Why does alcohol make us happy and miserable?

“We often call alcohol pharmacologically promiscuous,” Dr Rayyan Zafar of Imperial College London told the Guardian. “It doesn’t just calm you: it can stimulate reward pathways, dampen threat signals, release endogenous opioids that can relieve pain or stress, alter decision-making and shift mood, all at the same time.” It sends us to sleep and wakes us up, excites and depresses us, gives confidence and anxiety.