How To Quit Drinking Or At Least Cut Back

But if you quit, your brain seems to be able to regain some of these abilities. Your chances of staying sober improve if you are participating best way to stop drinking alcohol in a support group like Alcoholics Anonymous, have a sponsor, or are involved in therapy or an outpatient treatment program.

If you have not been through it, do your best not to make any judgments when someone you love is struggling with it. Not only do you not understand it firsthand, but you may also do more harm than good. Shaming an addict will only make them turn to what coats their emotions, which is likely drinking. The approach of judgment and shame does nobody good in the end. While the addicted is the only person who can stop their own substance use, loved ones can still take steps to bring light to a drinking or drug problem. Replace alcohol-centered activities with healthier pursuits, such as exercise, catching up with old friends, or learning a new skill.

Ways To Help Someone Stop Drinking

First, it may slow the rate at which you consume alcohol. Secondly, you may also be less likely to drink more if you are full from eating your food.

Milk thistle is an herb rich in the antioxidant silymarin. It is often touted as a means of restoring liver health and protecting against liver damage from too much alcohol. In one study, people who binge drink took either kudzu extract or a placebo before a 90-minute session of drinking beer. A 2017 research review did not find that this therapy was more effective than other forms of relapse prevention. Some studies report that mindfulness led to better outcomes than 12-step programs only. In one of the studies in the review, researchers compared a real acupuncture treatment to a fake one.

Reduced Cardiovascular Risk

Everyone who’s engaged in addictive behavior will experience uncomfortable cravings (“I want it badly”) and urges (“I have to do it now”). Remember that everything can happen, either one way or the other, but it is us who control how we react to it. Things do not come to us from outside, our lives are what we create. Therefore, we need to remain attentive and not sweep things under the rug.

You can’t always change the situation that’s creating these feelings. One way or another, if you can change your response to the urge, you can then change your response to the negative feelings. Consider how giving into an urge keeps it alive while not giving into the urge slowly kills it. While you can’t make the urge go away, you can see it for what it is. It is all that remains of your relationship with alcohol.

Admitting The Problem: The First Step In Recovery

But overall, be cautious about giving up alcohol cold turkey, and consider tapering off if possible. Get access to medical counseling, prescription medications, licenced recovery coaches, and more—all from your smartphone. Firstly, many people find the faith-based foundation of the program to be restrictive. Not everyone believes in a higher power, and although a spiritual practice can help, it shouldn’t be a requirement for treatment. Secondly, and even more importantly, AA doesn’t have as high a success rate as one might expect. If you’re concerned that you’re drinking too much, you can also take our alcohol survey.

• It also makes you more impulsive, and less able to resist the fries and other temptations on the menu.
• At that point I wasn’t planning to stop drinking but I was curious about the author’s story and how quitting alcohol had impacted her life.
• An individual essentially puts their life on hold for the period they are in rehab and commits to staying for an agreed-upon time.

Even moderate amounts of alcohol can significantly impair driving performance and your ability to operate other machinery, whether or not you feel the effects of alcohol. The younger people are when they start to drink, the more likely they are to develop alcohol use disorder at some point in their lives. There are several mild to moderate psychological and physical symptoms you might experience when you stop drinking. Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Your call is confidential, and there’s no pressure to commit to treatment until you’re ready. As a voluntary facility, we’re here to help you heal — on your terms.

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While rehab or professional treatment can put you on the road to recovery, you will need to create a new, meaningful life where you do not drink to maintain long-term sobriety. Some outpatient and inpatient treatment programs are available to people trying to beat an addiction to alcoholic drinks. The most well-known options, such as the 12-step program or the 28-day inpatient rehab, do not necessarily work for everyone. Alcohol abuse is a prevalent issue that many American families face. Individuals who have fallen victim to alcohol addiction may find it difficult to see the damage alcohol may be creating in their day-to-day lives.

Encouraging friends and family members can help reinforce your decision and help you manage difficult situations. Ensure that you take care of yourself by getting enough sleep, eating properly, getting exercise, and meditating. These practices provide healthy alternatives to drinking. Take our free, 5-minute substance abuse self-assessment below if you think you or someone you love might be struggling with substance abuse. Drinking large amounts of alcohol regularly can cause the brain to get used to the way that alcohol interferes with neurotransmitter transmission, movement, and absorption. Detox without medical supervision can be life-threatening.

Reasons To Quit Drinking

If you’re not sure if you’re ready to change or you’re struggling with the decision, it can help to think about the costs and benefits of each choice. In general, it takes about 6 to 24 hours to detox from alcohol . The symptoms you experience when you give up alcohol vary depending on how much and for how long you drank. Giving up alcohol long-term for a heavy drinker with an addiction is a life-long process. For example, your drinking goal may be to quit drinking entirely before a specific date.

The extent and severity of the side effects from alcohol withdrawal are related to how significantly dependent a person is on it. In general, this means that someone who drinks heavily on a regular basis for a long time will suffer the most. The presence of any underlying or co-occurring mental health or medical issue can increase the hazards and intensity of withdrawal as well. The hardest part of getting sober is not the actual quitting or even the withdrawal symptoms during rehab; it’s admitting there is a problem and attempting to do something about it. For many people who are struggling with alcohol abuse, denial is a substantial part of the addiction.

Support groups, like Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon, offer an outlet to discuss treatment goals and challenges with other people who are in alcohol recovery. This will provide you with motivation to maintain your sobriety. The dashboard clearly shows how many years, months, days, and hours that you have been sober every time the app is opened. You can also calculate the sobriety time of all your friends.

More studies would be needed to see if it works the same way in humans. It also cut the number Sober living houses of heavy drinking days and increased the number of days they didn’t drink at all.

Nena Messina is a specialist in drug-related domestic violence. She devoted her life to the study of the connection between crime, mental health, and substance abuse. Apart from her work as management at addiction center, Nena regularly takes part in the educational program as a lecturer. This therapy is offered as a one-on-one session or in a group. It focuses on the situations and feelings that lead a person to drink. The triggers for heavy drinking are identified during this type of counseling, and ways to manage stress and avoid relapse are taught. People trying to overcome addiction to alcoholic beverages while also suffering from significant mental health issues are more likely to require personalized counseling for alcohol abuse.