It’s important to remember that many of these benefits take time to develop, and it’s normal to need support on your journey. Talking with a professional or a support group can help you learn strategies for combating cravings, withdrawal symptoms, and other challenges. At Monument, you can meet with a therapist, join virtual support groups, and talk to a physician about medication to help curb cravings. The Recovery Village offers teletherapy and telepsychiatry with licensed professionals and has locations across the United States. Its comprehensive treatment programs address not only substance use but also any other accompanying mental health disorders. In this way, The Recovery Village offers a full spectrum of care for your path to recovery.
Sober-Curious: Benefits of an Alcohol-Free Lifestyle
But once you’ve done one brave thing, who knows what you’ll do next? If you found the courage to stop drinking, you might find the courage to ask for what you want in other areas of life too. Alcohol gives you a very brief, artificial high, followed by a long and painful low. You know how awful it is when you feel hungover, depressed and anxious; you spend all day beating yourself up. When you stop drinking, it feels as if a huge weight has been lifted.
It took me decades of questioning my relationship to alcohol before giving it up completely. I was terrified that a life without alcohol would be boring and deprived. Now, after five years of sobriety, I know this couldn’t be further from the truth.
If alcohol What is End-Stage Alcoholism is easily accessible, it’s tempting to reach for it during stress or boredom. Removing it from your environment is a straightforward but highly effective way to curb compulsive drinking behavior. It’s easier to stick to your goal if alcohol isn’t just a step away.
Long-term Career Sustainability
My social calendar is full of fun alcohol-free activities and events. I have friends that still drink alcohol and I have new friends that don’t. Getting sober was a lonely journey at first, but finding community has made all the difference. When I was drinking, I was waking up hungover almost everyday. For those needing extra support, medication like Naltrexone can be a valuable tool.
- However, managing mental well-being without relying on alcohol can present unique challenges.
- Instead, they sort of sneakily add up without giving you any beneficial nutrients in return.
- One fear I had before ditching the drink was that I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep without a nightcap.
- “There are people who have learned to practice very reasonable alcohol consumption that contributes to psychosocial well-being in a way that does not impair their health,” Kumar noted.
So that’s actually a very short term, a large change over a very short period of time. The best surprise in sobriety has been finding a new group of like-minded people. Sobriety is a great connector, and making friends in sobriety has been one of the best surprises of ditching the drink.
When and How to Quit Alcohol
And there are actually so many really great products out there, but the ones I love, the ones I absolutely love are the ones that have completely new flavors that are just complex and floral. And for that, I point to Everleaf, which actually comes out of London. People are just, I think, some people are wondering what they’re paying for if they’re not paying for the alcoholic component. Like they have stories from their parents or maybe aunties or uncles. They’ve lived through some stuff, and they want to make sure that they are, like, set up and moving through life in ways that they would be proud of.
Best Free: Alcoholics Anonymous
Research indicates that doing nothing about problematic drinking can lead to significant financial losses. This includes the cost of alcohol itself, as well as the potential loss of additional income or revenue due to continued drinking habits. We understand that labels like “alcoholic” don’t fit everyone. If you simply drink too much and traditional recovery methods don’t resonate with you, Project 90 is the perfect fit. Taking a break from alcohol will force you to shake things up and act a little differently from the masses.
In addition, the app has a Sobriety Help component with tips on how to stay sober and what to do after a relapse. The organization was started in 1935 with the mission of bringing relief to those struggling with alcohol use. In general, AA operates with the understanding that members work toward the greater good of the group, as well as spread the message to others who may need help. If you add in costs of drinking in social settings at restaurants, bars, and clubs, the amount might be more. Dasgupta said the best people to avoid alcohol always are those under 21 years old, and not just for legal reasons.
Exploring an alcohol-free or “sober-curious” lifestyle is one of the latest health and wellness trends. There are many reasons to consider an alcohol-free lifestyle. From incorporating more healthy choices to examining your relationship with alcohol, reducing or eliminating your alcohol consumption can impact your overall physical and emotional health. So I think there are definitely things going on here that mean that it’s perhaps easier for certain groups or demographics than others to access these markets and these kind of spaces and communities.
They might be socializing less in public spaces where they get their hands on alcohol underage. So one of them literally said, «I can’t afford to have a hangover. I’ve got my own independent business that I run on a weekend alongside my 9 to 5 job in the week,» for example. So a group of researchers in the UK have called this hustle culture. The idea that young people can’t really have downtime in the same way that they used to. They need to be working on a side hustle, that there’s an increasing sense of anxiety for the future and a need to get ahead and perhaps to be your kind of best self, if you like.