Hangxiety... or why we get ‘the fear’

WHEN facing a dinner party or a room full of strangers, a glass of wine can provide much-needed Dutch courage for the shy.

But using alcohol for confidence may not be a good idea, as it can lead to a more horrible hangover – ‘hangxiety’, also dubbed ‘the fear’ by many seasoned drinkers.

Shy people who have a few drinks feel more anxious when they are hungover the next day, a study found. Alcohol may reduce nervousness in the brain at the time but there is a ‘rebound effect’ that makes it worse the next day.

The study, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, involved 97 people who spent four hours either drinking or sober at home. The drinkers consumed an average of six units, which equates to around two large glasses of wine or three pints of beer.

The researchers, at the University of Exeter in England, found shy people were not significantly less anxious after drinking but showed more signs of anxiety the next morning.

Senior author Professor Celia Morgan, who dubbed the phenomenon ‘hangxiety’, said: ‘Alcohol can help with anxiety by inhibiting the central nervous system when somebody is drinking, but there is a “seesaw” effect.

‘While the brain under-reacts to anxiety on that night, the next day it may overreact.

‘For shy people, who have a tendency to worry anyway, this can mean more of a tendency to go over and over what they said and did the night before. We saw a large effect on their anxiety when they were hungover.’