Even though drinking can sometimes make you fall asleep quicker, it often leads to a rough and unrefreshing night, disrupted by needing to use the toilet more or feeling thirsty throughout the night. Poor sleep can make mental health issues like depression and anxiety worse. Moreover, the study found alcohol consumption more common in older adults.
Loneliness And Addiction
A hangover can decrease your motivation to engage in social activities. Alcohol and loneliness can create a cycle that’s hard to break. Often, people drink to relieve feelings of loneliness or to distract themselves from those feelings. There are various reasons to drink, from enhancing a meal to celebrating special occasions. “Many people find it easier to interact and have fun and maybe feel a little less reserved” while drinking, says Raymond Anton, an addiction psychiatrist at the Medical University of South Carolina. Ultimately, people must make their own decisions based on their personal risk factors and tolerances, ideally with the help of a trusted health professional.
More from help with addiction
DJ and producer Andy Mac shares his journey with ADHD and alcohol, and how he’s become healthier and happier since his diagnosis and getting in control of his drinking. One thing common to both loneliness and alcohol problems is that we don’t like talking about them very much. The comedian Alan Carr has previously spoken openly about his partner Paul Drayton’s overreliance on alcohol due to loneliness caused by the comic’s hectic work schedule, but public declarations of loneliness or alcohol use, or both, are something of a rarity. Loneliness – the sense of being disconnected from others – is a normal does alcohol make depression worse feeling that most, if not all, of us experience from time to time.
Addressing problem drinking
That’s why the UK Government has described loneliness as one of our most pressing public health issues. Loneliness is often viewed as a negative state of existence, although some alone time is needed to recharge. A Harvard study mentions “25% to 60% of older Americans suffer from loneliness. Being alone and being lonely are characteristically different with varying effects on our mind, body, and emotions.
Taylor Swift’s songs are a masterclass in storytelling, and her references to alcohol are no exception. Champagne flutes, spilled Sober living house wine, and drunken moments appear throughout her lyrics, often as symbols of celebration or sorrow. In her music, alcohol becomes more than just a drink—it represents memory, emotional weight, and sometimes a fragile escape.
As part of this year’s Alcohol Awareness Week which takes place between November, we’re calling for a national conversation around alcohol and mental health to tackle the stigma and encourage anyone who needs support to seek it. A good way of keeping track of how much you’re drinking – to help spot patterns, avoid your triggers and stay within the low risk drinking guidelines – is with the MyDrinkaware app. Then people “fall into a kind of loop” of drinking and depression, and the two conditions feed off each other. Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy.
For example, people who have at least six drinks a day account for about half of alcohol-related cancer cases globally despite representing a small fraction of the overall population—1 to 2 percent of women and 10 to 20 percent of men in the U.S., for example. For this group, drinking less or quitting is essential for survival. Our health care system is in a position to address both addiction and loneliness simultaneously. As medical professionals, we need to ensure patients have access to addiction prevention and treatment resources when and where they need them. Lifesaving medications are currently available and should be prescribed by qualified practitioners throughout the health system.
- Antidepressants can help even levels of these chemicals and can help relieve symptoms of depression.
- When that happens, you’re more likely to feel depressed, particularly if you have a family history of depression.
- It also lowers inhibitions, so if you’ve been trying to keep some difficult emotions, like sadness or anger, under wraps, they may come flooding in when you drink.
- It helps people understand events and thought processes that lead to depression and substance misuse.
- Drinking activates the reward system in your brain and triggers dopamine release, so alcohol often seems to have a stimulating effect — at first.
If you rely on alcohol to mask feelings of depression, you may find you become reliant on it – putting you at risk of alcohol dependence. For some https://ecosoberhouse.com/ people alcohol can be a trigger for suicidal thoughts too. If you experience symptoms of depression for most of the day, every day, for a few weeks, the NHS advises you to contact your GP surgery to get help. And if you’re worried about your drinking, there are alcohol support services that can help. But for some people, these feelings don’t go away – they get worse and their feelings of depression can start to interfere with everyday life.