IS DRINKING MAKING MY ANXIETY WORSE?
Many of us have had the experience of having a drink to “take the edge off” when feeling stressed or anxious. It is understandable and human to want a quick fix when our emotions feel intense, heavy, or uncomfortable. Yet if this is a regular coping skill, you might start to wonder whether the alcohol is actually helping or if it could be making things worse. Keep reading to learn more about how alcohol can impact anxiety and what you can do if those impacts have become negative.
Alcohol: Effective in the Short-Term
Alcohol is a depressant. It acts on a type of neurotransmitter in our brains called GABA, which sends messages throughout the brain to slow down the activity of our nerve cells. Consuming alcohol diminishes activity of the sympathetic nervous system, the branch of our nervous systems where our stress response lives, and of the amygdala, the emotional center of our brains. The result is that we temporarily feel less anxious, more relaxed, and in a lighter mood while drinking.
If we keep going beyond a few drinks, alcohol also starts inhibiting another neurotransmitter called glutamate. Glutamate is an activating neurotransmitter, meaning that the more we have of it the more anxious we feel and the less we have of it the more chill we feel. Being more drunk, then, means feeling even less anxious.
This reality is why many people turn to drinking as a means to alleviate stress or anxiety. In the short term, it works. We do tend to feel briefly better. Unfortunately, the good vibes do not keep rolling.
… But Not a Friend in the Long-Term
Our brains like balance, and when they sense alcohol-induced imbalances in brain chemicals they make it their job to correct them. During and after drinking, our bodies work hard to bring GABA levels back down and to fire glutamate back up so that equilibrium is restored. The combination of low GABA and higher glutamate leads to more activity in our stress system, which results in higher anxiety after drinking.
If heavy drinking is a pattern, our bodies try to counterbalance the effects of alcohol by making our brains less sensitive overall to the calming effects of GABA. As a result, our brains stay in an overactivated state and baseline levels of anxiety are higher. Putting it all together, alcohol can both increase anxiety temporarily as our bodies readjust after drinking and increase anxiety levels overall due to changes our brains make to accommodate the effects of alcohol when drinking is consistent.
Another thing to consider is that, because it takes time for our brains to get back to normal and for rebound anxiety to subside after drinking, some might be tempted to start drinking again to reduce anxiety more quickly. The “hair of the dog” method is risky as it leads to a cycle of anxiety levels increasing over time and a person drinking more and more to keep them in check. This pattern can make a person susceptible to developing an alcohol use disorder.
Beyond the neurochemical consequences of alcohol consumption, there are a few other reasons why drinking can amplify anxiety. For one, alcohol disrupts sleep. A lack of restful sleep in itself can affect mood and anxiety levels.
Moreover, alcohol tends to loosen us up. We may say or do things while drinking that we typically would not while sober. This reality can lead to next-day anxiety about whether we said or did anything embarrassing that other people are judging. The anxiety around this can be especially intense if the amount of alcohol consumed means we don’t remember everything that happened.
What You Can Do
If you’re feeling like alcohol is maybe causing more problems for you than it is solving, first try not to judge yourself. Alcohol is deeply embedded in our culture and it is often socially sanctioned to “blow off some steam” by drinking on evenings/weekends. Further, anxiety can be a deeply uncomfortable experience. It is reasonable to want some relief from it, and, like we discussed above, alcohol does very effectively offer that relief in the short-term.
Working from this place of non-judgment, there are several things you can try to help mitigate the harmful effects of alcohol on anxiety. First, drinking less frequently and consuming fewer drinks on the occasions that you do drink will likely make a big difference. Less alcohol will mean less of an impact on your brain chemistry, your sleep, and how you show up in social situations, which in turn will result in less anxiety after drinking.
Second, try exploring other ways of managing your anxiety. While in general there is nothing wrong with having a drink as an occasional form of stress management, you will feel more empowered and be less at risk of developing an over-reliance on alcohol to regulate your emotions if you cultivate other tools that work well for you. A few ideas to get you started could be:
Exercise/physical movement
Meditation or deep breathing
Journaling
Talking to trusted people
Spending time in nature
Participating in a mentally engaging hobby
Using humor/making yourself laugh
To be real, you might find drinking to be a more appealing option than these or other ideas at first. Drinking is a faster and easier “solution” whereas the activities above will likely require more time, effort, and practice to be effective.
If you’re having a hard time motivating yourself to try something different, try thinking of how your future self will feel. Acknowledging the higher burden of anxiety you will likely have to manage tomorrow if you drink today may create a little space for you to consider alternatives.
Last, anxiety treatment can be extremely helpful if you are not getting where you would like to be on your own. An experienced anxiety therapist can help you gain the insight and tools you need to address the root causes of your anxiety so there is less of a need to mask its symptoms. Interested in learning more? Contact me today to get started.
