Are you feeling delicate? Do you have a touch of the horrors, maybe? Don’t panic, you’re not alone.
Take comfort in the fact that today is the one day of the year when you can be pretty sure that more adults than not are feeling somewhat under the weather and they all have no-one but themselves - and that ridiculously ill-judged round of tequila shots early this morning - to blame for their misfortune.
Time was when nothing could look after a hangover other than a couch, a rasher sandwich, tea, a crappy movie and the strongest over the counter painkillers money could buy.
Not any more. While old-school hangover cures are still at your disposable, technology has also come your aid with all manner of apps now available to help you make it through the day.
Some are actually designed with the horrendously hungover in mind, others are just kind of handy and will remove the need for you to move too far from your couch for the rest of the day.
Unless we say otherwise, all the apps are free.
Hangover soother: This does exactly what it says on your phone. Or at least it promises to. Downloaded it and select from one of four modes: thunder, ocean, waterfall or train. The idea is you can then play soothing sounds of rain (like we need that in Ireland right now) or some other class of running water. Or a train. A train? Really? Do you really want the soundtrack to a day of flashbacks to a night of hedonism to be a train? We're not convinced. This app didn't do itself any favours by continually crashing like it was it and not us who was hungover.
Hangover aid: This adds a touch of video to some soothing audio. We tried an early morning, with birds singing gently, a calm beach, with waves lapping on the shore and some evening tranquillity. All the Zen-like calm was somewhat ruined by in-app ads offering us cheap flights and the like. We weren't overly impressed by the in-app purchases either. They offered us the chance to pay for a range of (possibly) even more soothing sounds free of ads. We'd rather just close our eyes and imagine the bids, thanks.
Domino's Easy Order: It seems scarcely credible now but when pizza delivery came to Ireland in the late 1980s people had to actually get off their couches, look up telephone numbers in a book - a physical book, would you believe? - and then walk to a landline to call some stranger to ask if they could drop a pizza round. It was such a palaver , especially when you were feeling a little delicate. Well, not any more. Last month pizza kingpins, Dominos launched an app to allow people order their food at the push of a smartphone button. And on New Year's Day, the pizza people take it a step further by rolling out one-touch ordering on the Apple Watch too. If you own such a device - fancy! - you'll be able to arrange your pizza delivery by just turning your wrist and giving your watch a soft poke. The pizza won't make a hangover go away but it might make you feel slightly better about the world. For a while anyways.
BrainWave Hangover Relief €0.99) : On the off chance that your hangover WILL MAKE YOU SENSITIVE TO SOUND (sorry, were we shouting, just there?) then this might well be the godsend you've been praying for all morning. It doesn't simply play self-styled chill out sounds, like some of its rivals but instead emits low-frequency sound waves (or "advanced binaural brainwaves instead. Now,truth be told, these waves which sound suspiciously like regular waves to us). Anyhoos, the boffins who made this app claim it will offer relief from your hangover symptoms. It has both a daytime and nighttime mode depending on what stage of the horrors you're at. We're not entirely sure it works as we were completely hangover-free when looking at it, but it looks kind of snazzy.
Waterminder: If you'd only had more water last night you'd probably not be feeling as rotten as you are right now. The damage has been done but you can make sure it's not done again and maybe help yourself today by downloading this dinky little app. It tracks your water intake and sends you gentle little reminders of when you need to drink more. While the reminders are handy, they may force you to get off the couch to actually get the water making this something of a double-edged sword.
Tile (from €17.50): This app only works if you're lucky enough to have the hardware needed to make it do its thing already. If not it might be worth considering for next year. It really is dead handy and will make any hungover day less troublesome. It uses Bluetooth to keep track of your possessions - keys, wallet, remote control. If you lose something in your house, the app will force the lost thing to emit a ringing sound to alert you to its whereabouts. That tracking function can't be used if the thing you're looking for is out of range but at least it will tell you where you last had it. The actual tiles can be bought at www.thetileapp.com/
Multiple banks apps: The choice is yours. We're not certain having easy and instant access to the damage your wreaked on your personal finances from your couch will help your hangover in any way. But then again, knowledge really is power and you're as well off knowing just how much you spent and where you spent it now rather than later.
Drinktrack (€0.99) : Many of us have a boundless capacity to lie to ourselves about our alcohol consumption on any given night. We're only human so tend to underestimate rather than overestimate exactly what has gone down . This app won't let you do that no more. Used correctly it will track exactly what you consume and when you consume it. It also works out your consumption in units of alcohol and - worryingly - calories. Yes, on many levels it is utterly miserable and will drain the joy out of so much as a single glass of wine but on the other hand it might stop you feeling so grim next time.
Hangover Meter (€0.99) This app is probably not an amazing idea as it encourages you to wear your hangover like a badge of honour but it has a place. It will measure your hangover by tracking the shakes when your phone is held at arm's reach. It allows you share and compare your shakes with your buddies. For research purposes we downloaded the app and at 11 am on New Year's Eve it claimed we had a level three hangover, which was terribly disappointing as we had been as pure as the driven snow the previous night. It's a mostly harmless bit of fun but if you're really struggling, this is almost certainly the last thing you need.
Stop, Breathe Think: Mindfulness is hot right now. And this app is one of the most highly regarded apps to guide you down the path to inner peace - or something like that. It covers the basics of meditation and includes all manner of meditation exercises which might help you make it through the day. If you're looking for a mantra can we suggest: "Never Again".
