Quitting drinking isn’t an easy task. It requires a lot of effort and determination to combat alcohol withdrawal symptoms1 and alcohol use disorder. While the ill effects of alcohol abuse are common knowledge, trying to control and reduce it is difficult to learn. So, it is essential to learn how to stop drinking, and more importantly, to practice it.
1) Why Stop Drinking
Deciding to stop drinking is a great step to better your physical and mental health. Reducing your alcohol dependence can make you face the problems of life more strongly and healthily. Keeping this in mind, along with understanding how to stop drinking2, you should also know why to stop drinking.
1.1) You can Heal Liver Damage
Research has shown that drinking alcohol consistently can lead to the building of fats in your liver. This disorder, alcoholic fatty liver disease, is the first phase of getting Alcohol-Related Liver Disease. This disease is reversible, so if you stop drinking alcohol, your liver can get healthier.
1.2) You Can Lose Weight
One glass of beer has 150 calories. Additionally, alcohol only increases your appetite, makes you impulsive and out of control, and also lowers your resistance levels. When you step away from drinking alcohol, you start seeing a loss in weight.
1.3) You Will Have a Better Sleep Schedule
Alcohol may make you feel a bit sleepy, but it disrupts your REM stage. This will cause interference in your sleep cycle, which means you will have interrupted sleep through the night. If you remove alcohol from your life, you’ll be able to get some good sleep.
1.4) You Will Improve Your Sex Life
With the energy that is restored by quitting drinking, you will be able to feel and look younger and fitter. This will also build rapport and trust in your relationship.
1.5) You Will Have Better Skin
Another important reason for quitting alcohol is to improve your skin’s health. Alcohol has a diuretic effect 3on you and makes you lose water. Hydration is very important for your skin, so by reducing your alcohol intake, you are providing your skin space to breathe and look healthier.
Alcohol abuse is a very dangerous disorder to have. It single-handedly ruins your mental and cognitive health and impacts the relationships with mental health and the health of the ones you love. Having an alcohol use disorder could lead to problems involving legality. You will always begin your day with feelings of guilt and helplessness; you could experience symptoms like blackouts, shakiness, aggression, compulsive behavior, anxiety, loneliness, vomiting, delirium, slurred speech, and tremors. Alcohol abuse can also lead to alcohol-related cancer. Alcoholism has the potential of ruining your life as you know it.
To avoid these scenarios, it’s crucial to learn how to stop drinking.
2) How to Stop Drinking Completely
The reason people continue drinking alcohol is that it is seen as a way to cope with stress and is often accepted as a part of social activities. But, in reality, alcohol doesn’t help with things like anxiety and insomnia; it often worsens them. There are also much better ways than alcohol to cope with stress. While it may be difficult to combat alcohol addiction, it isn’t impossible. Here are a few ways to change your drinking habits.
2.1) Step Back and Examine the Effects
Alcohol can hamper your life in many ways. Even if you drink moderately, you can still be left feeling hungover and tired. You will also notice other effects like digestive problems, high blood pressure, disrupted sleep, other blood pressure-related problems, problems with memory, and problems with mental health like anxiety and depression. The more dependent you are, the more problems you will notice.
2.2) Become Aware of Your Relationship With Alcohol
To give up alcohol abuse and learn how to stop drinking, you need to explore why you’re doing it in the first place.
2.2.1) Understand How Much You Drink
We often drink even when we don’t crave to. We may fall for peer pressure, or just give in to ‘one drink’; drinking alcohol in a balanced way is okay, but if you find yourself losing track of how many drinks you’ve had in one go, you need to stop yourself.
2.2.2) Identify Your Triggers
What causes you to drink alcohol? You need to ask yourself this question. People often drink to deal with emotional problems, and on first dates to set a good and fun impression. But, remember that drinking alcohol won’t solve your emotional problems. Knowing why you drink can help you understand how to stop drinking.
Common triggers for alcohol abuse4 include relationship problems, work stress, insomnia, and social problems.
2.3) Be Ready for Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms
One of the main reasons why giving up alcohol isn’t easy is because of withdrawal symptoms. People who are very dependent on alcohol start experiencing withdrawal symptoms, namely, fatigue, tremors, anxiety, headaches, mood swings, insomnia, and excessive sweating. When you face these symptoms, it’s important to stand firm against them and seek help from your health professional when needed.
2.4) Ask for Help
Quitting drinking is hard on its own, but with the help of others, it gets a little easier. If you want to get rid of your alcoholism, you have to be open to asking for help. If you are comfortable talking to therapists, reach out to one. If you are more comfortable talking around people, join support groups and Alcoholics Anonymous. The 12-step program in Alcoholics Anonymous5 is beneficial. You can always join online support groups if you feel more at ease as an online presence.
Asking for help reminds you that no one is judging you for being an alcoholic. And that you are not going through this phase alone; it teaches you to be vulnerable.
2.5) Figure Out How You Want to Deal With Alcoholism
You may know you want to stop drinking but may not know how to frame a goal. That is okay. The first step is always gaining some insight. It is a subjective and personal attempt to better your life, and it is very subjective. So, first, find out what helps you deal with it.
If you don’t want to quit entirely but want to reduce your intake, that is okay, too. Just try making mindful decisions about alcohol and how much of it you consume. Complete sobriety isn’t the only goal out there, and not everyone deals with alcoholism by completely banishing it from their lives. Some practice moderation. However, it’s still possible to have one drink too many and cause hangover symptoms. In these cases, a hangover IV in Portland, Oregon, can help you feel better within an hour or two of treatment.
2.6) Be Open to Talking About Your Alcoholism
Informing others that you’re battling alcoholism can help motivate you to keep trying.
2.6.1) Tell Your Loved Ones
Your family members and friends can help you as a support system. Additionally, by being open about this, you may also be helping others talk about their drinking habits. If you have someone joining this journey, you feel less alone and vulnerable. When you both have to turn down drinks at a social gathering, it gets a little easier than doing it alone.
2.6.2) Be Part of a Community
Building new relationships can benefit you a lot. Invite different co-workers and expand your support system, form bonds with people who don’t prioritize drinking alcohol, go to a sober bar and use social media to find others interested in activities without alcohol.
2.6.3) Be Comfortable With What You Say
People often ask questions when you don’t get a drink with them. In times like these, you aren’t obligated to tell them anything, but it is easier to say ‘I’m checking my health’, ‘I want to quit’, and ‘No, thank you’, than having to tell them exactly the why and how of quitting alcohol.
Refusing a drink shouldn’t make you feel guilty; it should make you feel comfortable and confident in situations that involve drinking. It’s also good if you don’t worry about people judging you, because most of the time, people don’t even notice that you refused a drink. If a person who cares about you wants a more detailed reason, you can try these:
- “I’ve been trying to break the habit of drinking for no reason.”
- “I often drink to forget my emotions, but I want to stop doing that, and want to find better and effective coping mechanisms.”
- “I don’t enjoy drinking, and I don’t want to be under any pressure.”
2.7) Make Changes to Your Environment
Alcohol tends to become an automatic response to stressful situations. Making some minor changes to your environment can help encourage new coping mechanisms and get rid of old, ineffective ones.
2.7.1) Remove All the Alcohol in Your Home
Seeing alcohol within your reach can tempt you, so try ridding your house of all alcohol. To replace an alcoholic beverage, keep mocktails and sodas for yourself. If people are coming to your house, ask them to get their alcohol. If you have roommates, ask them to keep their alcohol in places you won’t find them.
2.7.2) Find a New Favorite Non-Alcoholic Beverage
Choose a good replacement for alcohol. Water is healthy, but it may be a boring choice. Try using water with herbs, adding cinnamon sticks to tea, or using lemonade with sparkling water.
2.7.3) Keep Your Routine Interesting
Since you are trying to combat your alcoholism, every routine time will remind you of it. So, try keeping your routine variable. Stick to activities that will break the pattern and get you out of the house. Go for walks, work on a new skill till you master it, cook at home to save money, check out places to eat that don’t serve alcohol, and have alternative coping mechanisms ready.
Instead of drinking to reduce stress, try meditation and affirmations. When you’re feeling lonely, don’t drink alcohol; call a friend and watch a movie at home. Finding different coping mechanisms can go a long way in making you less dependent on alcohol.
2.8) Practice Self-Care
Quitting alcohol isn’t easy. There’s a lot of overwhelming stress to be successful in this task, and in times of big changes like these, prioritizing self-care can help take care of yourself.
2.8.1) Practice Wellness
Feeling physically healthy can help you to combat challenges. When you stop drinking alcohol, you will find the time to better your physical health and see changes in your energy and stamina. In order to do this, you need to drink a lot of water, eat balanced meals, and work out regularly. Making sure you have a good sleep schedule can also help.
2.8.2) Rediscover Old Hobbies
Alcohol is often used to feel less bored, but hobbies can do that, too. If you feel like you’ve left a hobby midway, try picking it up again. You can also try out DIY projects, models, video games, reading, and volunteering.
2.8.3) Try Journaling
Journaling is a great tool to keep a track of your emotions. It can help you identify triggers, and notice repetitive patterns in drinking heavily. It can also help you realize that drinking can’t fix your problems. Most importantly, journaling helps most people find a space to express themselves without being judged.
2.8.4) Discover New Coping Skills
Once you identify your triggers, you can work on ways to deal with them.
- When you feel low and need some time for yourself, try reading a comforting novel, or listening to your favorite music.
- When you feel like getting a drink to relieve stress, try venting to a loved one; this will help you feel heard, improve your communication skills, and also better your relationship with the person.
- If loneliness is a common trigger for drinking, learn to connect with people from your past, be it old friends, family relatives, or anybody who has helped you in your life. You can also try building new and fruitful friendships to encourage you to keep going.
3) How to Stop Drinking – In Conclusion
Alcoholism doesn’t do anyone any good. It contributes to hampering relationships forever, damaging your physical health, and lowering your self-esteem. While quitting alcohol seems like a great remedy, it isn’t an easy one. It can take a lot of time, so don’t be too harsh on yourself. You may have to keep trying to gain success, and that is okay. Even if your end goal doesn’t involve complete sobriety, it is still going to help your brain and body.
The most important answer to ‘how to stop drinking’ is to deal with yourself kindly. Don’t criticize yourself for not succeeding the first time. Instead, thank yourself for finally taking care of your mind and body. Be open to feedback, and don’t back away from support and help. Be open to learning more about your coping mechanisms, finding new skills, meeting new people, and uncovering new truths about yourself. It isn’t an easy process, but it will surely be worth it.
- Bayard, Max, et al. “Alcohol withdrawal syndrome.” American family physician 69.6 (2004): 1443-1450. ↩︎
- Dawson, Deborah A. “Are men or women more likely to stop drinking because of alcohol problems?.” Drug and alcohol dependence 36.1 (1994): 57-64. ↩︎
- Eggleton, M. Grace. “The diuretic action of alcohol in man.” The Journal of Physiology 101.2 (1942): 172. ↩︎
- Garofalo, Carlo, and Aidan GC Wright. “Alcohol abuse, personality disorders, and aggression: The quest for a common underlying mechanism.” Aggression and violent behavior 34 (2017): 1-8. ↩︎
- Kelly, John F., Keith Humphreys, and Marica Ferri. “Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12‐step programs for alcohol use disorder.” Cochrane database of systematic reviews 3 (2020). ↩︎
Last Updated on by Sathi