How to stop drinking: Step-by-step guide to giving up alcohol

This could have to do with the fact that caffeine can be a mood enhancer. When you are no longer using it, caffeine can have the opposite effect and ultimately lead to irritability. After a while, a loved one may lose momentum because they could feel like there’s nothing to look forward to. Knowing this ahead of time can help you prepare for this tough period.

What Are the Immediate and Long-Term Health Benefits After You Stop Drinking Alcohol?

Be patient and remind them that these symptoms are only temporary. However, a much smaller percentage of smokers were successful. For some people, it can take multiple attempts to finally quit. Arming yourself with strategies and tips can help you or a loved one take small steps towards big results. If you are concerned that you or someone you care about has a problem with alcohol there is a lot of help available. Here you can find useful links and phone numbers to get the support you need.

How to Know When It’s Time to Cut Back

This fear gives you a healthy respect for the process and ensures that you take it seriously. It doesn’t matter what you’re specifically afraid of, but you must acknowledge that you ARE afraid. One small drink won’t set your progress back too much, but it will be harder to get back on track if you drink yourself into oblivion. I admitted that I was an alcoholic, that I was scared, and that I needed to make a change. If I couldn’t first accept this, then there was no chance I would ever fix it.

• If your goal is to quit drinking, do you want to gradually reduce the amount of alcohol you consume over time or give up drinking all at once?
• How and where you attempt detoxification will be determined by your level of alcohol dependency.
• But for others, quitting without medical guidance can be dangerous.
• By Sarah Bence, OTR/LBence is an occupational therapist with a range of work experience in mental healthcare settings.
• This means that when sobriety is achieved, the credit for this achievement also rests with the individual.

Tell family members and friends you want to get healthier.

The SMART program is based on the idea that substance use is a way to cope with life stressors that begins as a coping strategy but becomes a problem. The program makes use of research on addiction to help participants achieve abstinence from alcohol and tips to quit drinking drugs. Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART) offers a comprehensive approach to help you stop drinking that meets the needs of different types of people seeking to quit. There are specific groups for veterans, LGBTQ+ communities, and more.

If you usually order a drink immediately upon arrival at a party, order a seltzer first. When you get a drink, nurse it, then go back to seltzer. Researchers have found that alcohol disrupts normal immune system function, weakening the body’s ability to fight off infections.

Reach out to your support network

• Therapy is effective in helping people quit, as is medication prescribed by a healthcare provider.
• But she also realized that her drinking was more of a habit than a compulsion.
• During the first couple of months of sobriety, Dr. Prylinski says patients often report an explosion of dreams.
• “Try sober Mondays or sober Mondays through Wednesdays,” he says.
• The primary causes of death were alcohol and other poisonings, motor-vehicle accidents, and alcohol-related liver disease.

• Her blood pressure was going up; her weight was creeping up.
• This could mean attending a support group specifically for people with alcohol issues like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).