Be wary of post-party feelings: Anxiety a proven symptom of alcohol consumption

CTV News
By Tara De Boer, CTVNews.ca Writer
December 14, 2022

A rush of anxiety on a hungover Sunday may be your clue to limit drinking, research says.

While alcohol consumption is deeply ingrained in social settings, particularly at this festive time of year, be wary of how you feel post-holiday party, as increased feelings of anxiety and depression are proven to be symptoms of alcohol consumption.

“If you’re going to engage in something like heavy episodic drinking, which occurs quite frequently, over the holidays, that’s really going to affect your anxiety levels and your mood in general,” Kevin Shield, scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s (CAMH) Institute for Mental Health Policy Research.

Data suggests as much as 64 per cent of individuals who struggle with mental illness felt that their conditions worsened around the holiday time.

If you’re someone who regularly feels the effects of “hangxiety,” which is when you feel anxious the day after drinking – a combination of “hangover” and “anxiety,” you might consider cutting back this December.

UNDERSTANDING THE DRINKING ‘BUZZ’

A hangover, which starts when your blood alcohol concentration approaches zero and onsets a combination of mental and physical symptoms, is often the dreadful comedown after a night of heavy drinking. But what’s happening to your brain?

That relaxed feeling you get from drinking is a result of the stimulation of something called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is the “relaxing” receptor of a neurotransmitter in your brain.

This receptor calms the nervous system and slows brain activity, and the more you drink, the more GABA pumps through the body.

Meanwhile, alcohol also increases those “happy” neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, making the stressors of everyday life disappear and act as a temporary mood booster.

The comedown starts as the alcohol clears its way out of your body, leading the surging dopamine and GABA levels to drop dramatically — cue an increase in overwhelming anxious thoughts and depressive feelings as your system tries to rebalance.

MINDFUL CONSUMPTION

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol misuse produces brain damage more quickly in women than in men, due to various factors such as body weight measurements and blood alcohol concentration.

While everyone is different, Canada provides low-risk alcohol drinking guidelines indicating how many drinks can be consumed safely for men and women.

Women are advised to limit alcohol to no more than two standard drinks per day (17.05 millilitres or 13.45 grams of pure alcohol), 10 drinks per week, and three drinks on special occasions.

Meanwhile, men are advised to consume no more than three drinks per day, 15 drinks per week, and four on special occasions.

But if you’re someone who struggles with anxiety, depression or other mental health issues already, you may be more at risk for “hangxiety” or other mental health impacts from alcohol than others.

“Anxiety and depression lead people to drink. So it’s really important on both ends, one, that alcohol is a risk factor for anxiety and depression, and two, anxiety and depression (are) also a risk factor for alcohol use. So there’s like that feedback cycle,” says Shield.

NAVIGATING HOLIDAY DRINKING

The social pressure to drink may be exacerbated as more opportunities to celebrate crop up this month, but there are a few ways to be mindful of how our drinking affects our mental health, according to Shield.

If you can quit cold turkey that’s great, but the modern approach to reducing alcohol consumption is to focus on limiting drinks as opposed to full abstinence, says Shield.

“It’s not an all or nothing. If you can abstain when you have problems with anxiety and depression that would be great, but drinking less will help you as well.”

You can also create a “drink diary” to track your number of beverages and how you feel.

“Tracking the number of days you drink and how much you drink on each day, can really help you in understanding your alcohol use. You tend to forget things (when you drink), so drink diaries really help you in terms of putting it in perspective how much you’re drinking, and whether or not you want to drink any more for that week.”

For those hosting social parties, non-alcoholic alternatives are always helpful to provide, as well as being conscious to not pressure people to drink–some people may have an alcohol use disorder or a family history of alcohol abuse, so don’t ask people why they aren’t drinking, says Shield.

Consuming a glass of water for every alcoholic drink is a strategic way to lessen the effects, but if you have an alcohol use disorder and won’t be able to control your alcohol use, it may be best to avoid these social settings altogether to limit exposure.

“It’s important to not just limit your alcohol consumption, but to know what the risks are and what to limit it to,” says Shield.