Emotional Hangovers

Recovery
#1

In sobriety, an emotional hangover is the mental, emotional, and physical crash you feel after confronting a heavy feeling without using alcohol to numb it.

You might feel:
• Drained for no clear reason
• Overwhelmed by thoughts or memories
• Sad, anxious, or irritable the next day
• Like you need to shut down or hide

It’s your nervous system adjusting to feeling everything, something alcohol or using used to block. Emotional hangovers are common, especially in early recovery.

How do you or did you deal with the emotional hangovers in sobriety, especially in the first year?

6 Likes
#2

Meditation meetings and breath work really helped me during my first year. I was not sure about it at first but the process gave me a lot of peace.

1 Like
#3

Adaptogens help with that, replenish the adrenaline that is used up. Lions mane and other mushrooms

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#4

I swear by breath work. Do you do somatic meditation?

1 Like
#5

I am not that well versed in the different modalities. The meditation & breath work has always been simple and guided by someone.

#6

Therapy and journaling helped me and taught me how to properly cope with triggers that came up.

1 Like
#7

Glad you made this post! Explains the way I feel a lot of times being 3 months sober.

1 Like