Author: James Anderson

Strategies For Cutting Down Drinking & Alcohol Consumption NIAAA

That means looking at your relationship with alcohol so you can understand why you drink, when you drink and how much you drink. If you feel comfortable doing so, discuss your challenges with your primary healthcare professional. Finding a therapist can also be a great starting point if you’re uncomfortable opening up to your healthcare professional. Maybe you’ve never been interested in logging your innermost thoughts, but journaling can be a great tool to track your feelings as you work on quitting alcohol.

If you find that you struggle to reduce your alcohol consumption, you may have already developed an alcohol use disorder. You may need to try to quit drinking altogether or seek help to quit. Below are some specific strategies to try, and you can add your own at the end.

Learn How to Say ‘No’

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Talk about it

Within just a month of not drinking, your body can begin to reap the benefits. Your liver can start to heal, your risks of heart disease and cancer go down, and you may begin to sleep better. Becoming more aware of your alcohol triggers and reasons for drinking can help you plan ways to help manage the urge to drink. All the same, “a quick drink” often turns into three or four drinks.

  1. If you identify with any of the scenarios above, try the expert tips below for reducing your alcohol consumption (or even eliminating it altogether).
  2. It’s important to identify why you’re drinking in the first place.
  3. Some people trying to cut down have been successful by pacing their drinking.
  4. That means looking at your relationship with alcohol so you can understand why you drink, when you drink and how much you drink.
  5. It’s often easier to turn down a drink when you don’t have to do it alone.

Other Wellness Guides

People with alcohol use disorder can’t stop drinking even when it causes problems, like emotional distress or physical harm to themselves or others. “Being more thoughtful about alcohol consumption is one of the best investments you can make for your health,” says Nick Allen, CEO of Sunnyside, a mindful drinking platform (formerly called Cutback Coach). Maggie Seaver is the digital health and wellness editor at Real Simple, with seven years of experience writing lifestyle and wellness content. She spends her days writing and editing stories about sleep, mental health, fitness, preventive health, nutrition, personal development, relationships, healthy habits, and beyond.

We do not offer individual medical advice, diagnosis or treatment plans. For personal advice, please consult with a medical professional. Medical experts now use the term “alcohol use disorder” rather than “alcohol abuse” to address the concern of excessive drinking. According to the NIAAA, alcohol pretty much affects you head to toe. Alcohol can make it hard to think clearly, cause strokes or high blood pressure, lead to cirrhosis and weaken your immune system.

Set a Realistic Goal

If the amount of alcohol that you have been drinking exceeds recommended guidelines and puts you at risk for developing alcohol-related problems, you may want to try cutting down or moderating your consumption. Dr. Streem suggests starting with the World Health Organization’s Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). It can be a particularly helpful way to help you get a clearer understanding of your drinking habits and your relationship with alcohol.

Done With Alcohol? Here’s How To Stop Drinking

Prepare yourself for those times when someone is going to offer you a drink. You might also hold onto a nonalcoholic drink instead, ask a friend to support you in difficult situations or simply exit early if temptation gets too strong, the NIAAA suggests. If you turn to alcohol to ease anxiety, try exercise as a healthy alternative. Women should limit their alcohol intake to no more than one drink a day while men should limit their alcohol consumption to no more than two drinks a day, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A recent study has shown that women who drink more than 8 drinks a week are at higher risk for coronary heart disease. According to research conducted by Kaiser Permanente Northern California, young to middle-aged women who have just one more drink daily, on average, are at a 31 to 55% higher risk of coronary heart disease.

Consider professional support

If you’re really committed to cutting back, one of the best things you can do is get the booze out of your house. This is also a good opportunity to find alternatives to some of your favorite drinks. You could try a bit of mixology and create mocktails to drink at home so you still feel like you’re having something fancy, or you could find an alternative drink that satisfies you, whether it’s soda, iced tea or something similar. Be prepared to have these things on hand for when a craving strikes so you can nip it in the bud. The first thing you have to do is take a step back and evaluate your habits.