If drinking turns you into the world's hottest mess, dehydration could be to blame — after all, even those who know better sometimes end up chasing their margaritas with another margarita instead of alternating between alcohol and H2O, coconut water, or Gatorade, as experts recommend.
A new iPhone app called Hydrate Now could help by pinging you constantly throughout the night with reminders to drink something besides booze. It was created by Jacob Catalano, a 23-year-old developer from Toronto, Canada.
"I know there are a lot of hydration apps out there, but I wanted to design one that was specifically designed for the hangover prevention use case," says Jacob of his inspiration behind the app, which took less than a week to create. "So I figured the best way to do that would be by sending an almost annoying amount of provocative push notifications that remind you to drink water."
To try it, download the ~free~ Hydrate Now app from the App Store, and enable notifications before your next night out. Then, tap the homescreen when the party begins, and input how much water you need to be reminded to drink. (The app doesn't tell you the right amount to drink — so it's up to you to make that decision.)
Depending on your selection — "1" will ping you every 100 minutes, while "5" will hit you up every 20 minutes — you'll regularly receive one of 20 notifications such as, "HAVE A GODDAM GLASS OF WATER 🚰"," or "Drink water plz 💩 ." So there'll be no one to blame but yourself if you shun water in favor of shots.
When you turn in for the night, silence notifications by tapping the app's homescreen again. Although the only real way to prevent a hangover is to avoid drinking alcohol in the first place, you can still sleep tight knowing you've drank Very Responsibly — at least when it comes to non-alcoholic beverages.
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