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LOVE SATURDAY NIGHTS but feel pretty low by the time Sunday morning comes around?
Your alcohol use may explain this.
One of the times when alcohol’s impact on mental health is the most obvious is the morning after drinking, especially if you have drunk too much the previous day, whether that has been over a long or short period.
Why is this? Alcohol is a depressant which affects your brain’s natural level of happiness chemicals like serotonin and dopamine. This means that although you’ll feel an initial ‘boost’ the night before, the next day you will be deficient in these same chemicals, which may lead to feeling anxious, down or depressed.
You can begin to feel low from the physical effect of a hangover, including tiredness, headache, sensitivity to light (caused by acetaldehyde, which makes the nervous system extra sensitive), thirst and bad breath.
It can also include trembling (caused by low blood sugar as alcohol impacts the liver) and sickness (alcohol increases acid in your stomach, making you feel sick or vomit), making the day after drinking particularly unpleasant.
People tend to drink more when experiencing moderate to high levels of shyness or fear, and those who suffer from anxiety can be tempted to use alcohol to help cope with it. Initially you may feel like it provides relief to some symptoms as it depresses the central nervous system but it can worsen these symptoms in the long-run.
Drinking to relieve stress can in the long-term worsen that stress, intensifying anxiety and irritability after drinking. As it leaves the body, alcohol’s effects on brain chemistry can cause the symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks, even in people who never suffered anxiety.
Alcohol can release pent-up emotions or make feelings of anger and frustration feel more intense, which can cause an impact on your health, friendships, family and work. It can bring about changes in our thinking and we can often experience frustration when we discover our “foggy brain” doesn’t allow us to think as clearly as normal.
Similar to its impact on anxiety, not only can alcohol worsen depression, it can actually cause it too. When the effects of alcohol wear off, it changes our brain chemistry for the worse. In fact, people who drink heavily are more likely to suffer from depression, and alcohol dependence is roughly three times more likely among people with depression.
A good night’s sleep restores our body and minds and is vital to minding your mental health. Because alcohol is a depressant it makes you sleepy at times but the sleep you get after drinking is of a much lower quality than the sleep you get when you are not drinking.
This is because alcohol can reduce the amount of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep you get, leaving you feeling drowsy, low in energy and you may find it harder to concentrate the next day.
It is worthwhile to learn healthy coping mechanisms in response to emotions like stress, sadness and anger that do not involve or rely on alcohol. One of the most effective ways of doing this is to get the right support for your individual needs. In fact, a study by the HSE into alcohol-related harm found that, “those who were engaged in regular heavy drinking were less likely to use positive coping strategies when dealing with anxiety and depression.”
If a person repeatedly turns to alcohol when their mood deteriorates, they miss out on the opportunity of discovering the other, more effective, ways of dealing with unpleasant moods. learning new ways to cope can make us stronger, healthier and happier in the long term. If you want advice and tips on cutting down, see click here.
Following a heavy drinking session, many people can experience blackouts especially if they have drunk quickly or on an empty stomach both of which can lead to a rapid rise in Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). Blackouts are defined as loss of memory during which a person is capable of participating in dialogue, emotionally charged events, as well as mundane events—that they later cannot remember.
Waking up and not remembering how you got home, what you said or how you behaved can result in intense fear and anxiety causing levels of distress lasting days. Blackouts are a sign of a drinking problem and if you’re experiencing them, the advice is to self-assess your drinking pattern or to seek professional help.
Alcohol is prevalent in Irish society and if we allow it drinking can become harmful.
Whatever you drink, find out what it’s doing to you healthwise at AskAboutAlcohol.ie, a new website from the HSE.
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Cancer doesn’t care it you are
Black or white,
Rich or poor,
Or young or old….
Best of luck to you and all others who are fighting the big fight…
Well said
Are you head of his supporter’s club paddy :-)
Hugh why were my comments removed?
At end of the day your health is most important. Good luck to him in his fight
The manner in which Brian Lenihan and his family were treated by TV3 was nothing short of disgraceful. I would hate to think that the same was about to happen to Michael Noonan at the hands of a tabloid newspaper.
Hugh, some would say that the manner in which Brian Lenihan treated the Irish public was nothing short of disgraceful. I doubt that those who have had their medical cards removed from their sick children, as an indirect result of Lenihan’s capitulation to Europe would shed too many tears over a newspaper article.
Im actually shocked at this comment. These people are psychopaths that treat the electorate with disregard to put it nicely. I actually can’t believe you are trying to protect them. Open your eyes
Leave his private medical life to himself ffs.
People have to disclose their private lives to get the treatment they bee to stay alive. Maybe he can now empathise with the MS sufferers and how they have taken their medication off the free medical scheme.
There are others facing the reality of cancer every day and trying to come to terms with it.
I’m willing to bet noonan wasn’t left on a trolly or had to face huge waiting lists for treatment.
I empathize with him but he will be well looked after.
Cancer will effect one in three of us in some way.
What business is it of yours, mine or anyone else’s what standard of treatment he gets.
Well then why go to the media then if it’s his own business?
Well if doesn’t turn up for work in the next few weeks people will be asking why.
Bet he won’t be waiting for treatments like the rest of us
“Seized the initiative”.. went public when the media were about to.
I hope his medical card wasn’t cancelled for some reason. It would seem unreasonable to cancel a card on someone with a serious medical condition….
And still he made it onto the Tarmac to meet Donald. Is it fair, when so many are suffering with cancer that he plays down the heavy toll it that’s on family’s. Noonan Family must be worried sick that the stress of office could hinder recovery. if he feels he can contuine then it must be on medicinal grounds but with the stress test of our banks. His head of dept leaving and a possible property bubble forming should he have the finial say. for that matter show we be worried about the physical and mental health of all TD. Should a medicinal not be compulsory before taking their seats in Dáil Éireann. asking for drug tests and breath samples before voting on legislation maybe going a bit far but leaving control in so few hands and if some where compromised due to drink or mental ability. Could that legislation they voted on not be open to question due to their state of mind.
Excellent!
What’s excellent about that drivel, you must be easily pleased, such asinine posts.
Pass the puke bucket ,please ! It’s a private matter and he’s just another human being ,fighting a battle !
I can’t believe he still has his snout at the trough at 71. There should be a mandatory retirement age for them exactly like for everybody else.
taking leaders questions and according to media reports its opportunity to congratulate him on his fight with cancer……..not a mention of the 800 babies buried in septic tank
I do not really get how this article is an analysis or even why an analysis is required. It’s more of a ‘noonan is a great fella altogether for getting ahead of the ball with this cancer and getting on with the job,’ type of personal opinion.
mike how is Bill
have your say