Cutting back on alcohol? Here's how to stick to your New Year's resolution
After a festive season filled with overindulgence, by the time January rolls around your body is probably begging for a health kick.
Just like we feel so sure we'll never drink again when we're hungover, after a booze-filled December, cutting back on alcohol seems like an easy resolution to stick to. You know the drill, you start off strict but before you know it, temptation strikes and you find yourself right back where you started.
Changing any habit takes commitment and dedication, but when an addictive substance like alcohol is involved it becomes far harder. As we enter a new decade, why not make 2020 the year you break the cycle for good?
To prepare you with the knowledge you need to cut back for now and perhaps forever, we spoke to Dr Chris Davis. Dr Davis is a GP at East Sydney Doctors where he leads the Clean Slate Clinic, a discreet service for those looking to address problem drinking.
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When starting out, is it best to avoid situations where there will be alcohol?
Dr Davis says that whether or not you should avoid alcohol fuelled events depends on how much you were drinking to begin with, "If someone really wants to have a complete break from alcohol, and has some level of dependency, then for a short period of time I do suggest avoiding social situations".
But, Dr Davis adds, events aren't generally the problem and most of the pressure to drink comes from other people and society. "There is a stigma attached to not drinking or even moderate drinking, and certainly there's a lot of stigma around asking for help with drinking problems. So often people will come to me and often they won’t have even told their husbands or their wives, they won't have told their friends, that they’re struggling. And that's what we need to tackle, and that's difficult. If you are on your own and you are trying to cut down, then it's really about preparing for those conversations that you will face from your friends and people that you hang around with."
New Year's makes an ideal time for cutting back on alcohol because it gives you a 'story'. Dr Davis says that having a story is important when explaining to other people why you're not drinking because then "they tend to leave you alone without the pressure."
Why is it that so many people fall off the bandwagon when cutting back on alcohol?
"What people don't talk about enough is the fact that alcohol is a highly addictive substance and we don't think of alcohol as an addictive drug", Dr Davis informs us. "We've changed the terminology now in medicine, and rather than saying drugs and alcohol, as if alcohol is something separate, we now call it alcohol and other drugs, because that's what it is."
"There's added pressures with alcohol because you’re surrounded by it and its socially acceptable, so it is a really hard drug to come off, because if I was addicted to ice or heroin I could delete my dealers numbers and I could probably escape from it. But with alcohol it's on every street corner. You’ve got Jimmy Brings if it's in the middle of the night, or you could go to your parents' house and they’ll be drinking, it’s very hard to escape. So it's really easy to slip back."
What are some of the most effective strategies for cutting back?
Dr Davis' s first strategy is simple, but may be hard for some people: "A complete break from alcohol".
He says, "what that does is, it tends to reset your relationship with alcohol. So often people won't drink in the week, but then will drink on a Friday, and won't be able to stop or will do something they regret."
"A month is good, but when you do a month people tend to wind up the month and then plan a big night out when they finish. So if you can stretch that out longer, ideally nearer three months then that means you’ve got through 12 weekends without drinking."
Dr Davis says that whether you're a daily heavy drinker or a binge drinker, "time off alcohol is definitely the best way to reset your relationship with it". After 12 weeks without alcohol "the true brain chemistry changes will happen. Chemical changes happen in the brain when you’re drinking regularly, your brain only gets its dopamine rush from drink, so your brain is craving the drink. And those brain chemistry changes take somewhere like three months to really change".
However, if a complete break seems like too much for you, Dr Davis' other strategy is "setting your own rules for yourself". Essentially, you'll need to figure out what works for you to ensure that your alcohol consumption doesn't get out of control. This can include anything from switching to low-strength beers, setting yourself a limit of drinks for the night or deciding before the night starts what time you want to be home. Another tip Dr Davis gives is to "always try and have a soft drink when you arrive to an event or a pub, and use that first drink to really set your sights on how you want your evening to be."
If you think you need a little help...
We all need a hand with the hard stuff, and when it comes to cutting back on alcohol the hardest step can be seeking help.
"People don't want to go to AA, or they don’t want to go to a specialist alcohol place because people that they meet will know why they’re there. But if they go and see their GP, nobody has to know. So they book an appointment, I’m a normal GP so I do travel vaccines and childhood immunisations and all the GP stuff."
"So you could just be coming in for your pill repeat and come speak to me about drinking and nobody else has to know. The more people that know about that kind of service, the more people we can help."
To find out more about the Clean Slate Clinic please book a consultation with Dr Chris Davis, all booking information can be found at eastsydneydoctors.com.au/book-online
Or, if you're not based in Sydney, check out the Alcohol and Drug Foundation for resources and services Australia wide.
What are your New Year's resolutions this year?
51 Member Comments
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I only drink occasionally. I have drunk on social occasions but it’s not my thing, and I don’t want to be peer pressured by people or society
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I drank alcohol in my late teens/early twenties due to peer pressure. When I went out and I didn't drink anything, I sat there feeling very bored while everyone else seemed to be having a good time. I never missed alcohol after I stopped drinking it.
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I love to have a glass of wine every few nights or so with dinner
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I don't drink alcohol, but these tips could be applied to other areas... Thanks!!!
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Not a resolution for me, not a problem for me either
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Oh dear, I feel so out of place here. I do like my 'stress relief beverage' but don't get me wrong. I don't get drunk any more as that is not my aim. Enjoying a glass or two of something to take the edge off at the end of the day, or during the day during a time of extreme stress works for me. To minimise the damage I also drink soda water by the 'gallons' (ok slight exaggeration) but I do use soda water to break the consistency and that keeps me in check. Soda water is always my last drink anyway and that has always seemed to work to stop a hangover the next day providing I remember (this was my practice in my younger partying days).
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I don't drink. I don't make resolutions. If something needs doing, I get it done, no gunna/wanna do.....
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I don't drink at all because I really don't like the taste, so giving up alcohol was not a New Year's resolution for me.
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I lik a glass of wine when i make a nice dinner, maybe twice a week
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I cannot afford to drink, I will have a glass of wine when I go out and to be honest that is not often. I do not like it when people get blind drunk, no need for it.
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I don't drink but there's definitely some great tips here for anyone looking to cut back on it.
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Ive seen the problems that alcohol can cause and what I saw turned me right off the stuff so I became a non drinker. What I find even more scary is the constant reference and mention of alcohol by the Doctors around the Cancer Units in the hospitals. More and more they are discovering that its causing various cancers and can be just as bad as smoking. They are actually getting more alcohol related cancers now then smoking. At the moment its not really something thats discussed openly. In years to come I think you will find there are warning labels on the bottle much like we have on cigarettes. Perhaps its our increase in drinking thats the issue. I dont know about other people but I can remember Dad when i was growing up and he had 1 day a week where he would go to the pub for a drink with his mates after work. For the most part that was the only time he drank unless there was a special event. Now we have people drinking daily and woman are drinking a lot more then they ever used to.
A couple of years ago I was taken into hospital by ambulance in the worst pain. They did a scan and blood tests and the Doctor asked me "When was the last time you had something to drink?" .....I told him I had water with dinner and he said he meant alcohol. I said "I dont drink" .....he looked at me and said "How many drinks have you had this week?" ... I said "None...I dont drink"....He gave me a very annoyed look and said "How many drinks have you honestly had this year then?" ....I said ...."Ok...1 glass of wine cooler at Christmas time.....thats it...I dont drink" .... They were stunned. It turns out my gallbladder had stopped working and was shunting all the bile back to my liver and this had caused my liver to become what they call a Fatty Liver which is something that happens to heavy drinkers. After my surgery to remove my gallbladder the surgeon told me my liver looked a mess and was so close to going from a fatty liver to cirrhosis which you can not turn back from. I was very lucky. If I had been a drinker this would have sped up the process and my future now would not be looking so bright. Thank goodness I wasnt a drinker.
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This is terrible, Meedee, and so lucky you were not a drinker but did the doctors work out what actually was the cause as most people know alcohol is a major cause of liver failure.
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Oh yes they did. It was my gallbladder. It had given up working and was blocked so it was shunting the bile back to the liver. This of course is not supposed to happen and the constant bile caused the fatty liver. When the surgeon went in he said that "It was a very sticky mess in there and I had to trim your gallbladder off your liver"....apparently my surgery took just over 4 hours and it was tough. That is a very long time for a gallbladder removal. I know they said I was in for more then double the time it normally took and they said I would be very sore. I wasnt really so i guess I was lucky or maybe I had good drugs. I was worried about the liver but they checked me out months later and said that my liver was back to normal....the said our livers are great at healing themselves but if you push them too far and end up with cirrhosis then there is no coming back from that.
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So it wasn't your diet at all, but a faulty gallbladder. We as humans have so many parts that can go wrong, even if we actually take care with our health.
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It had been brewing for years Am1851 I always felt slightly sick but tests would find nothing and there were times I would get really bad chest pain and I thought I was having a heart attack. I was sent to see a heart specialist who did every test possible on my heart and then got annoyed with me and told me that he thought I was a very nervous person and I was having anxiety attacks because there was nothing wrong with my heart. I gave up worrying about it. Until the night I was screaming in pain and had to call the ambulance. It turned out I was passing gallstones and thats the pain I would get. I passed stones for years and just dealt with them but the last two must have been larger because ive never had pain like that before. It was off the charts. Im sure my neighbors thought I was being murdered....LOL I dont know if my gallbladder was naturally small but they told me that usually if there are problems the gallbladder swells but mine was normal size.
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That is terrible Meedee. I get so annoyed by some doctors who dismiss you 'because they can't see the problem it must be you' . I went through that after a very serious car accident 30 years ago with only a visible graze on my shoulder blade where blood showed but not obvious broken bones. It was dismissed as muscular pain and I was overreacting. It turned out I had several ruptured discs in both my lower back and my neck and eventually had spinal fusion surgery 20 years later, minimal mva compensation, terrible doctors and solicitor to support me.
I hope things are improving for you and 2020 is a much better year given how much you had going on last year. xx
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So far its hectic with hospital appointments and did start off where we took a big backwards step but interestingly after an appointment yesterday I asked for a copy of R's blood test results and notice a very small improvement.....its so very small but at least its in the right direction. Today is another one hour drive to the hospital and 4hours for 2 units of blood. Then the weekend...yippie. Monday will be an early start with a 7.45 bone marrow biopsy and then a 4 oclock scan.....I am going to see the imagining dept and ask if they have a no show or a last minute cancellation to please call me as we will just be hanging at the hospital all day. This is the really tiring part. If you could make all the appointments flow that would be awesome ...ah well.
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Taking a full day for something brief is tiring, very few times can appointments flow. Good news that at least the medication is helping R. Lets hope this does not stop through 'red tape'. Wishing you both well. xx
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Thanks Am1851,,,, The good thing is that the 4 oclock appointment has come forward to 1 oclock now so that does at least save 3 hours of waiting. The receptionist is really trying to move us forward and she said that as soon as he is done with the biopsy to let her know and if there a no shows she will slot us in but it means he cant eat or drink just incase because he has to have nothing for an hour before the scan. Ah well..im sure it will all work out.
His Chemo is safe to continue as long as its working. We are dealing directly with the drug company for that and not the government. We just have to hope that the sudden regression and then the small improvement over the last 3 blood tests are not a bad sign. The bone marrow biospy will give us those answers.
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Good to hear some good news for you. Having to not eat just in case is terrible, we need food just for our energy, and for R that would be even worse. Fingers crossed it all stays positive moving forwards.
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