Breaking the Habit: 27 Tips on How to Stop Drinking Alcohol
Family and friends can provide encouragement and support when you stop drinking. By opening up about your relationship with alcohol, you might also encourage others to explore their own drinking habits. You have places, people, and events that are tied to drinking. Being around them could make it harder to stick to your plan.
Benefits of cutting down
Although it can help some people fall asleep quickly, it can disrupt your sleep patterns and stop you sleeping deeply. So cutting down on alcohol should help you feel more rested when you wake up. If you regularly drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week, try these simple tips to help you cut down. Call a treatment provider today for free to explore your treatment options. During this time frame, you will experience worsening symptoms. You may also experience new symptoms, including tremors, seizures, hallucinations, and delirium tremens.
What Is the Best Way To Cut Down on Drinking Alcohol?
- Yet these symptoms are “irritability, poor concentration, feeling shaky, feeling tired, difficulty sleeping or bad dreams”.
- That’s around 6 medium (175ml) glasses of wine, or 6 pints of 4% beer.
- When you’re working to quit drinking, writing can help you come to terms with and realize things about your relationship with alcohol that you didn’t know before.
- This is where it becomes essential to think of the progress you made.
If you haven’t made progress in cutting down after two to three months, consider quitting drinking altogether, seeking professional help, or both. If your body is used to a certain amount of alcohol, you may feel certain effects when you stop. How you feel when you stop drinking is largely based on how often and how heavily you drink. People who only drink occasionally probably won’t notice any physical or psychological symptoms. People who have a severe reaction to quitting alcohol should seek emergency treatment. Therapy can help you understand why you drink and learn new habits so you can live a healthy lifestyle that doesn’t rely on alcohol as a crutch.
Shake up your social plans
- Alcoholics Anonymous cautions its members not to get too hungry, angry, lonely or tired—all of which can make you more vulnerable to the urge to drink.
- So cutting down on alcohol should help you feel more rested when you wake up.
- Thinking about how many drinks you have in terms of timing is a good way to drink less.
- The information provided in this blog post is for educational and informational purposes only.
- These negative emotions coupled with a desire to drink are challenging to navigate, especially alone.
Your GP may be able to arrange or signpost you to counselling and psychological support, and you could access local support groups to help you stay on track. You aren’t to blame for your loved one’s drinking problem and you can’t make them change. Make it clear that drinking will not be allowed in your home and that you may not be able to attend events where alcohol is being served. Our Admissions Coordinators are https://ecosoberhouse.com/ available 24/7 to answer questions about treatment, admissions, or any other questions you may have about addiction care. You can become conditioned to reach for a drink when your environment offers up certain cues.
- It is time to seek help for an AUD if you are avoiding activities due to misusing alcohol, have lost or broken relationships, or cannot perform duties due to your drinking.
- During this time frame, you will experience worsening symptoms.
- The 20-minute rule is a great tool for cutting down on alcohol use.
- If you don’t have people currently in your life who can help you quit drinking, you’re still not in this alone.
- People who have a severe reaction to quitting alcohol should seek emergency treatment.
Try exercising, practicing mindfulness, engaging in hobbies, or spending time with supportive friends and family. There are lots of reasons why you might want to stop drinking alcohol. For some people, it’s a lifestyle tips to quit drinking change – to say goodbye to hangovers, sleep better, lose excess weight and have more energy. It might even be for a challenge, to buddy someone else who is giving up alcohol, or to raise money for charity.
Be cool about withdrawal symptoms
This could mean opting out of the weekly pub quiz for a while, or if you tend to drink when eating out, try going to restaurants that don’t sell alcohol or simply volunteer to drive. Firstly, if you think you may be dependent on alcohol, you should consult your doctor or another health professional. You could speak to your GP or a member of their team, or there are a number of national alcohol support services that you can amphetamine addiction treatment confidentially self-refer to for advice and support.
Don’t lie or cover things up to protect someone from the consequences of their drinking. Small changes can make a big difference in reducing your chances of having alcohol-related problems. Information and shareable resources to help others choose to drink less alcohol and be their best. Change can be hard, so it helps to have strong reminders of why the change is important to you and how you’ve decided to do it. Emotionally, you may feel some anxiety or sadness about ending a chapter of your life and nervousness about the future.