Some alcoholic drinks can make ‘anxiety’ worse: experts

Heart palpitations, headaches and fear of construction?

“Hangxiety,” or “beer blues,” is the one-two punch of anxiety and the physical effects of alcohol, a terrible discomfort that creeps along with the sobering light of day.

Neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt, who specializes in the effects of alcohol on the brain at Imperial College London, recently told National Geographic, “Almost anyone who drinks any alcohol will experience changes in their brain when they come off alcohol. With a small amount of drink, this can appear as confusion, but after larger amounts, you can have anxiety.”

While any alcohol can cause anxiety, experts say some intoxicants are more likely to leave you with a pervasive sense of doom than others.

Cocktails containing sugar and alcoholic beverages can increase anxiety by increasing blood sugar and blood alcohol.

Red wine is also a serious stress reliever as it contains tyramine and histamines known to cause anxiety. Lisa Gunn, head of mental health prevention at the UK healthcare charity Nuffield Health, told HuffPost UK last week.

Conversely, lower ABV beer equates to a reduced risk of morning-after anxiety, as long as you keep your booze to a minimum.

So why does sauce leave us stressed?

Alcohol affects gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter in the brain that plays a major role in regulating sleep and stress. According to the Cleveland Clinic, GABA calms the central nervous system, promoting feelings of calm.

The drink binds to the same proteins that GABA interferes with, mimicking its effects while depleting its stores.

“That’s why people feel more relaxed and carefree and their racing thoughts are reduced when they drink,” Yale School of Medicine professor Stephen Holt, who is also director of the addiction recovery clinic at the University of California, told National Geographic. Yale New Haven Hospital.

Alcohol also affects glutamate, a stimulating neurotransmitter that increases energy.

Increased GABA activity during drinking reduces the effects of glutamate, prompting the brain to produce an excess of glutamate that can leave drinkers with more anxiety when the alcohol leaves their system.

The shots also temporarily boost mood by increasing the brain’s production of the “happy hormones” serotonin and dopamine. But after the holiday, these levels drop, contributing to anxiety.

Alcohol acts as a diuretic, and people who hit the bottle can experience fatigue and dizziness as a result of dehydration, symptoms that contribute to panic.

Recorded foodSTI Rob Hobson told the Daily Mail this week, “Electrolyte imbalances can also be disrupted and this can worsen anxiety symptoms by causing irregular heartbeats, depending on how much alcohol you’ve consumed.”

While you can proactively pick your poison with more mindfulness, no matter what you drink, alcohol lowers inhibitions, a reckless abandon that makes us do things we wouldn’t do sober and likely regret when we sober up.

Gunn says that people who suffer from social anxiety and use alcohol to ease their nerves are particularly vulnerable to this post-party panic.

Meanwhile, recent studies suggest that everyone would live better, stronger and longer if they left the drink in the bottle.