Drinking too many alcoholic drinks can leave you with a feeling of anxiety the next day.
‘Hangxiety’, ‘the anxiety’ or even the ‘beer blues’ are some common terms to describe the horrors of overwhelming anxiety after drinking too much booze.
While no alcoholic drinks actually benefit our mental health, there are some drinks that experts say are more likely to give you anxiety than others.
Popping open a bottle of bubbly may be the way to toast milestones and celebrations, but prosecco and champagne can be terrifying.
Professor David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacologist (specialist in drugs that affect the brain) at Imperial College University, explained that its downfall lies in the bubbles.
Because it is carbonated, the alcohol is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, causing us to experience feelings of intoxication much faster than with other types of drinks.
Professor Nutt told it The Telegraph that once you feel drunk, the brain enters an anxiety-inducing process known as ‘neuroadaptation’, which is designed to keep us awake and alert and prevent the drink from putting us to sleep.
The higher the alcohol content, the stronger the effects of anxiety appear to be, experts say
However, the neuroadaptation that tells us to stay awake survives the effects of alcohol.
So even after the alcohol has left your body, your brain will still tell you to stay alert for about six hours, causing you to wake up in the early morning hours with a racing heart and a feeling of anxiety.
Professor Nutt explains that the faster you feel drunk, the more intensely the withdrawal can be felt. That’s why he calls prosecco one of the worst anxiety-causing drinks.
Cocktails are packed with sugary syrups and juices, as well as a mix of different types of drinks. But their sweet taste makes it easier to drink.
This high-sugar combination can also worsen your mental health, as it can also cause blood sugar levels to rise and fall over the course of a night, leading to extreme bursts of energy and crashes, warns Lisa Gunn, Mental Health Prevention Lead at Nuffield Health.
It’s this drop in blood sugar levels that the NHS says can increase the risk of anxiety and irritability, cause palpitations and make you feel tired and weak.
Dark-colored spirits, such as whiskey, can also be bad news for anxious people.
This type of drink is made in wooden barrels, which gives it more flavor. But it is this added flavor that makes it more ‘complex’ and contains different types of alcohol.
Professor Nutt said: ‘Complex alcohols, which are more potent than regular alcohol, cause more adaptation in the brain, meaning even drinking smaller amounts makes you more drunk, leading to bigger hangovers and more anxiety.’
Even clear spirits like vodka still contain several types of alcohol, although less than whiskey, and will lead to jitters if too much is consumed.
Cocktails are packed with sugary syrups and juices, as well as a mix of different types of drinks. But their sweet taste makes it easier to drink
Vodka is also stronger than other alcoholic drinks such as wine, so you get drunk faster. And if mixed with something fizzy like tonic water, it will also be absorbed faster – both of which can lead to anxiety.
Wine, on the other hand, does have a calming effect. It temporarily improves our mood by increasing serotonin, dopamine and other neurotransmitters in the brain, but once these mood-boosting chemicals wear off after drinking, your mood will also drop, leaving you feeling anxious, explains Professor Nutt.
The lower alcohol content of beers and larger means they pose a low risk to your mental health the next morning, provided you drink one pint.
That’s because the lower alcohol content causes fewer withdrawal symptoms and dehydrates us less than drinking spirits.
Alcohol can initially make you feel calm because it triggers the release of GABA, a chemical in the brain that normally has a relaxing effect.
This means that it reduces anxiety and also inhibits the excitatory hormone glutamate, further promoting relaxation.
However, these effects wear off relatively quickly and after a few hours the brain experiences the opposite effect: a dramatic drop in GABA and an increase in anxiety-inducing glutamate.
Rob Hobson registered nutritionist and author of Unprocessed Your Life told MailOnline: ‘As alcohol wears off during a hangover, GABA activity decreases and glutamate activity returns, leading to increased irritability and anxiety.
‘Alcohol also temporarily improves mood by increasing serotonin and dopamine, but their levels drop after drinking, which can contribute to ‘hangxiety’.’
Dehydration can also contribute to anxiety. Mr Hobson explains that because alcohol is a diuretic, people can experience dizziness and fatigue when they are dehydrated, contributing to feelings of discomfort and panic.