Everyone knows that getting rid of alcohol addiction and quitting drinking is very difficult and for many it is almost impossible. Drinking alcohol is held in his tenacious hands. Overcoming the psychological addiction controlled by your own brain is a difficult task, because the brain does not obey you in most cases, but your body obeys the brain. The body wants to drink water and you will seek water. The body wants to eat, it gives a signal to the brain and it, controlling you, looks for food. And the brain wants to take a dose of alcohol, and you really want to drink. So why is there a desire in our body, and indeed in our brain, to drink an alcoholic beverage?
Why does the brain want to drink alcohol?
Here we must look for when the connection between the brain and drinking begins to arise. Everyone can note that the onset of human consumption of alcohol is associated mainly with good and bright events - holidays, weddings, birthdays and corporate parties. And remembering all these holidays you remember, which means your brain only remembers joy, fun, good mood. If it happened badly due to excessive drinking, it happened the next day and there is always an excuse for it - they say, drunk, with whom it doesn't happen, but it was fun.
In addition, many people find that after a hard day at work, drinking a glass, another alcohol or even a light beer such as beer, immediately followed by stress relief, good mood comes, fatigue subsides. Experts explain this with the fact that alcohol is actually in the group of narcotic substances and the World Health Organization equated alcohol with a drug in 1975. Getting into our brain, and for this there are practically no barriers of access in our body, affects dopaminergic neurons, which become excited and start producing dopamine, producing the hormone of happiness and pleasure. The brain senses the beginning of this period and begins to associate it with alcohol intake, which, in fact, leads to the formation of a strong and stable positive psychological connection between alcohol consumption and the brain. So, to get the same "pleasure", it is necessary to drink more, therefore more and more often, as the sensitivity of the dopamine receptors becomes more and more opaque. And, indeed, a person smoothly flows into the second stage of alcoholism, when there is not only a psychological connection, but also a physiological dependence on alcohol consumption, which requires immediate treatment for alcohol addiction.
How to stop drinking?
Therefore, those who understand their "future", where their life is heading with frequent drinking, and who want to free themselves from this growing addiction, must actually fight the brain itself, which begins to have a stable psychological connection and the need to drink alcohol to get some quick and bright "joyful" moments in life after drinking.
Step 1 - It is necessary to recognize that the brain is, in fact, our worst enemy!
All the problems that we initially face arise in its depths (fear, anxiety, reluctance), this is the work of the brain. It creates obstacles for us, creates difficulties, forms habits and prevents us from facing them.
By drinking alcohol, we get a huge amount of dopamine secreted by the brain from contact with alcohol, a neurotransmitter responsible for joy, euphoria, pleasure in the brain. This number is so big that it overshadows even the happiest moments of our life. This "undeserved" flow of joy and pleasure comes from the effects of alcohol on the brain. Therefore, after receiving "cheap" pleasure through alcohol and gaining a strong attachment to it, she is trying to achieve - like "I want more such pleasures, I want more joy so quick, I want to quickly relieve stress from life" in the simplest way, by drinking alcohol, without trying to solve the accumulated difficult tasks, and then enjoying their solution.
Step 2: Desire is the root cause of all beginnings!
Only desire can completely rebuild your brain and form the correct order in it. Only the desire to get a more "difficult" joy, a more "difficult" pleasure, gained after applying a lot of strength, and not only that: I drank and "I feel good and I don't care". Only the desire to receive true "earned" joy interrupts the brain's desire to receive "light" joy quickly, here and now. Because, as soon as you made the decision to give up alcohol, you declared war on your brain, at the same time you formed an order in your head for other "work" desires and took the direction of sobriety.
Step 3 - Quit Easy! Not starting over is difficult!
Don't start over. . . Sometimes it is disastrously difficult! Here's why: Giving up addiction is always a war. The brain ignites a strong desire to accept something and removes all barriers to this. Your will is the only obstacle to drinking alcohol.
Ethanol (alcohol) is a powerful stimulant of joy and euphoria in the brain. If you stop drinking, you will most likely start thinking that it would be nice to drink beer, vodka or brandy now. Remembering alcohol as a pleasant event, but otherwise the brain will not remember alcohol, which brings you a lot of feelings of joy and euphoria, and all this at once, you will not be able to resist the urge to drink again. Here you have to be able to think of alcohol as a bad event or be coded. Alcohol coding will help relive this moment of desire and give time for the opportunity to become negative from drinking alcohol.
4 steps: it won't last long!
Therefore, this desire must be evaluated. . . Rate on a 10-point scale. How powerful is the desire (like a typhoon or like a storm). Rarely, when the degree of desire is realized, the scale reaches a powerful thirst of 10 points. Therefore, based on the results of awareness, it is necessary to shift this non-powerful desire into other types of activities.
Start receiving simple natural human joys from life, work, family, hobbies, communication with other people. Never drink alcohol, otherwise you will have to start all over again.
The more varied your new entertainment, the faster the brain will adjust to normal low dopamine levels, and as we remember, alcohol dramatically and many times artificially increases the dopamine level in the body.
Step 5: Throw in alcohol only!
We don't recommend quitting and quitting smoking at the same time, or giving up your favorite foods. If this is done at the same time, the risk of burnout increases many times, as when you give up everything, the brain experiences much more stress than when you give up some habits or addictions. In the beginning, you can keep the rest of your bad habits.
Therefore, if you decide to stop drinking, stop drinking. If quitting smoking is more important to you, then quit smoking. By dropping everything at once, you won't be able to resist the double or triple temptation. And if you break down, for example by smoking, you will most likely stop drinking alcohol.
Step 6: don't get lost!
In the first week, the hardest times arise when you stop drinking alcohol. Fear, anxiety, increased desire. Here, whatever one may say, it is very difficult to cope without drugs. If you understand that it will only get worse, it is best to seek medical help from your doctor. There are drugs that really reduce the urge to drink alcohol, reduce stress and eliminate discomfort.
In such cases, we strongly recommend that you contact the doctors of the drug treatment center. They will help you choose the right life cycle regimen to stop drinking. Provide medicines and optimally selected vitamins and minerals necessary for the body. Check your well-being with the latest medical devices.
After all, the most important thing is not to go wild and start drinking again.
Step 7: you need support!
For support there is always the possibility to contact the Alcoholics Anonymous group. If we discard all conventions and reluctance, then it goes without saying that people are able to help each other. Without support, we are virtually helpless even in everyday life. If you do not want to join the Alcoholics Anonymous group, then you have the option of contacting the psychological support service.
Step 8: burn the adrenaline!
Due to the pronounced increase in the amount of adrenaline in the blood due to the rejection of alcohol, it must be burned. Burning off adrenaline without affecting others is only possible through physical activity. Like everything in our life, you need to start gradually. It is better if there is an opportunity to train in the gym. Otherwise, small outdoor walks or jogging will suffice.
If you stop drinking alcohol, take more walks, meet friends and actively rest.
By providing sports activities, you not only help burn off adrenaline, but also strengthen your muscles, nervous system, health and provide your brain with new tactile and physical sensations, forcing it to distract itself from the thoughts of alcohol. Such additional "work" for the brain has a beneficial effect on movement along the path of sobriety and an active sober life.
Walk and travel more with a complete rejection of alcoholic beverages.
Hiking, traveling, where the brain has nowhere to hide with its thoughts on alcohol. Move and burn old memories of pleasant drinking with new impressions.
Step 9: you will be successful! Do not doubt!
It is important to resist: sleep, feed, try to be in the right mood and positive mood. Furthermore, this applies to all people, as we all depend on something. This is why the regimen is so important for achieving a positive result. only the regime is able to refine us to fight (primarily with ourselves)
Step 10: try to be happy!
Being sober after drinking alcohol is boring enough. The world around us ceases to please with colors and events, because they do not have the power to interrupt the euphoric state of alcohol intoxication. This boredom is also a product of our brain. Therefore, you need to constantly search for yourself - a new hobby, interest, desire. Happiness is a product of our brain (as are fears). The brain can be customized and it's up to you.
Popular questions about alcohol and answers to them
Every time I stop drinking and can't help myself - I start again, what should I do?
It is very difficult to stop drinking alcohol. The neural connections created in the brain between a positive idea of drinking alcohol and receiving joy, pleasure and euphoria cannot simply be destroyed without a fight. Alcohol belongs to the group of narcotic substances and will not work to expel its effect on the body from the body without great work, perseverance and willpower.
If you don't have enough willpower to resist alcohol, then you should think of programming as an opportunity to stop drinking alcohol.
If you are full of perseverance and strength to fight alcohol addiction, then:
- Do not give up.
- Try to fool your brain, because it is the main leader of your body. Think badly of alcohol as a toxic substance, remember only bad experiences with drinking. Imagine it as an extremely dangerous substance and drink it with disgust, keeping strong alcohol in your mouth especially to feel discomfort. Do everything on purpose so that it is unpleasant for you to drink alcohol.
- Start drinking alcohol in very small doses. Just a small sip. Be adamant about this.
- For any alcohol suggestions, translate your craving into those soft drinks you like best and drink just for pleasure instead of alcohol.
Try all your knowledge and tricks to resist alcohol addiction. Remember that alcohol controls your brain.
Could alcohol coding be part of alcohol addiction treatment?
Coding is often included in the course of treatment to allow the patient to experience coding time without drinking. During this time, you can usually improve your health, destroyed by alcoholic beverages, restore family and work relationships, if they have been violated due to alcohol addiction, and recover morally and physically.
Can a person drink alcohol and not be an alcoholic?
It sure can. There are many of these people. They are well aware of the dangers of drinking in large quantities and do not allow themselves to get drunk "in the garbage", work too hard, argue with his wife, ruin their health and have a lot of other problems. Even the most resistant to alcohol addiction, if they drink a lot of alcohol almost every day, will quickly develop the habit of drinking alcoholic beverages. And if we consider that alcohol belongs to the group of drugs, which was approved by the World Health Organization in 1975, alcohol addiction will most likely cover almost everyone who drinks alcohol a lot and often. Therefore, drink alcohol only in limited quantities that do not lead to addiction.