Alcohol, Anxiety, and Dance Music: Exploring Their Complex Relationship
The music industry can be tempting and challenging for those prone to alcohol misuse. But can we imagine a scene where sobriety not only lowers anxiety but also fuels creativity and productivity.
According to the MIRA Musician Survey (2018), US musicians are about 'twice as likely to drink alcohol frequently (four or more times per week) than the population as a whole: 31 percent versus 16 percent.'
Similarly, a study conducted by Help Musicians UK (2016) found that 'irrespective of genre, 71.1% of musicians have suffered from panic attacks and/or high levels of anxiety,' making them 3 times more likely to experience these conditions compared to the general population in the UK.
Being exposed to certain pressures many people outside the music industry never experience tends to contribute to self-medicating and numbing out with alcohol and/or other drugs.
This is reflected in a survey by Record Union (2019). About one out of two (51%) of the respondents, that said that they have experienced negative emotions in relation to their music creation, claimed to have self-medicated due to their symptoms.
The statistics paint a concerning picture, but personal experience tells another story. Having coached electronic musicians and music industry professionals since 2015, I've encountered the topic of substance misuse in every session. I, too, made the decision to embrace sobriety in 2021, and I've witnessed its profound impact on anxiety and productivity. But this journey isn't without its challenges.
In this blog post, we'll not only explore the connection between alcohol and anxiety in dance music but also address the question: Can you be a sober DJ without fearing that you've lost your edge in the industry?
“I have gone out and danced more and been more passionate about music during my sober years than all of my partying ones. It is possible. And when you get sober and remove the darkness from your life some magical things can really happen.”
How does alcohol affect anxiety?
Let’s dive into a little bit of biology. It is known that alcohol affects your brain’s chemistry, like the levels of serotonin and other chemicals. For one, it messes with a chemical called GABA. This chemical has a relaxing effect. Which is why at first, when we have a drink, it feels like it’s calming our nerves. However, over time, alcohol starts to deplete GABA. This causes feelings of panic and tension.
Your environment or a familiar situation can also trigger an anxious feeling. Like when you’re about to play a DJ set and your experience so far has been that having a drink or two calms your nerves. Your brain then associates alcohol with a positive experience, a moment of reward. It will send signals, or cravings to encourage similar behaviour, hence you have an alcohol craving.
It’s not always the environment or situation that’s triggering though. It could be a fluctuation in your blood sugar levels caused by something you ate. This can be mistaken for an alcohol craving. And what happens when we cannot satisfy a craving? We get anxious.
Why do I get anxiety after drinking?
After drinking alcohol, you might feel jittery and nervous because you experience a heart flutter, or irregular heartbeat. The reason can be that alcohol impacts receptors in blood vessels near the heart that help maintain blood pressure. Alcohol also increases the stress hormone cortisol which causes the heart rate and blood pressure to go up.
Once the effects of alcohol have subsided, it’s likely that you’ll suffer from hangxiety, Beer Fear or Booze Blues, caused by a hangover, the guilt you feel about what may have happened and whether or not you’re wrecking your body.
There are always consequences you’ll be dealing with after drinking alcohol. Your decision to drink affects you in more ways than one. Not only does it negatively affect your body, it can lower your mental health state, take a bite out of your budget and damage friendships and professional relationships due to social misconduct.
On top of that, you’ll be dealing with the hangover after and losing precious time because of it. Time you could have spent with loved ones, making music, reading a book or taking a course. When you’re even the slightest bit self-aware, you know you’re fully accountable. After all, it’s not like your hands were tied - literally, and someone poured drinks straight into your mouth against your will. Accountability can make you feel rather annoyed with yourself and be a tough pill to swallow, no pun intended.
Is alcohol worse for anxiety?
We’ve seen how alcohol initially has a sedating effect on our nervous system. When consumed in small amounts, this produces feelings of relaxation and reduces anxiety. But, alcohol can exacerbate anxiety and make it even worse.
It interrupts your sleep, causes dehydration and makes you want to eat all the bad food groups all at once. It goes without saying that these factors are detrimental to your sense of mental well-being and your overall health and wellness.
Moreover, anxiety can also act as a vulnerability to creating an alcohol dependency. Because using alcohol to combat anxiety increases the risk of developing alcohol use disorder without even realising it.
“Psychiatric and epidemiological studies show that having either an anxiety- or alcohol-related diagnosis elevates the prospective risk for developing the other disorder. From the psychological perspective, behavioural research demonstrates that drinking to cope with negative affect is a potent marker for current and future problems with alcohol. [...] Research has shown that up to 50% of individuals receiving treatment for problematic alcohol use also met diagnostic criteria for one or more anxiety disorders”. (Kushner & Anker 2019)
There obviously is a lot more to share on this complex topic than this blog post can entail, but the point I want to drive home is that breaking this alcohol-anxiety cycle can be extremely challenging.
Can quitting alcohol cure anxiety?
Stating that alcohol can cure anxiety is a huge stretch. Anxiety comes in a variety of manifestations. Occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. And there are also several types of anxiety disorders which require diagnosis by a trained professional.
Knowing how to recognise anxiety helps you to better and more accurately describe what you’re experiencing so that you can determine - with or without the help of a professional, if and how alcohol plays into that.
I know from personal experience that taking alcohol out of the equation has greatly benefited my experience of anxiety and diagnosed PTSD. It made it easier to focus and reflect on my condition so that I could then intentionally shift thoughts and behaviours that were harmful, rather than numbing them out and pushing them away. And we all know what happens when we push shit down. It comes back up eventually and mostly turns into an involuntary shit show. I’d rather have a handle on the curve balls life throws at me, than to be hit straight in the face with them.
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Can you truly be a sober DJ?
There are several mental health benefits to DJing sober - besides lowering levels of anxiety, once you choose to start playing sober, it could leave you feeling like jumping off a cliff every time you press play. And you might be wondering if you can even be a sober DJ.
That is totally normal. When you’ve been pairing alcohol with mixing for many years, it might be hard to find your creative flow and feel the vibe when DJing sober.
Even though you feel thankful for not feeling like crap the day after, it’s common to wonder if your performance was up to par. And it’s hard not to be in your head about that.
Once you overcome that initial feeling of anxiety while playing sober, you are straight up focused, present and more observant. You become more diligent and critical about your track selection. At first it’s terrifying, but you’ll start to read the crowd like never before.
Keep going, it’s very unsettling in the early days of sobriety, but the best is yet to come.
Kate, DJ - UK
"If you are stuck in the same place going round in circles and want to move forward, not only for support on how to manage your creativity & work in the music scene, then this is for you. Eline has a wealth of knowledge in all aspects of life which has made this process so personable and individually tailored to my needs. I have realised you need to delve into all parts of yourself (even the bits we do not like) to really contribute to our success."
Reflect on the impact alcohol can have on your mental health and well-being. From a judgement free space. Without criticising. Take stock of your alcohol habits and honestly ask yourself whether or not these habits are supporting you or holding you back.
As with many habits, we mostly execute them on autopilot and without even thinking about it. And this automation is natural, and it is a good thing. Once you know the fridge door opens to the left, it comes in handy that this action becomes automated. Imagine having to think about everything you do all the time, that would just be too exhausting.
However, we all have habits that we might want to evaluate every once in a while. Because if they’re no longer serving us, they have got to go! Our time on this planet is finite, and if there’s one thing I absolutely loathe, it’s not using my time efficiently. I’m pretty sure the same goes for most of us.
When it comes to alcohol and its impact on anxiety, it’s not that just being sober is the goal. Having a happy, healthy life is.
Looking after yourself in this fast-paced, quickly evolving industry is a must. You need your energy, drive and motivation to be up and your health and mental well-being to be optimal so that you can laser focus on the things that actually move the needle towards sustainable success in the music industry.
When you reflect back, have there been moments in your life when you’ve felt rather nervous after drinking alcohol? And can you notice if any thoughts came up for you? If so, were these thoughts helpful, or limiting?
What do you think the effects of alcohol can be on your mental health and well-being?
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