How To Overcome Hangxiety

Drinking alcohol may temporarily reduce your worries, lower your stress levels and take your mind off any troubles. However, excessive drinking can lead to increased anxiety the next day: a phenomenon that has become known as ‘hangxiety’. Also, it can also make any existing anxiety worse in the long run.

Therefore, following a drinking session, you may experience a hangover. This usually involves a number of physical symptoms, including a headache, dizziness, fatigue and feeling sick. It can also result in a range of psychological symptoms, such as feeling depressed, anxious or panicky. Altogether, the anxiety you feel during a hangover has become known as ‘hangxiety’. It’s also sometimes referred to as ‘hangover anxiety’, ‘post beer fear’ or ‘post alcohol anxiety.

“Dreaming leads to discovering what lies in deep depth.”― Lailah Gifty Akita

Hangxiety Symptoms

Subsequently, as a shared experience and not a formal diagnosis, there’s no set list of symptoms that define hangxiety. In general, it’s the similar to general symptoms of anxiety, just specific to post-drinking.

Therefore, general anxiety symptoms include:

feeling restless or on-edge
irritability
persistent, uncontrollable feelings of worry
apprehension
difficulty sleeping
thought rumination
headache
upset stomach
chest pain
unexplained body aches
racing heartbeat
sweating
trembling

All things considered, if these symptoms are a part of hangxiety, they will typically appear 6 hours to 20 hours after you stop drinking.

“Don’t get too deep, it leads to over thinking, and over thinking leads to problems that don’t even exist in the first place.”― Jayson Engay

Managing Hangxiety

Additionally, are you wondering how to prevent hangxiety? At this point, there are some steps you can take to help reduce hangxiety before it happens:

Eat before drinking and never drink on an empty stomach
Drink plenty of water and stay well hydrated while you’re drinking – a 1:1 ratio should be maintained (1 alcohol drink per hour and 1 water per alcoholic drink)
Set a limit and stick to it (i.e. two standard drinks maximum)

Therefore, to manage hangxiety while you’re experiencing it, try:

Rehydrate: drink lots of water and nutrient enhancing drinks
Eat a light meal: eat a meal that’s easy to digest and avoid greasy, processed foods
Get some rest: If you’re able to, get some sleep and give yourself a chance to relax
Take some over-the-counter pain medication: This may help with physical symptoms
Practice mindfulness: Meditation and slow-breathing exercises can help overcome symptoms of anxiety
Go easy on yourself: Don’t be too hard on yourself and avoid overthinking your actions (you probably weren’t the only one drinking)
Talk yourself through your worries: If you have trusted friends and family, it might help to talk to them too
Try stress-relieving activities: activities like taking a bath, drawing, yoga, walking, and listening to calming music or meditation can help relieve your hangxiety.

In short, hangxiety is common; while not everyone will experience the same symptoms or severity every time, you’re not alone in your concerns, worries, and emotions.

Alcohol Insomnia Anxiety

Small amounts of alcohol may cause short-term sleep disturbances, but frequent and large quantities of alcohol consumption may lead to chronic insomnia for certain individuals. As well as, people with insomnia may have difficulty falling asleep or keep waking up during the night. Hence, alcohol may disrupt a regular sleeping schedule.

Equally, many people with insomnia may have difficulty falling asleep at night. As a result, they may consume alcohol to speed up falling asleep, but evidence shows this technique does not improve sleep quality.

For example, a 2020 research suggests that alcohol impacts the part of sleep known as rapid eye movement (REM). Comparatively, drinking heavily over time can also disrupt the chemical messengers in the brain, which can affect sleep. Concurrently, studies estimate that 36–91% of people experiencing alcohol dependence may have insomnia.

Likewise, long-term reliance on alcohol for sleep can contribute to an alcohol use disorder (AUD). Drinking a small amount of alcohol may help people fall asleep more quickly initially, but over time, individuals will need to consume more alcohol to achieve the same effect.

“I’ve hidden memories in boxes inside my head before. Sometimes it’s the only way to deal with things.”― Alice Feeney, Sometimes I Lie

Anxiety Alcohol Withdrawal

At this point, AWS is the name for the symptoms that occur when a heavy drinker suddenly stops or significantly reduces their alcohol intake. At any rate,the signs and symptoms of AWS may appear anywhere from 6 hours to a few days after your last drink. These usually include at least two of the following:

tremors
anxiety
nausea
vomiting
headache
an increased heart rate
confusion
insomnia
nightmares

At length, the symptoms may worsen over 2 to 3 days, and some milder symptoms may persist for weeks in some people. Furthermore, they may be more noticeable when you wake up with less alcohol in your blood. Also, the most severe type of withdrawal syndrome is known as delirium tremens (DT).

“You are only as free as you think you are and freedom will always be as real as you believe it to be.”― Robert M. Drake, Beautiful Chaos

Alcohol and Anxiety Medicine

Even more, you may be at risk of a dangerous reaction if you take MAOIs. When combined with certain types of alcoholic beverages and foods, antidepressants called monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) can cause a dangerous spike in blood pressure. Therefore, if you take an MAOI, be sure you know what’s safe to eat and drink, and which alcoholic beverages are likely to cause a reaction.

You may become sedated or feel drowsy. A few antidepressants cause sedation and drowsiness, and so does alcohol. When taken together, the combined effect can be intensified.

Meanwhile, you may feel more depressed or anxious. In addition, drinking can counteract the benefits of your antidepressant medication, making your symptoms more difficult to treat. Given that, alcohol may seem to improve your mood in the short term, but its overall effect increases symptoms of depression and anxiety.

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.”― Walt Disney Company, Mulan

Conclusion

In any event, chronic alcohol use affects your ability to respond to stress in healthy and effective ways, which can lead to anxiety. This may be due to alcohol’s effect on the amygdala, the area of your brain that regulates negative emotions. Particularly, brain imaging studies have found abnormalities in amygdala functioning in individuals with alcohol use disorder.

Therefore, the amount of time it takes for hangxiety anxiety to pass depends on the individual and factors such as genetics, anxiety levels without alcohol, how much alcohol has been consumed, and how regularly the individual drinks. Generally, hangxiety should begin to fade after 24 hours, but if you are drinking frequently, then you may often be in a state of hangxiety.