The Center • A Place of HOPE

Hangxiety (hangover anxiety) is the wave of dread, racing thoughts, or panic that hits hours after drinking, even when nothing is actually wrong. It happens because alcohol temporarily boosts your brain’s calming chemicals and suppresses its excitatory ones; when the alcohol wears off, those systems overshoot in the opposite direction, leaving you wired and anxious. It is usu...

You can lower cortisol through consistent, evidence-based practices: regular physical activity, quality sleep, deep breathing exercises, mindfulness meditation, strong social connections, and an anti-inflammatory diet rich in whole foods. These approaches work by calming your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which regulates cortisol production. Most people notice im...