It’s 10am on a cold, festive morning. Your head feels like it’s about to cave in, your stomach is doing somersaults and the only thing beckoning you out of bed is a greasy fry up and a black coffee. That is… until you remember that you’ve forgotten parts (or even most!) of the night before.
Vague flashbacks of drunken conversations and some dodgy dance moves come flooding back and you retreat further and further under your duvet. And the way you feel right now it’s likely that you’ll stay there for the rest of the Christmas holidays. Maybe even for the rest of your life.
Hello hangxiety!
Hangxiety is a modern term used to define a combination of being hungover and having anxiety.
And it’s a very real phenomenon.
Our Fareham chiropractor explains that our brains detect everything external and internal that could potentially cause us harm. Too many toxins in the body due to alcohol consumption is enough to trigger the flight or fright response. Alcohol is a depressant which suppresses the nervous system, making us feel relaxed and care-free. When alcohol leaves our bodies, however, our nervous systems are pumped back into action and anxiety can strike with a vengeance.
Many heavy drinkers will admit to suffering worse emotional distress the day after drinking. The most common feelings include dread, paranoia, guilt and health fears.
Age can also play a part in how well our bodies deal with alcohol consumption. Our bodies change as we get older and often we can’t handle the effects of alcohol as well as we did when we were younger. It usually takes a lot longer to recover, so hangxiety may linger a lot longer too.
So, aside from the obvious advice of abstaining from alcohol altogether, what should we be doing to prevent hangxiety?
Our Fareham chiropractor recommends sipping on water between drinks, eating before you start drinking and being aware of your limits.
Remember that hangxiety will always provide you with a skewed evaluation of the night before. It can even make you catastrophise about all the things you may or may not have done wrong, rather than what truly happened.
If you are going to drink this Christmas, be sensible. After all, Christmastime is all about making happy memories – even the ones involving the great time you had on your fun filled festive nights out!
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