Hangxiety
I'm having a glass of wine and it's kicking off a whole stream of chemical reactions in my body and neurological events in my brain. Let's stick with the brain for the moment .. I can do without understanding the physical impact on my liver and other organs!
Let's look at 2 neurotransmitters in particular - GABA and Glutamate - and how alcohols impact on these two alone can create hangover anxiety, aka 'The Fear'.
GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid) is the most potent depressive neurotransmitter we have. It regulates many of our depressive and sedative actions and is critical for relaxation. It's actions are part of our parasympathetic nervous system, that part that results in a reduction in heart beats and lower blood pressure. Although the brain is very adept at maintaining consistent levels of GABA, there is strong evidence that alcohol boosts it's levels, resulting in us feeling calmer and more relaxed even after consuming just 1 unit of alcohol.
On the other hand, Glutamate, a non-essential amino acid (see last weeks post), is the most excitatory neurotransmitter we have - it causes our brain's neurons to fire. It has a whole range of functions and benefits including supporting growth and development of the brain, supporting cognitive functions (including learning and memory), supporting the 'gut-brain connection' by activating the vagus nerve (next weeks blog) and aiding cellular energy production. Here, there is strong evidence that alcohol suppresses this excitatory neurotransmitter.
So, you can see what is starting to happen. After consuming alcohol our levels of GABA go up and our levels of Glutamate go down - we become more relaxed - and as more alcohol is consumed extremes can impact our ability to learn and store memories. Did you ever consume so much alcohol that you blacked-out - that is, you have little or no memory of events that took place the night before. Well, in large part this is owing to suppressed Glutamate plus the impact alcohol has on sleep patterns and the brain's ability to store memories. By the way, there are lots of other impacts to other neurotransmitters when we consume alcohol such as Serotonin, Dopamine and Epinephrine - I'll leave some of them for another day.
The next day, after too much alcohol and probably poor sleep quality the brain fights back. Your levels of Glutamate go back up, those neurons start firing again, all sorts of thought and memory processes are being fired. In fact, the brain overcompensates and the levels of Glutamate go beyond their normal levels - the impact on your sympathetic nervous system can be intense - ever have a racing heart? On the other hand, GABA levels drop. That calming effect is lifted. Overall, your brain is in a state of high activity - but it only has part of the story - as the memories of what happened the night before have not been stored - what did I actually do and say last night. In extreme cases you might even wonder how you got home!
The result is called Veisalgia or 'Hangxiety' - one of the many symptoms of a hangover. As the day goes on, the levels of these neurotransmitters will return to baseline and the anxiety will subside. Of course, if you really did do or say something inappropriate the night before, no readjustment of these neurotransmitters will correct that - an apology may be on the cards!
