WASHINGTON — For too many, Jan. 1 marks their first (if not their only) hangover of the year.

The headache, the nausea, the general malaise — that dreaded condition makes it impossible to enjoy the televised parades and bowl games. Everything is too bright and too loud and turn off that light and shut up, please.

Feeling like #$%@ is the price you pay for proudly screaming an offkey “Auld Lang Syne” in public.

But can’t you get a discount on that price? How can you have some guaranteed no-consequences fun on New Year’s Eve?

“If I had the answer to that, I’d probably be on my yacht somewhere,” said Dr. Robert Shesser, chairman of the emergency medicine department at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences. “We don’t have the answers to what has been shown to be scientifically effective at reducing the hangover.”

Sigh. Noted. So while science has yet to find that hangover cure, you’re left with anecdotal methods (a few of which have some scientific backing).

Just take what you can get.

Here’s a rundown of ways that you can both 1) prepare for the big night and 2) survive The Day After.

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