Is Alcohol Fuelling Your Burnout?

 You’ve had a long day. You’re juggling endless responsibilities, deadlines, awful colleagues, worries, and family challenges.

By the evening, you’re mentally checked out, you have nothing left, and that glass of wine feels like the only thing that helps you switch off. 

It’s comforting, familiar, and it works… for a little while. 
 

But that temporary relief is in fact depleting the very resources you need to stay balanced, focused, and well: your nervous system, and your energy. 

At its core, burnout happens when what’s being asked of us at work, at home, or in life outweighs the internal and external resources we have to meet those demands. 

Our external resources include things like workplace support, childcare, or financial stability. 

 
Our internal resources are the ones we often overlook: energy, focus, emotional regulation, physical health, time, relationships, and mindset. 

When those internal resources are stretched too thin, stress builds up. And the more stressed we are, the less focused and energised we are. 

Alcohol tricks your brain into thinking you’re relaxing. In reality, it numbs your system temporarily, while your nervous system continues to be on high alert beneath the surface. 

Once the alcohol wears off, your body rebounds with higher levels of anxiety and stress hormones. That’s why you might wake up at 3 a.m. with racing thoughts or find yourself feeling anxious the next morning even if “you only had a couple”. 

Alcohol – even just one drink - also interferes with your sleep cycle, hormones, digestion, and mood regulation for up to three days after drinking. So if you drink regularly, your body never truly returns to balance. 

When chronic stress meets alcohol-fuelled depletion, we begin a downward spiral: 

Activation Zone: 
Stress hormones rise, your nervous system stays “on”, you feel the tension building up in your mind and body. You are more reactive than usual. 

Healthy stress management (movement, rest, breathwork, connection) can reverse this, but if you reach for alcohol instead, your body never fully resets. 

Over-functioning Zone: 
You push through, taking on more responsibilities, saying yes to everything, and using coping mechanisms like alcohol to keep going and to be able to relax. Chronic stress and low recovery time. 

 
Healthy boundaries with yourself and with others can reverse this, but if you keep using more coping mechanisms, and working/doing more, you might fall into the next zone. 

Depletion Zone: 
Fatigue becomes constant and the coping mechanisms no longer work. You call in sick. Your focus suffers and you make more mistakes. You might even drink while working or cleaning just to get through. 

 
You can reverse this with a good energy management plan and support, but if you don’t, you are at risk of burning out. 

Burnout Zone: 

Complete exhaustion, inefficiency, and cynicism. This is where you are completely emotionally depleted and exhausted, you might experience depersonalisation from your reality, and reduced personal accomplishment.  

You now require medical attention. 

The first step to restoring balance is awareness: being honest with yourself. Recognising that alcohol is not helping you cope; it’s contributing to your descent towards burnout. 

Reducing or quitting alcohol gives your body the chance to repair itself. You’ll sleep more deeply, think more clearly, and actually start to recover.

From there, the focus shifts to replacing alcohol’s function: 

• If you drink to relax → learn nervous system calming techniques (breathwork, grounding, movement). 

• If you drink to escape problems → start solving them or seeking support. 

• If you drink to feel rewarded → build rituals that replenish energy and joy, surround yourself with positive people who sheer you up. 

There will always be demands and responsibilities; that’s part of being human. But you deserve to meet them with a clear mind and real, positive energy. You have so much more control than you think, and you have internal resources you can tap into if you give yourself the chance to see them and use them. 

And all of that begins with a clearer mind. 

Because alcohol doesn’t protect you from burnout - it totally accelerates it. 

1. Alcohol increases stress hormones. 
While alcohol may feel relaxing at first, studies show it actually increases levels of cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, once its sedative effects wear off. Elevated cortisol over time keeps the body in a state of “fight or flight,” increasing fatigue and anxiety. 

2. Alcohol disrupts sleep and recovery. 
Even one or two drinks reduce REM sleep, the stage critical for emotional processing and cognitive repair. Alcohol also fragments overall sleep quality, leaving you tired even after a “full night’s sleep.” This is one reason why alcohol worsens burnout symptoms like brain fog and irritability. 

3. “Hangxiety” is a real biological effect. 
As alcohol leaves your system, the brain’s calming neurotransmitter (GABA) decreases and the excitatory neurotransmitter (glutamate) spikes, triggering rebound anxiety, restlessness, and irritability. This cycle can last up to three days, especially with frequent drinking. 

4. The 72-hour depletion window. 
Research also shows that alcohol continues to affect hormones, digestion, and immune function for up to 72 hours after drinking. If you drink several times a week, your body never gets a true chance to restore balance, keeping you in a constant state of low recovery.