Alcohol Brain Fog After Drinking? Causes, Symptoms, & Treatment

For some drinkers, hangxiety—that’s hangover anxiety, for the uninitiated—is almost as reliable as the pounding headache and queasy stomach. That chill, fun vibe that accompanies having a few (or a bunch) of drinks is gone. Your mind races, maybe your palms sweat, maybe you get a stomachache. Maybe you’re replaying everything you said last night and frantically scrolling through your texts to make sure you didn’t send a message you super wish you hadn’t. Or maybe you just feel really worried and full of dread, even if you can’t think of a specific thing to be worried about. In the most extreme cases, drinking too much alcohol too fast can cause a loss of consciousness.

• A medical professional will be able to rule out any other potential causes of your symptoms and provide the appropriate treatment process for you, including alcohol addiction treatment.
• Drinking sweetened drinks or juices can result in consuming more calories than you need, so check ingredient and nutritional labels before you buy.
• But most of the time, the sensation is temporary,” MacKinnon adds.
• If you aren’t sure where to start, plenty of online recordings provide simple guided meditations to slow racing thoughts and encourage internal peace.
• However, if you’re struggling with brain fog or other symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, it’s important to seek professional help.

Mindfulness meditation can help you cope with the anxious feelings that can arise with too much alcohol. If you aren’t sure where to start, plenty of online recordings provide simple guided meditations to slow racing thoughts and encourage internal peace. Breathing exercises regulate the heart rate and instill much-needed calm. Other National Institutes of Health reports have shown that abstaining from alcohol over several months to a year may allow structural brain changes to partially correct. Abstinence also can help reverse negative effects on thinking skills, including problem­ solving, memory, and attention. Memory is divided is into retrospective (long-term) and prospective or working (short-term) memory.

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Cut yourself off from caffeine by six hours before bedtime, and drink plenty of water and other hydrating beverages. Set aside 30 minutes before retiring to engage in a wind-down routine, such as taking a warm bath or meditating. If possible, be consistent with the time you go to bed and what time you get up in the morning. This will cause your brain to automatically begin to wind down near bedtime. If you’re trying to cope with drinking too much, talk with your healthcare professional. In fact, a 2021 study found dehydration can affect memory and mood.

Among other things, glutamate affects memory and may contribute to what causes some people to temporarily “blackout,” or forget much of what happened during a night of heavy drinking. Sometimes, brain fog may go away on its own within a few days or weeks after quitting alcohol brain fog drinking. This can be especially true for individuals who have not been drinking for an extended period or who have mild to moderate alcohol use disorder. If you are experiencing brain fog after quitting drinking, you may wonder if it will go away on its own.

What Are the Symptoms of Alcohol-Related Brain Fog?

In virtually all cases, no matter how severely alcohol-dulled you feel now, a few years of abstinence will
almost completely reverse this cognitive damage. “Drinks containing sugar may give a quick energy high, which mentally alerts you, but this is followed by sugar dip which leads to an energy low and mental tiredness,” said nutritionist Sonal Shah. Drinking sweetened drinks or juices can result in consuming more calories than you need, so check ingredient and nutritional labels before you buy. These symptoms can make completing everyday tasks or engaging in social situations challenging. These challenges can cause further feelings of frustration and isolation.

More specifically, those in the study who reported higher levels of alcohol consumption were more likely to miss appointments and important dates like birthdays—or forget to pay bills on time. Even in cases where those in the study stayed within a healthy drinking limit, researchers found a significant increase in memory loss issues. When your sleep cycle is disrupted, it can lead to feelings of fatigue and cognitive impairment the following day. Recent research has shown that https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/can-you-moderate-your-drinking/ drinking alcohol can impact the production of certain neurotransmitters in the brain, leading to brain fog and other cognitive symptoms. If you manage to get eight to nine hours of sleep regularly and still have brain fog, you should talk to your doctor about finding different treatment options. Other commonly recommended brain fog treatment options include relieving stress and anxiety, giving your brain regular stimulation and drinking plenty of water to avoid dehydration.

Increased Tolerance and Dependence

Unfortunately, as an exception to the brain’s general
restorative abilities, people who develop wet brain don’t recover in this
way. If you drink, make sure you get adequate thiamine to prevent this irreversible
disease. If you’re ready to leave your addiction in the past, put your trust in our licensed and certified addiction therapists. We have more than 120 years of combined experience helping people just like you move past addiction. If you’re not used to drinking plain water, you can jazz it up with some natural flavourings. Chef Donal Skehen adds mint, ginger, cucumber, citrus fruit, frozen fruits and a dash of fruit juice to his water to introduce some flavour.

• Liver damage can lead to a build-up of toxins in the blood, which can cause a range of symptoms, including brain fog.
• The smoke will clear in due time and your noggin will be back in shape before you know it, especially with the help of these brain-boosting practices.
• Neuropsychologist Kamini Krishnan, PhD, explains why brain fog has become a popular term of the moment and why brain fog may happen as a symptom of other common conditions.
• In fact, brain fog is one of the top three symptoms often listed by long-haulers, who experience prolonged symptoms or delayed symptoms weeks and sometimes months after initial infection.
• Drink water before you go to sleep and keep a glass of water by your bed to sip if you wake up during the night.

However, a 2018 study published in The Lancet suggests that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. Even low levels of consumption can harm your health; higher levels of consumption have worse effects. Some of those effects, like slurred speech and diminished memory, can be quite clear; others, like long-term cellular damage, may not be as obvious. Pursuing cognitive behavioral therapy is one part of alcohol addiction treatment. Many people find staying in an inpatient facility helpful because they can avoid the places they used to drink in.

One ingredient which gives unexpected flavour to water is a cucumber. It has
this fresh, cooling fragrance and it really injects lots of flavour into the water. So, a few slices – you only need about three to get the best flavour from it –
just a few slices in with some still water make all the difference.

Brain fog after quitting drinking alcohol is a common experience for many individuals. If you or someone you know is struggling with alcohol addiction or experiencing brain fog symptoms, seeking help and support from a qualified healthcare professional is essential. Even if you don’t have an alcohol use disorder, you can still experience hangxiety after a night of heavy drinking. If you wake up feeling gripped by anxiety, keep in mind that it might be because of the way your body and brain are processing the alcohol. If you can, rest and allow your brain to recover, advises Dr. Bogenschutz. Some people claim that drinking more alcohol helps cure hangovers, but that can only make things worse.

Drinks to stay hydrated

They then develop healthy thought patterns that help them cope with stress and refuse alcohol. But someone can make a full recovery and start withdrawing from alcohol. The key is to practice a few different remedies and get help from licensed alcohol treatment counselors.

• These can include anxiety, depression, irritability, and sleep disturbances.
• If you’re looking for ways to get rid of alcoholic brain fog, you’re in luck.
• Therefore, it is crucial to drink plenty of water when you are trying to relieve the symptoms of alcohol fog or brain fog in general.
• The most common symptoms of dementia include memory loss, problems with language, and difficulty with planning and decision-making.