I came across the term 'emotional hangover' a couple of months ago and I could not believe how apt this description was. I have long known that the morning after an emotional breakdown are terrible, terrible things, but had no clue how to explain this concept to someone that has never experienced one.
In case you don't know, emotional hangovers are what you get when you have a pretty rough, emotion-filled night and the morning after is a horrific ball of pain, fuzzy eyes, foggy heads and sore everything.
For the longest time, I thought all this was something that only happened to me, but then one of my friends mentioned that they always felt the same way and then I came across it happening in a book and it was great! Well, great in the fact that I wasn't the only one that felt like shit the next morning as well as the night before, not that lots of other were going through some shitty times themselves.
The reasons behind having an emotional hangover are varied and mostly depend on individual people. Maybe you were particularly upset the night before. Maybe you'd been around people for a long time (parties, celebrations etc) and suddenly found yourself all alone. Maybe you had just been feeling rather lonely the previous evening. There are so many different things that could contribute to having an emotional hangover. While the first can take you by surprise, after a couple you begin to notice a pattern, whether it be in symptoms or triggers and knowing these can help you to better survive and prevent the next ones. Personally, I only really suffer them after an night of heavy crying (actually sobbing would probably be a more apt description here) and general self-loathing and hopelessness, but then that's just me.
Anyway, after experiencing a particularly vicious one a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would put together a little list of tips and advice on how to get through them and how to prevent them from happening quite as badly the next time.
Tips to Survive the Next Morning
Take a Shower
If you're like me and your hangover is to do with huge amounts of crying, then you've probably got dried tears all over your face and kind-of sore and puffy eyes, both of which will be helped by jumping into the shower. If not, a shower is still a good idea. There's just something nice and refreshing about have a shower and feeling all the icky bits of last night washing down the plug hole.
Eat Something
Having a lot of emotions run through you takes a lot of energy! And now you want to replace that energy. Personally I like to eat something warm and soft, like pancakes, because I normally have cold cereal for breakfast and having something warm feels soothing and like I have more time and often my throat is feels a bit raw and sore, so I like to stay away from toast and other crunchy things. But that's just me. I would just suggest that you have something a little out of the norm though.
Drink Some Water
Staying hydrated is very important and I find it extra important in these instances. Again, maybe this is just because I always end up doing a lot of crying the night before and that always leaves me feeling a little dehydrated and gross, but drinking water is still a good life tip!
Take Your Day Slowly
Keep in mind that while physically you feel pretty gross, you are also probably a bit fragile mentally as well. Don't push yourself too much and stay within your comfort zone. Nothing bad is going to happen if you just hang around and take things slow for a while.
Tips To Prevent The Next Time From Being Quite As Bad
I don't know anyway to stop you or me from suffering from them but here are some tips that I have collected to help you reduce how bad you feel the next morning.
Go To Bed Earlier
If you are a bit of a veteran of the emotional hangover, you probably know the sorts of triggers and situations that are going to result in such a horrific morning after. If you find yourself in one of those situations and you can get out and tuck yourself in, then I would recommend it. If you can intercept your emotion breakdown/other stuff then you'll thank yourself later and I find that the best way to do this is just to go to bed. If it's too early to go to bed you could try watching tv or reading - do something that will keep your mind busy and distracted from your emotions. Going to sleep is probably the best way to do this because you get distract yourself from your emotions and you get to fast-forward to next morning. Of course, that doesn't always work and there will be times where you just know that no amount of distraction will save you from feelings that are rushing towards you.
Let It Out (Don't Hold Back)
When you feel everything coming on and the emotions building up, don't fight the feelings. If you are in a position to let things out and just run their course (ie. at home or something safe and comforting) then do so. Part of this is cosmetic - if you tend to cry a lot, then how you look in the aftermath is greatly improved by not trying to hold it all in. Obviously though, if you are out and about it might not be the best move to burst into tears in the grocery store or while out with friends. Also, by not fighting the urge to cry, you can reduce the severity of the head-full-of-cotton-wool feeling that you get in the morning.
Have Plenty of Supplies on Hand
To be honest, this is a pretty vague tip because supplies honestly depend on the individual person. I like to have water, tissues and my phone and Ipod. Tissues are an absolute staple, because of my crying habits (I'm also not a pretty crier, there is a lot of snot and hiccuping and nastiness involved) and also water, because somehow having some cold water does help to calm me down a little (at least until I can breathe normally again). But I like to also have my phone and my Ipod with me too. My Ipod because I like to have music on hand so that I can drown out my sorrows in extremely loud, bass-thumping music and my phone so that I feel connected to the outside world. I very rarely actually call anyone, but it's a good, comforting feeling to know that if I do want to, they are only an arms reach anyway. Ideas of other supplies you might wish to have on hand are:
- Food (chocolate, chips, lollies, bread, cakes, whatever you like to eat in dire times)
- Heat pack (if it's cold, I wouldn't suggest cuddling up to one of these in summer unless you like the feeling of being in an oven)
- Your favourite soft toy/cuddly animal
- An actual animal (hold the dog or cat hostage in your room or maybe they will come willingly if they are particularly nice - mine isn't)
- Tea
- Milo/Ovaltine/Hot Chocolate
Ultimately, these things are so deeply personal you'll probably find your own unique way of dealing with this and I wish you the best of luck with that. These tips are things that have worked for me and I hope they help you a little bit. If you're feeling a bit fragile and want some other tips, check out my post abut self help and self care tips.
Other than that take care of yourselves and I'll see you all later.
In case you don't know, emotional hangovers are what you get when you have a pretty rough, emotion-filled night and the morning after is a horrific ball of pain, fuzzy eyes, foggy heads and sore everything.
For the longest time, I thought all this was something that only happened to me, but then one of my friends mentioned that they always felt the same way and then I came across it happening in a book and it was great! Well, great in the fact that I wasn't the only one that felt like shit the next morning as well as the night before, not that lots of other were going through some shitty times themselves.
The reasons behind having an emotional hangover are varied and mostly depend on individual people. Maybe you were particularly upset the night before. Maybe you'd been around people for a long time (parties, celebrations etc) and suddenly found yourself all alone. Maybe you had just been feeling rather lonely the previous evening. There are so many different things that could contribute to having an emotional hangover. While the first can take you by surprise, after a couple you begin to notice a pattern, whether it be in symptoms or triggers and knowing these can help you to better survive and prevent the next ones. Personally, I only really suffer them after an night of heavy crying (actually sobbing would probably be a more apt description here) and general self-loathing and hopelessness, but then that's just me.
Anyway, after experiencing a particularly vicious one a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would put together a little list of tips and advice on how to get through them and how to prevent them from happening quite as badly the next time.
Tips to Survive the Next Morning
Take a Shower
If you're like me and your hangover is to do with huge amounts of crying, then you've probably got dried tears all over your face and kind-of sore and puffy eyes, both of which will be helped by jumping into the shower. If not, a shower is still a good idea. There's just something nice and refreshing about have a shower and feeling all the icky bits of last night washing down the plug hole.
Eat Something
Having a lot of emotions run through you takes a lot of energy! And now you want to replace that energy. Personally I like to eat something warm and soft, like pancakes, because I normally have cold cereal for breakfast and having something warm feels soothing and like I have more time and often my throat is feels a bit raw and sore, so I like to stay away from toast and other crunchy things. But that's just me. I would just suggest that you have something a little out of the norm though.
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Staying hydrated is very important and I find it extra important in these instances. Again, maybe this is just because I always end up doing a lot of crying the night before and that always leaves me feeling a little dehydrated and gross, but drinking water is still a good life tip!
Take Your Day Slowly
Keep in mind that while physically you feel pretty gross, you are also probably a bit fragile mentally as well. Don't push yourself too much and stay within your comfort zone. Nothing bad is going to happen if you just hang around and take things slow for a while.
Tips To Prevent The Next Time From Being Quite As Bad
I don't know anyway to stop you or me from suffering from them but here are some tips that I have collected to help you reduce how bad you feel the next morning.
Go To Bed Earlier
If you are a bit of a veteran of the emotional hangover, you probably know the sorts of triggers and situations that are going to result in such a horrific morning after. If you find yourself in one of those situations and you can get out and tuck yourself in, then I would recommend it. If you can intercept your emotion breakdown/other stuff then you'll thank yourself later and I find that the best way to do this is just to go to bed. If it's too early to go to bed you could try watching tv or reading - do something that will keep your mind busy and distracted from your emotions. Going to sleep is probably the best way to do this because you get distract yourself from your emotions and you get to fast-forward to next morning. Of course, that doesn't always work and there will be times where you just know that no amount of distraction will save you from feelings that are rushing towards you.
Let It Out (Don't Hold Back)
When you feel everything coming on and the emotions building up, don't fight the feelings. If you are in a position to let things out and just run their course (ie. at home or something safe and comforting) then do so. Part of this is cosmetic - if you tend to cry a lot, then how you look in the aftermath is greatly improved by not trying to hold it all in. Obviously though, if you are out and about it might not be the best move to burst into tears in the grocery store or while out with friends. Also, by not fighting the urge to cry, you can reduce the severity of the head-full-of-cotton-wool feeling that you get in the morning.
 |
| Source |
To be honest, this is a pretty vague tip because supplies honestly depend on the individual person. I like to have water, tissues and my phone and Ipod. Tissues are an absolute staple, because of my crying habits (I'm also not a pretty crier, there is a lot of snot and hiccuping and nastiness involved) and also water, because somehow having some cold water does help to calm me down a little (at least until I can breathe normally again). But I like to also have my phone and my Ipod with me too. My Ipod because I like to have music on hand so that I can drown out my sorrows in extremely loud, bass-thumping music and my phone so that I feel connected to the outside world. I very rarely actually call anyone, but it's a good, comforting feeling to know that if I do want to, they are only an arms reach anyway. Ideas of other supplies you might wish to have on hand are:
- Food (chocolate, chips, lollies, bread, cakes, whatever you like to eat in dire times)
- Heat pack (if it's cold, I wouldn't suggest cuddling up to one of these in summer unless you like the feeling of being in an oven)
- Your favourite soft toy/cuddly animal
- An actual animal (hold the dog or cat hostage in your room or maybe they will come willingly if they are particularly nice - mine isn't)
- Tea
- Milo/Ovaltine/Hot Chocolate
Ultimately, these things are so deeply personal you'll probably find your own unique way of dealing with this and I wish you the best of luck with that. These tips are things that have worked for me and I hope they help you a little bit. If you're feeling a bit fragile and want some other tips, check out my post abut self help and self care tips.
Other than that take care of yourselves and I'll see you all later.
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