German Court Rules Hangovers Are a Legitimate Illness

It can feel a little dishonest to tell your boss that you’re sick when you (and your social media followers) know that you were sipping on gin and juice just hours earlier. But a hangover certainly feels like a legitimate illness—and, according to a new court ruling in Frankfurt, Germany, it is.

The Takeout reports that the case involved an unnamed company touting its powder and liquid supplements as hangover cures. The also-anonymous plaintiff argued that this was false advertising, because the company was essentially marketing its food and drink products as medicines that could treat illness. In order for this argument to hold water, however, the court would first have to acknowledge that a hangover is actually an illness—which it did, much to the satisfaction of Oktoberfest revelers, people who work on Sundays, and those of us who are simply no longer 22 years old.

The court’s statement defined illness as “even small or temporary disruptions to the normal state or normal activity of the body,” and ruled that “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.” According to German news outlet Deutsche Welle, the defendant had claimed its products could ease hangover symptoms like nausea, tiredness, and headaches, which all fall under the court’s interpretation of illness.

Since deciding to imbibe is more calculated than, say, falling victim to a stomach virus, some bosses still might not be very understanding about your hellish hangover, regardless of what German judiciaries believe about its legitimacy. Maybe just leaving it at “I’m sick” is your best bet.

Or, if you’re inclined to grin and bear it instead, here are some non-medicinal hangover cures that might help.