Have you ever had a hangover so bad you just feel like curling up in a ball on your unmade bed, bucket by your feet, and eating your feelings until you feel even slightly human again?
If the answer’s yes, you’ll know only too well the judgemental stares you get from your family members and the complete lack of sympathy you receive because ‘you brought it on yourself’.
So what if I were to tell you that finally, finally, hangovers are being recognised as an illness so you’ll be able to wallow in self pity to your heart’s desire every time you’ve had one too many?
Well, great news for everyone in Germany because that’s exactly what’s happening. As reported by BBC News, just days after the annual Oktoberfest beer festival began in Munich, a court ruled that hangovers are officially an illness.
A case was brought against the maker of anti-hangover ‘shots’ and drink powders recently when plaintiffs claimed they were making illegal health claims about being able to cure hangovers.
Judges in Frankfurt ruled that illnesses include even small or ‘temporary disruptions’ to the body’s normal functioning state, including the symptoms of a hangover.
As such, food products – like the drinks offered by this particular firm – cannot be marketed as being able to prevent or cure hangovers, because they are an illness.
The superior regional court’s ruling said:
Information about a food product cannot ascribe any properties for preventing, treating or healing a human illness or give the impression of such a property.
By an illness, one should understand even small or temporary disruptions to the normal state or normal activity of the body.
The court went on to say this includes the tiredness, nausea and headaches commonly associated with hangovers, and which the company – which was not named in the ruling – claimed its shots and drink powders could cure.
The ruling comes just days after the annual Oktoberfest beer festival kicked off in Munich on Saturday (September 21), which sees more than six million people from around the world attending every single year.
One of the largest festivals in the world, Oktoberfest normally runs for 16-18 days with the last day being the first Sunday in October.
With flowing steins of beer provided by the original six Munich breweries and beer tents dotted around the event, the festival is the biggest celebration of beer in the world and also celebrates Bavarian culture.
What better way to celebrate beer than to get the biggest hangover possible and then blame all your life choices on simply being ill? Perfect.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).