‘That nagging feeling of dread’: Is ‘hang-xiety’ a real thing?

You wake up. Your head throbs. Then comes the second wave: a low, gnawing horror at what you might have done.

You scroll back through last night’s messages, certain you said something wrong.

You replay conversations worried you offended someone, embarrassed yourself, or both.

“It’s that nagging feeling of dread,” says 25-year old Eleanor Tobin who works in marketing and events in London.

“If the day starts with me doing a checklist of my things – panically checking I have my bag, my phone – I know the anxiety is going to seep into everything I do beyond just reliving the night before.”

This is hang-xiety, a name coined in social slang a decade ago, for the anxiety that can accompany a hangover.

And yes, it is real.

“Alcohol affects the body in many ways – the brain, sleep, hormones and nervous system – that all help explain why a night out drinking can be followed by an excessively anxious morning,” says Celia Morgan, professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Exeter.