In addition to the headache, some people are particularly anxious the day after a drunken evening. Here’s why.
- According to some estimates, 12% of people are affected by hangover anxiety.
- A phenomenon baptized by English speakers “hangxiety”.
After massive alcoholism, the aftermath can be difficult, especially because it generates dark thoughts in some people. According to a new search relayed by Slate.fr, the changes made by the brain during the “hangover” would indeed cause anxiety.
Dopamine
“It is well known that alcohol intoxication impairs motor coordination, judgment and decision-making. Indeed, an abundant scientific literature establishes a link between massive alcoholism and impaired cognitive control”, explain the researchers in the preamble. “A growing body of research also suggests that the impact of alcohol may continue beyond peak consumption, particularly during hangovers,” they continue.
In order to better understand the biological mechanisms at play during this complicated period, they analyzed the brains of people the day after the evening and those of individuals who had not partied the day before. Bottom line: brain activity involving dopamine, a biochemical molecule that regulates anxiety, was lower in people who drank too much.
Altered neural systems
By inviting all participants to learn a new game, “we found a reduction in the brain’s reward mechanism in those who had a hangover,” explain the researchers. “Furthermore, the overdrinkers demonstrated reduced performance on the experimental task compared to their non-overdrinking counterparts,” they add.
“Our results indicate that the neural systems that underlie performance control and reward-based learning are impaired during hangovers,” they conclude.