Could you be suffering from hangxiety? How drinking alcohol can impact emotions

We tend to associate alcohol with relaxation and fun, but many of us pay the price the next day, feeling not only unwell physically, but also anxious and emotionally drained

For many Irish people, alcohol is associated with relaxation, but in reality could drinking be the cause of more anxiety than peace? Picture:iStock

Earlie this year, I took on Dry January and won. Besides having more money in my pocket and less pain in my head, one of the things that stood out was what I described in my Irish Examiner article as “a noticeable decrease in my levels of anxiety”.

Yes, I still worried about the same things, but the signs of anxiety — tension in my body, mild palpitations or stomach pain — were simply not as strong.