Looks Like Someone’s Got A Case of The Mondays…
Anxiety can often rear its ugly head after a weekend of indulging.
Do you ever find yourself feeling anxious after the weekend? Especially after a weekend with a party or a wedding or a girl’s night? Perhaps after a long weekend full of food and family and fun?
Don’t worry, you’re not alone – many people feel the dreaded Sunday scaries or Monday moodies. And while I can’t make these feelings go away for you, I can tell you how to reduce them, or at least give you the cause, so you can try to move out of that fight or flight panic mode and into the simple fact that it could just be what you ate or drank this weekend that’s caused you to feel the feels.
A recent study published in BMC Medicine found that a high intake of sugars had a significant impact on increasing the risk of anxiety symptoms. Another article found that excessive sugar intake could contribute to the development and exacerbation of anxiety disorders. The reason being that high sugar intake leads to metabolic disturbances, which can negatively affect brain function and stress response systems.
It’s ok to eat the cake, and it’s ok to not eat the cake.
Excessive drinking can also lead to increased anxiety the next day, a phenomenon that's become known as 'hangxiety'. In addition, a recent study found that even as little as one drink can increase anxious feelings all day long.
I once had a neurologist tell me that sugar and alcohol are poisonous to nerves – well guess what your brain has tons of? Both alcohol and sugar can not only cause nerves to become inflamed, but they can also kill them completely. In fact, in people with type 2 diabetes, diabetic neuropathy can lead to extreme pain and numbness in the extremities, and severe cases may even lead to amputation.
Now I am not saying that you need to give up having fun with food and drink here or there – I am just giving you facts, and knowledge is power. What I mean is, now that you have this knowledge, you have the power to help calm yourself when these anxious feelings arise.
Don’t panic - use your newfound knowledge to help you through
You’re going to eat cake - that’s life. There’s no need to feel guilt or shame, or even anxiety about what you ate this weekend. Life is short and making memories with loved ones makes it all worthwhile. Just know that if you overindulge you may feel anxious Monday. And if you do, remind yourself that as your body continues to process the sugars, the feelings will subside. In other words, this too shall pass.
Here are some options to help lessen or counterbalance those anxious feelings:
· Use your intuition to make your food choices – it’s ok to eat the cake but it’s also ok to not eat the cake. Do you actually like the flavour or are you just eating it because it’s there? If you love it go for it, but if you don’t, don’t. Or maybe you’re feeling puffy from a night of drinking at cottage weekend, so the next day you drink lots of water + electrolytes and a couple of your fave non-alcoholic drinks. It’s all about honouring how your body is feeling.
· Throw some healthy meals full of protein fat and fibre into the mix - make most of your meals over the weekend full of real, whole foods like fruits & veggies and void of booze. Aim to indulge once, not every time you eat and drink.
· Get moving, especially outdoors – moving your muscles will move that glucose out of your blood and into your cells. Movement also helps to reduce inflammation, and movement outside can help to calm your brain and ease anxiety. In fact, in Scotland, doctors prescribe walks in nature to their patients to improve their mental health.
· Drink lots of water and add electrolytes – you may be feeling less than stellar after a wild weekend because you are dehydrated. To counterbalance, drinks lots of water throughout each day, some with a bit of quality sea salt in it to replace electrolytes lost, which will help you feel more energized and can relieve headaches.
· Fuel your hangover with nutrient-dense foods – rather than heading to your fave fast food drive thru, aim to consume healthy protein and fats instead. While it may be second nature to go for the greasy stuff, avocado toast with eggs versus a bacon double cheeseburger will help your mind feel better instead of making it worse.
· Try breathwork or meditation – it’s easy to find free guided meditations online designed to help calm anxious and worst-case-scenario thoughts. Guided breathwork sessions are also available freely online, or you can try box breathing: breath in for 5, hold for 5, breath out for 5, hold for 5, repeat as many times as you want or need.
The bottom line is once you realize that there is a scientific reason behind why you are feeling the way you are feeling, you can take action to prevent anxiousness before it happens, or work to alleviate it after it’s here.
Resources
Corran, C., Hendershot, C. S., & O'Connor, R. M. (2023). Explanatory pathways linking anxiety sensitivity and alcohol (mis)use: A prospective state-trait analysis among emerging adults. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 37(4), 592-605. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000903
Sharma, V. K., & Singh, T. G. (2020). Chronic stress and diabetes mellitus: Interwoven pathologies. Current Diabetes Reviews, 16(6), 546-556. https://doi.org/10.2174/1573399815666191111152248
Zhang, L., Sun, H., Liu, Z., Yang, J., & Liu, Y. (2024). Association between dietary sugar intake and depression in US adults: A cross-sectional study using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011–2018. BMC Psychiatry, 24, 110. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-05531-7