Conventional wisdom has it that a big glass of water after a night of drinking can stave off the worst effects of a hangover the next day. Now science has come riding in with the news that, while it’s not a bad idea, it isn’t the curative we’ve been led to believe.

What it comes down to, according to new research published in the aptly named journal Alcohol, is that dehydration and the hangover “are two co-occurring but independent consequences of alcohol consumption.” And while drinking water may alleviate the first condition, it’s not going to do much about the second.