Hangover Anxiety: Why You Get 'Hangxiety' After a Night of New Year's Drinking

Mainstream Mental Health Radio

For some drinkers, it’s almost as reliable as the pounding headache and queasy stomach: the feeling of dread that follows a night of heavy imbibing. Your mind races as you frantically scroll through your text messages and Instagrams, replaying what you can remember from the night before. Did I say anything embarrassing? Did I offend anyone? Do my friends hate me now? For some, these doubts are just fleeting, run-of-the-mill nerves from letting their guard down after a few too many drinks the night before. But for others, these all-encompassing thoughts aren’t just regret from drinking too much or your mind’s effort to piece together a hazy night. The overwhelming feeling of nervousness after drinking too much is an experience common enough that Reddit has devoted threads to the term: “hangxiety.” Even model Chrissy Teigen, who is known for her silly, alcohol-fueled antics on social media, revealed that she's planning on cutting back on booze after “making kind of an ass” out of herself after drinking too much. “That feeling, there's just nothing like that. You feel horrible,” she told Cosmopolitan. Turns out, there’s a physiological reason for the anxiety you feel the morning after drinking. “I think of a hangover as, more or less, a mini-withdrawal from alcohol, and anxiety is one of the components,” George F. Koob, Ph.D., director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), tells SELF. Although not everyone experiences anxiety when they're hungover—some people feel just achy or have an upset stomach—Koob says it’s a relatively common symptom of a hangover. And for people who are already prone to anxiety, it’s even worse, sometimes lasting all day and disrupting your ability to function. Mainstream Mental Health: http://www.mainstreammentalhealth.org/