How To Deal With An Emotional Hangover? 5 Ways To Relieve It
What does it mean to suffer from an emotional hangover? Why can we feel emotionally exhausted? Discover how to deal with these feelings and what to do about it.
In the same way that happens with alcohol, people can suffer from a emotional hangover due to an event that has affected them or has caused a great impact on their lives. When this happens, people often feel physically or emotionally exhausted. In these cases, although a person may feel very weakened by suffering from this situation, there are ways to confront these feelings and recover from it.
A emotional hangover is the feeling a person may experience after having been in an emotionally draining environment or having an emotionally devastating experience. In fact, research suggests that events that are emotionally shocking can affect a person’s memory, and even the symptoms of an emotional hangover can be very similar to those experienced by someone with a depression or anxiety disorder.
What are the symptoms of an emotional hangover?
When a person suffers from an emotional hangover l, they may experience the following:
Muscle tension: In many cases, people may suffer physical stress due to an emotional event. This is because stress or nervousness affects our muscular system, tensioning it to be able to face a dangerous situation.
Headache: When suffering from tension, whether physical or emotional, this can end up causing a tension headache.
Feelings of guilt: When facing an uncomfortable event or situation, people may experience feelings of guilt about their behaviors or attitudes.
Sadness: Living in a moment of too much tension or stress can lead to feelings of sadness due to all the negative emotions we may have experienced.
Fatigue: People who have experienced an unfavorable event or situation may end up feeling very exhausted after it due to the feelings of stress, nervousness or tension that it has caused.
Irritability: A mental hangover can also involve feelings of irritability because we may feel attacked after having experienced an unfavorable situation for us.
Mainly, a emotional hangover It is usually caused by having experienced a very important emotional event, such as a breakup, an overwhelming change, or a traumatic event. Still, this type of psychological hangover can occur after a negative or positive event, that is, any emotionally draining event. So it can occur in the following contexts:
Wedding or celebration: When we plan an exciting event with great attention, it also has a very emotional meaning for us, so it can end up causing feelings of emotional or emotional hangover.
Receiving bad medical news: Hearing bad news about our health or that of a loved one can be very overwhelming, which can lead to an emotional or psychological hangover.
Experience an accident: Accidents can cause an emotional impact due to the stress or intense emotions they can cause us.
Divorce or separation: Breaking up with a partner ends up affecting us in many ways. This event can cause the effects related to an emotional hangover.
Death of a loved one: Experiencing a loss can result in a psychological hangover from all the feelings of sadness and grief.
Be fired: The loss of a job, especially when it is unexpected, can end up triggering feelings of shock, anger and grief. When dealing with these emotions, people may feel exhausted.
How to deal with a psychological hangover?
In the first moments of suffering from the feelings of a emotional hangover, it may seem impossible to face it. However, there are many ways we can cope with the symptoms and find relief. Some of the ones that will help you the most are the following:
Stay active: Research suggests that exercising regularly helps people respond to and control stress better, as well as develop resilience in difficult situations. As all studies suggest, exercise has numerous benefits for our mental health and even a brisk 10-minute walk can end up reducing some of the effects of the most overwhelming emotions.
Meditation: Relaxing the thoughts in our mind, with activities such as relaxation techniques, yoga or meditation, can be very beneficial when facing negative emotions or a mental hangover. In these cases, it is not necessary to follow a specific meditation, but any type of exercise that promotes mental calm will help you deal with this emotional overload.
Seek support: Talking about it with people close to you can help you overcome an emotional hangover. By sharing the feelings of a negative event or situation, it will allow you to see a situation from another perspective or be able to alleviate the negative emotions you are experiencing.
Spend time alone: When a person suffers from a psychological hangover, it can sometimes be helpful to try to rest and reflect on the situation itself. Especially in those cases in which this exhaustion is suffered due to introversion or social anxiety.
Go to therapy: If you feel that an emotional hangover is affecting you and your negative feelings are increasingly increasing, it is important that you go to a professional psychologist to see what may be keeping you in this state and get the tools to alleviate this situation.
The emotional hangovers They exist on a spectrum, meaning many can resolve themselves over time and with some self-care. Even so, in some cases, people may require additional time, especially if they have suffered from a very chaotic or traumatic situation.
