HEALTH Notes
■ Have you ever woken up in the gripss of panic after a night out?
“When you enjoy an evening of drinking, the alcohol has the desired effect by changing your brain chemistry. This is why it feels nice!” says Dr Keith Grimes.
“Your brain does its best to balance the chemistry by increasing some neurotransmitters to overcome the blockade the alcohol gives.
“Once the alcohol wears off, you are left with temporarily high levels of these chemicals, which leads to anxiety.
Hence the phrase
‘hangover anxiety’, or ‘hangxiety’.”
To prevent this, Dr
Grimes advises drinking less and being kind to yourself if you do get the symptoms: “Resist the urge to have another drink – it’s a gateway to cycles of further anxiety, further drinking and so on.”
People with higher background levels of anxiety may have worse symptoms and they are more likely to drink more to help alleviate anxiety symptoms in the first place, especially in social situations.