If you are a binge drinker, you may not drink alcohol that often, but when you drink you likely drink to the point of passing out or close to it. Binge drinking causes anxiety and depression the same way these symptoms are prevalent in those suffering with alcoholism. The difference is with binge drinking, the after effects won't last as long as the effects of drinking daily or almost daily.
Binge Drinking and Anxiety
When you drink to excess, it has a significant effect on your physical body, including your nervous system.
Excessive alcohol intake causes dehydration, even short-term. The symptoms of dehydration are shaking, dizziness, extreme nervousness and will also impair your mental abilities for a day or two - you will know you are not functioning the way you normally would. Alcohol also wipes out the nutrients in your body and contrary to conventional "wisdom" in many cases will not only not help you sleep, but interrupt your sleep pattern to the point where this compounds the other symptoms, anxiety being one of them, which anyone who has ever suffered from anxiety knows it's a feeling that ranges from panic to genuine fear.
Binge Drinking and Depression
Alcohol actually is a depressant.
Binge drinking will cause depression because the alcohol all but wipes out the serotonin and other "feel good" chemicals in your brain and the lack of these chemicals can bring on the depression you experience after drinking.
Alcohol will also disable the stress hormones in your body temporarily. Combine all of these effects of drinking in quantity, and since alcohol depresses your nervous system and your brain, you can suffer from anxiety and depression.
It should be mentioned that many alcoholics start out with binge drinking. And if the this drinking in large quantities goes on long enough, it can be considered a form of alcoholism.
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