Forget sipping coconut water and popping two ibuprofens. Ancient Egyptians had a way more stylish way to cure hangovers: wearing a necklace made from laurel leaves.
Explorers found a 1,900-year-old papyrus in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt back in 1915. It’s part of a large collection of papyri, called Oxyrhynchus Papyri, that contains more than 500,000 scraps, The Week reports. Naturally, it’s taken some time since 1915 to get through translating it all and the “drunken headache cure” was just recently translated by researchers from the University of Oxford and University College London.
Here’s a photo of the papyrus that contains the “drunken headache” cure, as well as recipes for a few other health ailments:
The ancient health guide advised drinkers to string together laurel leaves, or Alexandrian chamaedaphne (Ruscus racemosus L.), and possibly wear it as a necklace, reports Live Science. In the ancient world, people believed the shrub could cure a headache — the jury’s out on whether or not it actually works, especially for tequila-induced headaches. But hey, why not try it this weekend?
