The Truth About "Hangxiety": How Alcohol Affects Your Mood

Pop culture would have us believe that the cure for any negative emotion—worry, anxiety, sadness, stress, or even a traumatic event—is having a strong drink. Watching movies or TV these days shows how we as a society view the relationship between alcohol and negative emotions.

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Bad day at work? Pour a glass of whiskey.

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Long day with screaming kiddos? A couple of glasses of wine will take the edge off.

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Nervous on a first date? A pitcher of margaritas will do the trick.

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Unfortunately, our culture has this relationship backward. Instead of making anxiety better, treating discomfort with a drink can actually make our negative emotions and physical sensations worse in the short and long run—even if we don’t suffer from alcoholism.

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“Hangxiety” Is Real!

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“Hangxiety” is a colloquial term that has emerged in the last few years to describe a feeling that many of us can relate to: the anxiety that rushes in after a bout of heavy drinking (get it? Hangover + anxiety = hangxiety). It’s that nervous, worried, vaguely sad, unsettled stomach feeling that we can experience when we wake up after overindulging in alcohol. While most of us may think we are simply feeling worried or regretful of actions taken the night before as a result of intoxication, there is actually a biological basis for this feeling.

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Let’s talk about what happens in the body during and after heavy drinking. For reference, the CDC defines heavy drinking as:

• 4+ drinks in a single session for females
• 5+ drinks in a single session for males
• 8+ drinks per week for females
• 15+ drinks per week for males

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Each body’s ability to process alcohol is different. It’s dependent on your body size, sex, nutritional status, genetics, and drinking history—so these numbers may over or underestimate your body’s individual response to alcohol.

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How Alcohol Impacts the Brain and Body

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Alcohol is a depressant, meaning it reduces the frequency of electrical impulses in our brains, which slows down communication between parts of the brain. The effect is similar to a sedative or anesthesia. When we start drinking and our blood alcohol levels start to rise, we may feel sensations of reduced inhibition, relaxation, and decreased concern for things that may have been troubling us. These euphoric feelings are a result of dopamine (our reward neurotransmitter) and GABA (a neurotransmitter that promotes relaxation) being released. This is the “high” that most people are chasing to dull the negative emotions they were experiencing.

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Unfortunately, these happy feelings are short-lived and tend to leave our bodies fairly quickly as the alcohol is processed by the liver and excreted. And this can leave us feeling pretty lousy physically AND mentally. Here’s why:

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From the body’s perspective, alcohol is toxic—it is a threat that needs to be dealt with. When we drink alcohol at a faster rate than we can process it, our bodies have to work overtime to remove the alcohol from our system. This can put the body in a physiologically stressed state characterized by increased cortisol levels, high blood sugar, increased heart rate, and high blood pressure—all classic symptoms of anxiety! In addition, dopamine levels plummet from where they were while we were drinking, making us feel tired, moody, and unmotivated. Most of us will also experience other physical side effects of drinking: dehydration, inflammation, and impaired sleep. These symptoms can last anywhere from a few hours to days after heavy drinking.

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On top of the anxiety we experience in the short run, many of us compound these feelings by trying to re-energize with caffeine (which can also increase anxiety) or self-soothe with more drinking, kicking off a vicious cycle of alcohol abuse.

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What You Can Do to Help With Hangxiety

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Now, we aren’t suggesting you should never have a drink or that enjoying a glass of wine here and there will turn you into an anxious wreck. Some people are more prone to hangxiety than others. Studies have found that people who are already prone to anxiety, people who describe themselves as “very shy,” and people who experience severe hangovers are more likely to experience post-drinking anxiety. Learn your body’s limits with alcohol and pay attention to your brain and body’s response to drinking.

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And if you do choose to drink, there are things you can do to help mitigate post-drinking anxiety:

• Eat a full and complete meal full of protein, fats, and fiber before and after drinking. This will help stabilize blood sugar levels.
• Drink slowly. Drinking lots of alcohol quickly results in the body not being able to keep up with processing fast enough and creates a physiologically stressful environment.
• Avoid large amounts of caffeine the day after drinking.
• Make sure you have a low-key day planned the day after drinking to allow your body to recover and your central nervous system to return to baseline.
• Avoid drinking alcohol to numb or dull discomfort. Over time, this can lead to a diminished ability to deal with discomfort and a dependence on alcohol to regulate emotions.

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References

• Bjork, J. M., & Gilman, J. M. (2014). The effects of acute alcohol administration on the human brain: insights from neuroimaging. Neuropharmacology, 84, 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2013.07.039
• Di Chiara G. (1997). Alcohol and dopamine. Alcohol health and research world, 21(2), 108–114.
• Gunn C, Fairchild G, Verster JC, Adams S. The Effects of Alcohol Hangover on Executive Functions. J Clin Med. 2020 Apr 17;9(4):1148. doi: 10.3390/jcm9041148. PMID: 32316438; PMCID: PMC7230396.
• Pervin, Z., & Stephen, J. M. (2021). Effect of alcohol on the central nervous system to develop neurological disorder: pathophysiological and lifestyle modulation can be potential therapeutic options for alcohol-induced neurotoxication. AIMS Neuroscience, 8(3), 390–413. https://doi.org/10.3934/Neuroscience.2021021