Consuming alcohol can cause the body to release endorphins, resulting in a feeling of happiness and a positive mood. However, there is a yo-yo effect once those endorphin levels come back down, sometimes causing a more severe “crash” in mood, Kubala warns. She offered some parting advice, including cutting back on hard alcohol if it began to cause me to experience anxiety, as it had for her. Talk to friends or family members who may understand what you’re going through. If hangxiety is a recurring problem, consult a mental health professional for coping strategies and support.
Unsurprisingly, the therapist tells me that people with a history of anxiety or those prone to worry are more likely to experience hangxiety. Folks who drink heavily, have disrupted sleep or experience significant life stressors are also at higher helpstay reviews risk. It also stands to reason that, if you’re a person who’s generally anxious, a few drinks can lower your inhibitions and lessen those anxious feelings temporarily. When they return once the alcohol is out of your system, however, you might feel like all that anxiety comes rushing back and remembering how you acted when you let your guard down can conjure feelings of regret or embarrassment. You don’t have to let hangover anxiety make the day after drinking miserable.
Anxiety disorder
Alcohol temporarily increases the release of serotonin (a feel-good hormone) in your brain’s pleasure center, resulting in a state of bliss and satisfaction (1). While you probably know how to cure a physical hangover (no judgment), mental recovery is slightly more complex. If you think you’ve been drinking too much and would like some help slowing down, Navqi recommended seeking information from RethinkingDrinking, a website from the National Institutes of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism from the U.S.
Feifel indicates you may be more likely to experience hangxiety if you live with an anxiety disorder or naturally have a high base level of anxiousness. Sometimes, your own worries may get the better of you after a night of drinking. If you wake up with unclear memories, you may naturally worry about what happened the night before. Dr. David Feifel, medical director at Kadima Neuropsychiatry Institute and professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, explains much of hangxiety is caused by the effects of alcohol on the brain. Clear Recovery Center’s Virtual IOP provides clients with therapeutic support for burnout, depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue and stress.
Drink smart
If you can hold it down, eat a really small, light meal — just something to get in your stomach — and take a long shower to help get your blood flowing. A person may also feel anxious if they cannot remember what happened when they were drunk, or if they said or did things that they regret. If the factors involved in a classic hangover can also contribute to anxiety, treating your physical hangover may help you mentally. If these symptoms are a part of hangxiety, Feifel indicates they will typically appear 6 hours to 20 hours after you stop drinking. It’s a popular term that describes a widely shared experience of post-alcohol anxiety.
According to a 2023 study of more than 5,000 university students, people sensitive to classic hangovers were also more likely to have higher levels of anxiety and stress. This is why when you drink alcohol it’s common to feel less anxious and more relaxed. If you consume high amounts of alcohol, the anxiety circuits in your brain become strongly suppressed.
How to get rid of hangover anxiety
- Not getting enough of the right nutrients can also affect mood symptoms.
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- Unlike regular anxiety, hangover anxiety, or hangxiety, isn’t found in the DSM-5, meaning it’s not an actual medical condition.
- 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.
- “So an early referral to a mental health specialist, or even your primary care doctor, might go a long way.”
Anxious feelings usually arise as the body struggles to counter the sedating effects of alcohol. A drop in mood-enhancing neurotransmitters like dopamine might also contribute to a lower mood. A term that is the combination of the words hangover and anxiety, hangxiety is the feeling of anxiousness that may accompany a hangover. Those bad feelings can make a hangover seem even worse than one with physical symptoms alone. If it makes you feel any better, it seems like almost every person who consumes alcohol has experienced this feeling. There’s even a #hangxiety hashtag with 12.3 million views on TikTok populated with videos from users discussing feelings of anxiety and agony after a night of drinking.
New research suggests highly shy people may have a higher risk of experiencing anxiety with a hangover. First of all, only a small amount of people who get hangovers experience feelings of anxiety along with them. That’s because everyone’s body chemistry is different, and is impacted differently. Just think of how some people get nauseas from one drink, while others can drink many without getting queasy.
