It’s not your imagination – feelings of anxiety, not remembering what happened, and sometimes feelings of regret after drinking alcohol is a real phenomenon.

Some may call it the ‘beer fear’, while others describe it as ‘hangxiety’.

Although the term doesn’t have an official place in the English language dictionary, it is of course in the Urban edition.

“The irrational feeling induced by alcohol after a heavy session” it states, before adding: “Waking and at first feeling indifferent about the events of the night before but then, over a period of several hours, your memory coming back in small amounts of ever growing embarrassment for yourself and the way acted or what you said to, probably, the wrong person”.

If that sounds familiar then you will be pleased to know you are not alone – and there is a scientific reason for it, according to the Manchester Evening News.

Liz Burns is a lecturer of Mental Health Nursing at Salford University with a specialism in alcohol services. She said that feeling anxious the next day is down to the interaction of chemical compound glutamate.

“We may feel fearful because we can’t remember everything that happened the night before; it’s not at the forefront of the mind.

“We may be able to piece together moments, and memories can sometimes come back to us when we’re stimulated by something.”