THRIVE
Posted February 11, 2020
How much, how often and why you choose to drink alcohol is a good question every social drinker should ask occasionally. It’s easy for social drinking to become a habit. You may have heard the terms “sober curious” or “dry January” and wondered what it’s all about. Here’s some nuggets to think about if you’d like to consider taking a break from social drinking.
I think it’s easier for you to go toward a desired goal than move away from something. That’s why I recommend that you be intentional, think about what alcohol is doing for you, and then come up with other, healthier alternatives.
Making the decision to take a break from alcohol has become a trend. For people who drink socially, abstaining from alcohol for a month (for example, “Dry January”) or being sober curious when out with friends, gives you a chance to step back and evaluate what drinking is doing or not doing for you. The sober curious trend is not about addiction necessarily. It’s about social drinking and how it fits into your life. It’s a chance for you to step back and evaluate what drinking is doing, or not doing, for you.
I stopped drinking in my mid-30s, more than 15 years ago. I had no real reason for quitting, but several life moments – being a new father, my career in addiction medicine -- made it easy for me to abstain from alcohol. It just faded out of my life. I had no real compelling reason to quit and didn’t think much about it until much later. It just seemed like the right choice for me at this point in my life. I haven’t had a compelling reason to start drinking again once I stopped.
Not as much research been done about the effects of social drinking as there is about addiction. While some studies show there are actual benefits to your heart with moderate drinking, from an overall health standpoint, it’s probably not a good enough reason for you to drink. It may be helpful to think of alcohol as just another drug that effects your brain. I generally consider moderate drinking to be one alcoholic drink per day for both men and women, which differs from the USDA’s recommendation of one drink per day for women and two for men.
If you drink enough to feel hungover the next day you’ll have physical and cognitive symptoms. Studies show when you have a hangover you have delayed reaction times and difficulty with attention, concentration and visual-spatial perception.
Despite some people’s claims that they lose weight when they stop drinking, research shows no real link to weight loss. If you do lose weight after quitting drinking, it may simply be due to an overall healthier diet or other behavioral changes. But, other benefits from abstaining that are backed by research include:
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