Mindfulness can help you manage anxiety and other negative emotions by acknowledging them without internalizing them. Try taking deep breaths or doing a body scan to help you focus on the present moment (and park the worry). Fong added that some of the physical symptoms of a hangover — like dehydration, hunger and sleep deprivation — can put you more on edge as is.
- Following this idea, a 2019 study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences measured levels of anxiety among social drinkers before, during and after drinking.
- As for lessening the pain once the hangxiety has already arrived, Adnand recommends creating a day that revolves around self-care.
- That’s because everyone’s body chemistry is different, and is impacted differently.
- “Then, at higher doses, it blocks another neurotransmitter called glutamate. Glutamate has opposite effects to GABA; it excites the brain and lays down memories. Blocking it leads to sedation and amnesia.”
- In her practice, Turner teaches alcohol moderation, a strategy that could help you avoid some of the negative effects of alcohol.
But reaching for caffeine may not be the best idea as its stimulant effects could exasperate your feelings of anxiety. The simplest way to avoid the troubles of a hangover, anxiety included, is to not drink. But that’s not a reasonable alternative for many people, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be. We all deserve to let loose and have fun–the point is simply that you’ll be best served, and feel the best later, if you do so moderately and conscientiously. The symptoms of hangxiety are likely to happen along with the physical symptoms of a hangover. Other people may wish to prevent hangover-related anxiety by reducing or eliminating drinking.
Why some people experience anxiety during a hangover
If you’re already an anxious person, not being able to remember all your interactions can lead you to ruminate, which makes anxiety worse. Maybe you realize you’ve started drinking a bit more to feel the same buzz. Or you’re turning to alcohol to ease tension and unwind most days, rather than once in a while. If you drink before you drive or start work, you might also feel anxious about someone noticing your alcohol use.
One common reason to become anxious with a hangover is if you are a person who is prone to anxiety in the first place. Given how alcohol messes with the production of your feel-good chemicals, if you are some who has anxiety, it would makes sense that a hangover would worsen that. Alcohol also might reduce the effectiveness of your anxiety medication, if you take it, further leading to anxiety after drinking. Talking to someone you trust about your feelings can be incredibly comforting. You might want to check in with a friend that was with you when you were drunk to put your mind at ease. Consider contacting a mental health professional for additional support if your anxiety is severe.
For many people, this means an uptick in feelings of anxiety and the familiar hangxiety experience. If you’re planning on drinking, taking all the standard steps to avoid a hangover will also help you avoid hangxiety. Another helpful tip for coping with anxiety is to engage in activities that bring you joy and help you relax.
How to cope with anxiety – and hangxiety
Have you ever woken up after a night of drinking feeling hungover – with symptoms like nausea, headaches and sensitivity to light or sound? People with anxiety disorders may use alcohol to cope with the symptoms. As a result, they will typically feel more anxious when they are not drinking. Although researchers are unsure why some people experience this hangover symptom while others do not, there is evidence that certain risk factors make post-alcohol anxiety more likely. Adnand suggests a dry January, starting off the year with a full 31 days of alcohol abstinence.
Alcohol is a diuretic substance, which means it makes your body lose fluids more rapidly than normal. After a night of heavy drinking, this fluid loss can leave you feeling groggy and tired when you wake up. These neurotransmitters play a major role in regulating our mood, and after they initially generate euphoria, sudden changes to their levels may be a major trigger for later symptoms of hangxiety. “There is an increase in proinflammatory cytokines [a class of inflammatory molecules] and cortisol [stress hormone] levels,” he said.
If moderation doesn’t work for you, consider reaching out for additional help. Moderation allows people to enjoy the pleasurable effects of alcohol before physical impairment occurs, Turner explains. If you were with a close friend, you might feel reassured by talking to them. But for the moment, it might all opiates detox help to take a few minutes and examine your thoughts. You can meditate while sitting or even lying in bed, if you don’t feel up to being upright. It can help to start with some deep breathing, so lie or sit back, close your eyes, and focus on your thoughts and how you feel, physically and emotionally.
Causes of Hangxiety
It might seem very straightforward that the cause of hangxiety is a hangover. Anxiety can be anywhere from mild—where you just feel a sense of unease but you’re ok to function through it—to crippling, in which you may have frequent panic attacks and an inability to go about life like “normal.” Here are three tips that can help you manage hangxiety genetics of alcohol use disorder national institute on alcohol abuse and alcoholism niaaa — and hopefully make you feel better too. Another key component that can drum up hangxiety is faulty memory, Andand says. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. It’s a hard cycle to break on your own, but a therapist can help you work through it.
Social anxiety
You don’t have to let hangover anxiety make the day after drinking miserable. Being mindful about alcohol consumption and its effects can help you cope with — or prevent — this unpleasant feeling. Eat mild foods, such as soup or crackers, to settle your stomach is queasy or nauseas. If possible, go back to bed and let your body continue to process the alcohol withdrawal while you sleep. Yes, a hot cup of coffee might sound delicious when you wake up hungover, but when feeling anxious, trying to avoid stimulants is essential. Chances are, coffee will make you feel even more on edge or exacerbate other anxiety symptoms.
Once the alcohol has left the body, the brain is left overactive and this can cause feelings of anxiousness, as well as other symptoms of a hangover. Sometimes, even if you took all of the appropriate steps to avoid a hangover, you still might experience one, and it may bring anxiety along for the ride with it. The older you get, the harder it becomes for your body to metabolize alcohol, so you might notice that it’s harder to avoid a hangover than it used to be. If you’re experiencing hangxiety, attending to the physical needs of your hangover can also help with the emotional repercussions.
What is ‘hangxiety’ and why do some people experience it?
It’s also possible to experience mood-related symptoms, including feelings of anxiety. But as the effects of alcohol begin to wear off, anxiety tends to return. Physical hangover symptoms can add to anxiety and make you feel even worse. If you live with anxiety, particularly social anxiety, you may find that a drink or two helps you relax and cope with nervous or anxious feelings before (or during) a social event. Experts theorize that hangxiety is related to using alcohol to overcome social anxiety.
After alcohol has really enhanced the GABA neurotransmitter, glutamate, its natural counter tries to balance it out. The day after drinking (even if you didn’t drink heavily), depending adult children of alcoholics on your personal biology, your brain’s rebalancing of that glutamate may cause anxiety and agitation, Adnand says. Years ago, I shared a drink with a friend who was leaving the city.