You pour a drink at the end of a long day and feel your shoulders drop. For a brief moment, the world quiets — the stress softens, and you can finally breathe.

That’s the illusion many people chase: that alcohol takes the edge off. But what begins as relief can quietly deepen the very anxiety you’re trying to escape.

Over time, alcohol doesn’t calm the nervous system — it confuses it. The same drink that once promised relaxation can, paradoxically, start to fuel tension, worry, and restlessness. It’s a cycle millions experience without realising it: drinking to unwind, then feeling more anxious the next day, and drinking again to cope.

The emotional trap

Anxiety often builds slowly. It might start with racing thoughts, a tight chest, or that familiar “buzz” of worry before bed. Alcohol seems to pause it — briefly silencing the noise. But beneath that temporary calm, your body is adapting.

Each time you drink, your brain adjusts its balance of chemicals like serotonin and GABA — both essential for mood regulation and relaxation. As alcohol leaves your system, those levels dip, and your brain reacts with a surge of unease. The result? You wake up feeling more anxious than before.

For many people, this becomes a quiet emotional loop: drink to relax, then feel anxious, then drink again to take the edge off. It’s not a sign of weakness; it’s a learned cycle — one that gradually trains the brain to expect alcohol as a coping mechanism.

What Mind UK says

As Alcohol Change UK  explains, alcohol is sometimes used to manage anxiety and depressive feelings, but excessive or regular drinking is likely to make those symptoms worse. Over time, the brain can become reliant on that “artificial calm,” making it harder to feel at ease without alcohol — which means the more you drink to cope, the more anxious you may feel when you don’t.

The illusion of relief

Alcohol’s initial calm comes from its sedative effect. It slows activity in the central nervous system, giving that momentary exhale — the feeling of “switching off.” But your body quickly counterbalances this by releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to stay alert.

That’s why anxiety often peaks the morning after drinking, even when you haven’t overindulged. You might wake up restless, guilty, or uneasy without knowing why. Your brain is simply recalibrating — trying to stabilise itself after being chemically nudged in the opposite direction.

The emotional cost is subtle but real: low mood, irritability, poor sleep, or a creeping sense of dread. Many describe it as “hangxiety” — that tight, uneasy feeling that shadows the next day.

And beneath that, there’s something deeper — the sense of self-disappointment that follows when you promised yourself “just one” and crossed the line again. That frustration feeds the very tension you were trying to escape. It’s easy to get trapped in that self-critical loop, mistaking habit for comfort, or anxiety for failure. Yet, recognising this pattern is the first moment of freedom — because awareness is the start of change.

Ailsa Frank’s compassionate perspective

Renowned hypnotherapist Ailsa Frank sees this pattern every day.

“People often tell me they drink because they’re anxious, but it’s the drinking that keeps their anxiety alive. Hypnotherapy helps calm the inner tension naturally, so they don’t need alcohol to relax. Once the body learns to unwind without it, the whole cycle starts to fade.”

Ailsa explains that when the subconscious mind associates alcohol with relief, it becomes difficult to feel calm without it. Hypnotherapy gently retrains that association, teaching the brain to return to balance on its own.

Her Feel Amazing App includes recordings like ‘Stop Drinking Go Sober’ and ‘Release Daily Stress – 10 Minutes Daily’, which guide listeners into a calm, relaxed state — often described as “peaceful clarity.”

The hidden stress beneath the surface

Even small amounts of alcohol can nudge your body into a mild stress response. You might not notice it during the evening, but your heart rate, digestion, and breathing subtly shift as your body metabolises alcohol.

If you already live with anxiety, this effect compounds. Alcohol’s rebound anxiety feels stronger because your baseline stress level is higher. Over time, what was once an occasional coping habit can become part of your identity — the “evening glass” you feel you can’t do without.

Recognising this isn’t about judgement — it’s about understanding what’s really happening inside you.

Why calm has to come from within

True calm isn’t something alcohol gives you; it’s something your nervous system learns to create for itself. When your body is in balance, your breathing deepens naturally, your thoughts slow, and your mood steadies.

Hypnotherapy helps re-establish that internal calm. By guiding you into a relaxed, focused state, it activates the parasympathetic nervous system — the body’s natural “rest and restore” mode. With regular practice, this response becomes your default way of coping with stress.

You start to feel the difference: fewer spikes of anxiety, steadier mornings, and a quiet pride in knowing you can handle emotions without reaching for a drink.

Rewiring the relationship

Breaking the alcohol-anxiety cycle isn’t about restriction; it’s about re-education. Each time you choose calm over the glass, you’re teaching your brain that safety and relaxation don’t depend on alcohol.

Over time, the new pattern becomes effortless. Ailsa often describes this as “mental rewiring” — not in a scientific lab sense, but as a lived experience of freedom.

“When you change how your mind interprets stress, alcohol simply loses its pull,” she says. “You begin to feel calm on your own, which is one of the most empowering feelings you can have.”

A moment of hope

It might take time, but every small change counts. Swapping one evening drink for a walk, a bath, or ten minutes of deep relaxation sends a powerful message to your subconscious: I can cope without a drink.

The more you repeat that, the stronger it becomes. What starts as an experiment slowly turns into confidence — until the thought of needing alcohol to relax feels like something from a different life.

That’s how transformation happens — quietly, kindly, one decision at a time.

A real-life story

“I used to pour a drink every night to switch off. I told myself it helped me relax, but I’d wake up tense and low. When I started using Ailsa’s ‘Release Daily Stress’ recording, something changed. I felt calmer before bed and stopped needing that evening glass. It’s the first time in years I’ve felt real peace.”

Stories like this remind us that calm isn’t found at the bottom of a glass — it’s cultivated from within.

Your next step

If you often find yourself drinking to unwind, know that you’re not alone — and that there’s a gentler way forward. Through hypnotherapy, you can calm your nervous system, quiet the racing thoughts, and rebuild your sense of control.

Try the ‘Stop Drinking Go Sober’ and ‘Release Daily Stress – 10 Minutes Daily’ recordings in the Feel Amazing App. They’re short, soothing, and designed to help you break the cycle naturally.

Give your mind the chance to remember what calm truly feels like — no drink required.