4 simple strategies to (finally) drink less alcohol
When alcohol is omnipresent in relationships with loved ones, quitting drinking seems an impossible task to accomplish.
Those who have tried it know it well: the pint sipped on the terrace, during the match, and after the football (or table football) game proves daily that alcoholic drinks are omnipresent in our lives. However, many of us have realized that our way of being together needs to be rethought.
It is important to know that alcohol is toxic to our bodies and, among other things, makes us gain weight. But knowing this isn’t enough to make us stop drinking to excess. If you’re wondering what it means to drink too much alcohol, know that the answer depends on several factors, including gender, age, and weight.
Concerning health aspects, the World Health Organization (WHO) has set fairly clear limits. If you are a healthy adult male, you should limit your daily alcohol consumption to 3 glasses of wine of around 13 degrees or 3 cans of beer (33 cl) not exceeding 5 degrees; for spirits, that is to say above 28 degrees, it is 3 glasses of 40 ml maximum. For women, these amounts should be reduced by about half.
By respecting these thresholds, health risks are still present, but they are defined as moderate. If you know that you exceed these limits – even if only on the weekend – try now to eliminate a few drinks on your own. Since willpower alone is often not enough.
Reduce quantity, increase quality
“Excessive drinking, when it is not already an addiction, is more about pleasure,” according to a psychotherapist . “And since it’s about pleasure, the first mistake we tend to make is to fight it by trying to abstain completely. A mechanism then takes place, which also applies to food: we drink thinking that we shouldn’t do it, so not only do we not enjoy the moment, but we also end up drinking more because pleasure not fully satisfied encourages us to prolong it.”
Mimic the gesture
In alcohol, you can like the taste, but not only that. For those who appreciate the situation, the act of drinking and this special bond that it can create between friends or colleagues. So, in the evening, you can opt for a quality non-alcoholic beer or a non-alcoholic drink.
Having fun also means learning to give up
Have you ever heard of binge drinking? “It is consumption with an intentional and organized search for drunkenness that often takes place in groups, sometimes on the public highway,” according to the website of the Interministerial Mission to Fight Drugs and Addictive Behavior. Like during weekend drinking sessions, for example, are considered by many of us as the just reward for a week of hard work, in an attitude typical of those who expect alcohol above all to let go.
Avoiding inner conflicts
Finally, some practical advice regarding the general approach to take to stop drinking too much. It is also essential not to compete with yourself and to consult a specialist if it is too difficult and frustrating to establish a balanced relationship with alcohol. Some might think that competition with oneself is a good way to achieve such an ambitious goal, but on the contrary “challenges with oneself fuel conflicts between opposing tendencies, while we must promote behavior that promotes their harmonization”.
