Sober Curious: Benefits of Abstaining from Alcohol

So, when I first would quit drinking, back in the day, I try to quit, usually unsuccessfully, I was like, “Oh man, I’m going to this event,” whether it was a bar or a party or a dinner or a barbecue, so many events where my friends were at and they were drinking. And so, I would go there and sometimes I’d have a Red Bull on the rocks because it looked like an alcoholic beverage. Sometimes I’d do that with a Valium so I’d still get some type of relaxation and high, but sometimes I wouldn’t have a Red Bull on the rocks or anything, and people would ask me, “Hey, why aren’t you drinking? That’s why it’s so important to have a plan.

• And I also had a lot of thoughts about the cravings themselves.
• But, you know, basically, every time you do it, you just end up with a hangover.
• It doesn’t have to be alcohol, but I showed up selfishly with a six-pack of root beer for myself that I was going to try to white-knuckle myself through, and that was a stupid non-plan that didn’t end up working out, and I had confused other people and I had confused myself.
• ” As a private person, I don’t like doing that, and most people don’t want to hear it.
• In episode 277 of the Elevation Recovery Podcast, Chris Scott and Matt Finch discuss how to take a break from drinking alcohol without others noticing or pointing it out.
• It’s hardly a secret that having a few drinks alters the way your brain works.

For instance, a beer can have about 150 calories, a glass of pinot noir would have about 120 calories, and a frozen pina colada can have about 245 calories. So, depending on how much you typically drink on a daily basis, cutting that out might simply mean you’re taking in fewer calories. Exploring, in writing, what you find difficult and when you most want to drink can help you notice patterns that offer more insight how to take a break from drinking into your alcohol use. Comparing the emotions that come up when you have a drink with the feelings you experience when abstaining also helps you recognize when drinking doesn’t fix the problems you’re trying to manage. While alcohol is high in calories, and wine, beer, and mixed drinks add sugar to one’s diet, cutting it out may or may not help you lose weight depending on how much alcohol you consume regularly.

What will happen to your body after a month without alcohol?

Taking a break from alcohol for an entire month provides one with an opportunity to assess their patterns of alcohol consumption and how it affects them physically and mentally. It gives a person a chance to cultivate alternatives for relaxing, socializing, and coping with stress. As a result, many people experience benefits such as improved sleep and waking without the fatigue, malaise, and upset stomach of a hangover. Some also find that without the extra calories due to alcohol they lose weight.

And she has a book which is called Why Can’t I Drink Like Everyone Else? That I spent the entire weekend reading again, and then underlying all the different parts of it, because so much of it resonated with me. So Rachel, thank you so much for being here.

strategies to help you take a break from drinking alcohol

They tend to just look to others to lead them, to influence, to tell them what to think, and so none of these things are good or bad. So, let’s say this one person has a very feminine mental gender to where they look to others for their strength and for leadership. Well, all of a sudden, that person, the politician is https://ecosoberhouse.com/ enforcing their will on the other person. Another trick, and I know I’m kind of all over the place, but our people don’t seem to mind our free flow style at times, I try to let the same things come out of the subconscious that might be useful, and hopefully we do a good job at that, but I’m always double-fisting.

• I went to a therapist who specialized in sort of anxiety and addiction, I kind of picked him out for that reason went and tried to talk about my anxiety.
• What’s most important is looking at your drinking habits and finding a way to cut back that works for you.
• In addition to the health benefits, when you stop drinking for any amount of time it automatically saves you money.
• The same study found that a break from drinking had lingering positive effects on people’s habits around alcohol.
• Talk to a doctor about your personal history and what’s right for you.
• So, as you keep doing this and you keep going places, and as you become the person who’s not known as the hard-drinking person for whom it would be funny if they showed up without alcohol, and it just becomes automatic, and people stop asking.
• And then other people who say, like, nope, that’s not me at all.

It doesn’t have to be alcohol, but I showed up selfishly with a six-pack of root beer for myself that I was going to try to white-knuckle myself through, and that was a stupid non-plan that didn’t end up working out, and I had confused other people and I had confused myself. But then to me, I think, again, this comes back to this learning piece of like, okay, but like, why, like, Why do I have this desire? Like, why does it feel like, if I were to say no would it really even be worth going out?

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They’re not necessarily malicious people. But to think but like, what is a believable thought that I could practice instead. And, you know, like, a big thing that I work on with people, when it comes to urges in their cravings is to start to be like, Listen, this, it truly is harmless. It doesn’t feel harmless in the moment, it feels like a like a false alarm, right? Or I talk about that a lot like it, it’s a false alarm, your lower brain really wants you to believe that this drink is important for survival, right?

• You could try a bit of mixology and create mocktails to drink at home so you still feel like you’re having something fancy, or you could find an alternative drink that satisfies you, whether it’s soda, iced tea or something similar.
• Maybe that was 10% of the population 10 years ago.
• Alcohol is high in sugar, so when you quit it, you may find yourself reaching for other sugars (this was definitely the case with me).
• It gives a person a chance to cultivate alternatives for relaxing, socializing, and coping with stress.
• Hitting the Rose early also means you have a better chance of getting a stool.
• Yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with how willing you are to be somewhat independent.

And this was one of the times for me that I actually got to kind of throw caution to the wind, and allow myself to just, you know, do whatever and not worry what people thought and not worry about having to be perfect. And, you know, and I didn’t know how to give those skills to myself, outside of alcohol. But if you drink too much, you need to be a better person. You know, for me, I think it’s one of the things that kind of drives me nuts is that, you know, there’s a lot of debate, you know, not just in society, there’s a lot of debate in the medical community about you know, what actually constitutes disease and is addiction a disease? Like if you have lung that you have lung disease like, do you need an inhaler?

To stop drinking alcohol, you first need to understand your relationship with drinking. From there, you may need social support, consistent self-care, and new routines that can help redirect your mind. “You get the best benefit from alcohol when you drink in moderation. Just being dry for 1 month and going back to drinking in excess is a bad idea.