will make you feel wobbly – or have a sports drink.

And if you wake up on New Year's Day with a hangover from hell, try these……

A fry up – eggs and meat are rich in amino acid, thought to be good a clearing out toxins.

Paracetamol – ibuprofen and aspirin will make your stomach even more irritated. Or try sea sickness tablets. That said, have a heart for your liver. It’s already working hard because of the alcohol and more pills will make it work even harder.

Hair of the dog – some swear by it. All that happens is as your body deals with the new intake of booze, it suspends its torture caused by the night before. It’s temporary.

Caffeine – again some swear by it. But it’s short term. Caffeine causes dehydration and a hangover is a sign of dehydration.

Water and fruit juice - to re-hydrate and replace lost vitamins and sugar levels.

And finally…

Sleep