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Combating hangxiety

Ever had a rough day after drinking too much the night before, wondering why do you feel so bad?

Well, from scientific perspective it all revolves around GABA – an inhibitory neurotransmitter. GABA stands for gamma-aminobutyric acid and according to scientists it can be the key to understanding the negative effects of alcohol on mental wellbeing – feelings of stress, fear and even panic or the so called hangxiety. 

Our bodies have multiple systems cooperating to defend us from harmful substances and GABA is one of the key elements in doing that. GABA alongside with another neurotransmitter glutamate help with communication between different systems in our bodies.


Chemical structure of Gamma-aminobutyric acid

GABA’s main purpose is in regulating body’s nervous system. It is the system that regulates our balance, movement, thoughts, senses and other important functions. Therefore body functionality can be impacted by nervous system being underactive or hyperactive. This can lead to neurotransmitters to treat ordinary situation as dangerous, thus leading to stress and anxiety.

That’s where GABA comes in – by regulating neurotransmitter of the body GABA decreases anxiety levels alongside with various other mental health issues. Here the success lies in having enough neurotransmitters to make the nervous system properly react to different stimuli. However in case of overzealous alcohol induction GABA glutamate isn’t able to function properly, resulting in possible hangxiety after a night of proper partying.

Human nervous system

When we drink alcohol the production of GABA neurotransmitter is hindered. Scientific studies claim that excessive alcohol consumption can cause both shortterm and longterm symptoms by depleting GABA production. This effect on neurotransmitters can result in significant damage to physical and mental health.

Speaking in general, most of us had a first-hand experience of alcohol affecting on our bodies. By suppressing the central nervous system, alcohol leads to the loss of motor skills, impedes speech and vision, impairs judgment. 

Turns out alcohol is not only really good at exterminating important cells in our bodies that cater to our alertness and health, but also reduces production of GABA. And having a GABA withdrawal is not a pleasant thing, since it can lead to intrusive thoughts, constant worries, and other unpleasantries of mental health symptoms. Moreover, GABA decrease in the brain can make existing mental health issues even worse and cause substance use relapses.

You can increase GABA transmission and rebalance neurotransmitters with muscimol, since muscimol is is a powerful GABA agonist.

Muscimol chemical structure

Moreover it has also been scientifically claimed that muscimol significantly improves sleep-wake state changes in alcohol withdrawal, reducing the percentage of active wakefulness and increasing the percentage of REM sleep.

Another beneficial effect of muscimol is protecting liver from ethanol toxicity and improving liver function.

Our Calm Mushroom products contain muscimol as the main active ingredient thus helping you successfully combat hagxiety and other harmful effects caused by alcohol usage.