A Drink To Calm Your Nerves Won’t Work: Research Says Alcohol May Cause ‘Hangxiety’

A study has concluded that introvert ‘social drinkers’ drinking six units of alcohol showed slightly decreased anxiety. But this ‘slight relaxation’ was replaced the next day by ‘hangxiety’- anxiety during a hangover.

“We know that many people drink to ease anxiety felt in social situations, but this research suggests that this might have rebound consequences the next day, with more shy individuals more likely to experience this, sometimes debilitating, an aspect of the hangover,” said the co-author Celia Morgan as reported by India Today. Celia Morgan is a Professor at the University of Exeter.

The participants, for the study, were tested at their home and were assigned at random either to drink or to remain sober. Measures of the baseline of shyness, social phobia and alcohol use disorder were taken at the beginning, and levels of anxiety were tested during the evening and the next morning.

The study analysed around 100 social drinkers with either high or low level of shyness. The findings also suggest that ‘hangxiety’ might, in turn, be linked to people’s chance of developing a problem with alcohol.