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Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

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Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#371

Post by amalcon »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #325
soggybutter wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little over a week without alcohol, but I drank every day because I have a lot of difficulty winding down and relaxing. I still do, but I've made the personal decision to prioritize my physical health. How do you square this advice with people who drink because the alternative is highly stressful evenings? Evaluating the history, I can see that drinking _eventually_ led to poorer health, but over the course of…

That's sort of a false dichotomy. The options aren't 1. Drink alcohol to calm down 2. Stay anxious and stressed The options are more like 1. Drink alcohol to calm down and impair your sleep ensuring you'll get stressed more often and need to have a glass of calming juice again soon 2. Wear yourself out at the gym to calm down and improve your cortisol regulation and reduce the need to calm down 3. See a therapist and…

Of course, all of those other options are actually difficult in certain ways. 2+3+4+5 can all be expensive. 3+4 are stigmatized in many cultures. 2+5 require knowledge that not everyone has.

That said if you're having trouble calming down in the evening, assuming you see a doctor for routine physical examinations, you can discuss options with them. They will know this list and more, and occasionally they can convince your insurance to cover the cost of something. It's better than developing a substance habit.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#373

Post by lesuorac »

I feel like you just want to avoid the foggy head feeling and not necessarily drinking. I'd recommend drinking a 6-pack (or less) over a weekend and not a 12-pack or decrease the ABV of w/e pack you're getting.

w.r.t. going cold turkey, if you're only drinking outside of a bar you can try just buying packs of soda. If you're drinking inside a bar, a lot more of them can make mock-tails which don't have alcohol.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#375

Post by jonathanfoster »

Andrew Huberman has a great podcast episode on the effects of alcohol on the body and brain[1]. Huberman is a professor of neurobiology at Stanford and he does a great job of explaining things in layman’s terms.

I recently cut back on my drinking significantly after listening to this podcast. Give it a listen and maybe you’ll find something that resonates with you as well.

[1] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-alcohol-does-to-y...

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#376

Post by NickC25 »

I was never a big drinker but moving to a city where alcohol is incredibly expensive and taxed heavily definitely helped. A single round of drinks at happy hour for 5 co-workers and I costs over $100? Yeah, fuck that.

Oh, I also have cealiacs disease so beer has always been a no-go for me. Easier to refrain when your only options are liquor and wine, neither of which I particularly like.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#377

Post by Bombinator »

I have used alcohol heavily, now I use it irregularly if at all. I just try not to take it too seriously since life is pretty short as is, I don't start hating myself the next day after a drinking session. Regardless what has made my consumption lower is my experience with alcohol, I just think about it's effects and often decide it's not worth it for me. I spend my free time on my PC and drinking just makes it harder for me to think leaving me with very little to do besides watching movies, tv shows, youtube, playing games, etc. I often rather just learn something about linux or computers in general, feels more rewarding doing that.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#378

Post by scrapcode »

I was drinking heavily and knew that it would be the quickest and most effective hack towards being a better father and husband. I first stepped into an AA meeting and as the opportunity to speak was going around the room I started seeing many similarities between the people sharing their stories and myself. I thought to myself 'If I were perhaps an alcoholic, what could I share about it and how it may hurt me and those that love me?' When the opportunity for me to share came up, I said 'screw it!' to myself and spilled the beans. "I am an alcoholic..."

The meetings made me feel good at first as I kept telling myself that my stories could potentially help someone else. I did not end up sticking with the AA program but the meetings really launched me into the right direction and finding my own path. I do drink NA beer and as many others in the comments have pointed out, there is a lot offered in that arena as of lately.

I am a very social person and navigating that lifestyle for the first time without alcoholic beverages was the biggest challenge for me. But I learned to like the challenge and found that sparked a lot of conversations with friends that were interested in quitting or dialing it back. It also identified and strengthened a lot of friendships where people normally wouldn't drink while doing whatever it was we are doing, but they did because I was 'the drinker.'

Next week marks my first year of sobriety, so I am certainly no expert, but feel free to reach out if you ever need to hash some things out.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#379

Post by theGnuMe »

If you don't need to detox then it's a one day at a time thing. If you can't do one day then start with one hour.

You can find a therapist who specializes in addiction recovery to help keep you accountable. You can go to an AA meeting. Find a group of friends who don't drink and do things with them.

Actively remember life and having fun before you drank. For me that was high school.

Throw out all of your booze and don't buy any. If you like beer buy non-alcoholic beer. That will short circuit the pleasure response circuit that is responding to the alcohol. So you will find after your first NA beer that the pleasurable feeling doesn't hit so your body learns that the beer isn't the thing anymore.

I am 3 months sober and it really took two weeks to settle in, the first day was the hardest.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#380

Post by Smithalicious »

Finding something else pleasurable to do instead helps me avoid my vices. A lot of the time wanting to get intoxicated is an excuse for taking a break or spoiling myself. Instead of buying alcohol, buy some other delicious drink or food - maybe cook something yourself or make some nice lemonade. Read a good book, watch a movie, go on a trip, catch up with a friend. Put in the effort to have more wholesome, meaningful fun instead of being lazy and going for what seems like the easy, low-effort pleasure you get from taking substances, eating junk food or doomscrolling. Make relaxation and fun times a priority and resolve to do them right. This works much better for me than grit and stoicism.
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