Is your heart pounding, your head hurting, and your fears rising?
“Hangxiety,” Or the “beer blues,” a one-two punch of anxiety and the physical consequences of alcohol, a dreadful malaise that grows worse as the daylight fades.
Neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt, an expert on the effects of alcohol on the brain at Imperial College London, recently reported. National Geographic“Almost every person who drinks alcohol will experience changes in their brain after quitting. Drinking alcohol in small amounts can cause confusion, but drinking alcohol in large amounts can cause anxiety.”
While any alcohol can trigger hangover anxiety, experts say some intoxicants leave you with a broader sense of doom than others.
Cocktails containing sugar and alcohol can increase anxiety by increasing blood sugar and blood alcohol levels.
Red wine is also a serious stress-inducer because it contains Tyramine and histamines, which are known to increase anxiety, Lisa Gunn, head of mental health prevention at a UK healthcare charity Nuffield Health, told HuffPost UK last week,
Conversely, beer's lower ABV means a lower risk of morning-after anxiety, provided you keep your beer intake to a minimum.
So why does sauce make us stressed?
Alcohol affects the brain neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which plays an important role in regulating sleep and stress. Cleveland ClinicGABA calms the central nervous system, promoting a feeling of calmness.
Alcohol binds to the same proteins that GABA interferes with, mimicking its effects while depleting its stores.
“This is why people feel more relaxed and stress-free when they drink alcohol, and their thoughts are less ruminating,” Stephen Holt, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine who is also the director of the addiction treatment clinic at Yale New Haven Hospital, told National Geographic.
Alcohol also affects the excitatory neurotransmitter called glutamate, which increases energy.
The increase in GABA activity during drinking decreases the effects of glutamate, leading to an excess of glutamate in the brain, which causes drinkers to feel more anxious once the alcohol has left their systems.
Drinking alcohol increases the brain's production of the “happiness hormones” serotonin and dopamine, which also temporarily boosts mood. But, after partying, these levels drop, leading to hangover anxiety.
Alcohol acts as a diuretic, and people who consume alcohol may experience fatigue and dizziness due to dehydration, which are panic-causing symptoms.
Registered NutritionistFirst Rob Hobson told The Daily Mail this week“Electrolyte imbalances can also be disrupted, and this can make anxiety symptoms worse by causing an irregular heartbeat, depending on how much alcohol you've drunk.”
Although you may choose your poison more carefully, no matter what you drink, alcohol causes a lowering of inhibitions, a reckless carelessness that leads us to do things we wouldn't do when drunk and may regret once we've recovered.
Gun says People who suffer from social anxiety and use alcohol to ease their nervousness are particularly vulnerable to post-party jitters.
Meanwhile, recent research suggests They will be better, stronger and live longer if they leave the wine in the bottle.
