Strategies For Cutting Down Drinking & Alcohol Consumption NIAAA

From there, you may need social support, consistent self-care, and new routines that can help redirect your mind. Once you’ve cut back on your drinking (so you’re at or below the recommended guidelines), examine your drinking habits regularly to see if you’re maintaining this level of drinking. Some people attain their goal only to find that old habits crop up again later. To drop the number of drinks you have each week, start with a daily limit.

• If you’re living with alcohol use disorder, quitting drinking is important for your health.
• If you are a heavy/frequent drinker, quitting suddenly can lead to drastic alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
• It’s important to know that if your body has developed a strong dependence on alcohol, trying to quit “cold turkey” can be hazardous to your health.
• Quitting early not only improves your chances of success—it can also reduce the need for higher levels of care.
• Would you usually head to the pub after work on a Friday evening?

Sunnyside uses a psychology-based approach to help you drink more mindfully, no matter what your goal is. You’ll get a 100% custom plan, then daily texts to track your progress and help you stay on target. Prepare yourself for those times when someone is going to offer you a drink.

Benefits of stopping drinking

Before you can learn about how to quit drinking, it is critical to alcoholism treatment assess your relationship with alcohol. Do you find yourself relying on alcohol way more than you should? Or are you just a social drinker and need it to unwind after a long day?

Track Your Progress

In addition to your online alcohol treatment program, you can also make changes to your daily routine to help take control of  your relationship with alcohol. The severity of your withdrawal symptoms and how quickly they progress determine whether you have mild, moderate, or severe withdrawal syndrome. Without proper treatment, your symptoms may advance to the point that the effects are irreversible. Methods like these can help you quit alcohol in a safer, more-timely manner. Anyone exceeding moderate levels of consumption may have a dependence or alcohol use disorder (AUD).

In the past year, around 10.6% of people in the United States, ages 12 and older, had AUD. A person can use various strategies to help them stop drinking alcohol. It is helpful for individuals to understand their motivations and goals behind it. Having a personalized plan can also increase the success rate of stopping drinking. Your effort in trying to learn how to stop drinking alcohol is the beginning of a healthy transformation.

Thinking about a change?

Try hobbies and self-care activities that make you feel relaxed, proud of yourself, included, and mentally and physically healthy. It’s important to acknowledge that everything you try won’t be right for you. Keep trying until you find the activities that resonate with your passions and ultimate wellness goals. One of the best places to find support outside of your network of family and friends is at support groups, like AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). People in AA are either working to become sober or are in recovery.

Express your concerns in a caring way and encourage your friend or family member to get help. Try to remain neutral and don’t argue, lecture, accuse, or threaten. It’s much easier to avoid drinking if you don’t keep temptations around. Make a table like the one below, weighing the costs and benefits of drinking to the costs and benefits of quitting.

You might Sobriety turn to friends, family, and loved ones for this type of support, but this can be challenging if your past alcohol use has alienated people in your life. It can also be problematic if the people in your immediate social circle continue to drink or if they don’t support your plans to quit. When you are trying to stop drinking, thinking about going without a drink for a week, month, year, or for a lifetime can be a difficult concept to make peace with. This may be especially true if you are dealing with strong withdrawal symptoms or powerful urges to drink again. For example, someone who has just developed the disorder and who has immediately sought out help may be able to tackle their addiction with less difficulty. Learning to quit drinking alcohol is often more achievable when we focus on how to embrace sobriety rather than simply fighting a temptation to drink.

If your partner or roommate isn’t supportive, it is even more important to build a strong support system because it will be significantly harder to avoid temptation. If you have bottles that are valuable or sentimental and you can’t bring yourself to toss them out, give them to a friend or family member. If you want to participate in a structured quit-drinking program and don’t mind spending money on one, I also recommend checking out Annie Grace’s programs.

For example, BetterHelp is an online counseling platform that helps individuals connect with certified counselors from the comfort of their own homes. However, friends, family, and support groups aren’t the only necessary people involved in this process. You will also want to look for therapists and counselors who can be there for you and provide the coping mechanisms and support needed when you decide to stop drinking. Often, these counselors are available at rehab facilities via an inpatient or outpatient program.

Examine your current relationship with alcohol

If you answer “yes” to four to five questions, your symptoms align with moderate AUD. If you answer “yes” to six or more questions, your symptoms align with severe AUD. Consult with a licensed mental health professional to further explore AUD. Of course not, in fact – most people who stop drinking with Allen Carr’s Easyway do so without any unpleasantness at all. Willpower is the hard way to quit drinking and not the Easyway to quit drinking.