Sobriety: How to Start and Maintain a Sober Lifestyle

If any area of your life is out of control, it will not help you maintain lasting sobriety. Although these new activities are healthy and productive, they can be a stumbling block to lasting recovery if they become a transfer addiction to fill the void left by the original addiction. Once you do return to work, it’s important to create a budget and take steps to safeguard yourself as work stress can be a relapse trigger. Financial troubles and problems finding and keeping employment are major triggers for relapse, but it is possible to take baby steps and get your finances in order.

Deciding to quit isn’t easy, but it’s a brave and commendable first step toward becoming sober. You may not be completely ready to stop drinking or know exactly how to get sober from alcohol, but even just having the thought that you want to stop and need help is a good place to start. Heavy alcohol consumption has been linked to more than 60 different diseases. Too much alcohol affects your speech, muscle coordination and vital centers of your brain. A heavy drinking binge may even cause a life-threatening coma or death.

Benefits of Residential AddictionTreatment

If you were active in your addiction for a period of time, you may have developed financial problems. A therapist can help you learn new coping skills, develop new thinking patterns, and address any co-occurring mental health conditions that may make recovery more difficult. A mental health professional can help you cope with some of the challenges you’ll face on your path to sobriety. Research shows that if you maintain these types of toxic relationships, your chances of relapsing are greater.

People who have problems with alcohol are also more likely to self-harm and commit suicide. Did a night of excessive drinking leave cans or bottles littering your living room floor? So, take a step back and let them deal with the after-effects of their addictive behavior. Being close to someone addicted to alcohol can bring an immense amount of stress into your life. A lot of emotions — frustration, sadness, bitterness and more — may whirl through your mind.

Patient Care Network

Drinking releases endorphins which can lead people to feel happy, energized, and excited. But alcohol is also classified as a depressant and can cause fatigue, restlessness, and depression. It may shift from stimulant to sedative in line with whether blood alcohol content is rising or falling. Given the power of alcohol on the brain, people sober alcoholic who drink heavily may come to rely on it to regulate their mood. Alcohol is a powerful substance, with the capacity for positive experiences, such as bursts of creativity and fun, as well as harmful repercussions, such as addiction and health problems. Becoming dependent on alcohol can lead to challenges for both the mind and the body.

Socially, alcoholism may be tied to family dysfunction or a culture of drinking. Alcohol consumption and abuse may cause you to look tired and puffy. The disease of alcoholism gradually and insidiously strips everything away from a person. We have been asked countless times whether alcoholism is truly a disease or a choice.

Drinking impairs immune cells in key organs

And there are a few approaches that can identify and combat drinking at an early stage. People can focus on education and support, such as through Alcoholics Anonymous, or take on a sobriety challenge. People can learn mindfulness; rather than trying to soothe uncomfortable feelings with alcohol, mindfulness encourages techniques such as breathing, visualization, and meditation. The later stages of addiction can yield physical changes, but behavioral signs can help detect it early on.

• In other words, their behavior, rather than your reaction to their behavior, becomes the focus.
• During early sobriety, you will have signs and symptoms – some mild, others uncomfortable.
• People with depression and anxiety might use alcohol to help ease symptoms, but excessive alcohol use can also worsen your mental health.
• At the preparation stage, alcoholics have decided to make a change, and they are planning to take meaningful steps toward recovery in the near future.
• Something as minor as a bad day, a misspoken word, or if a person is harboring pent-up frustrations could result in an argument.
• Over time Ryan came to better understand factors that contributed to his drinking, including his anger and increased aggression when drinking.

Some people may be hesitant to seek treatment because they don’t want to abstain entirely. Moderation management or moderation treatment can be an effective approach, in which people learn responsible drinking habits through a structured program. Research suggests this form of treatment can help people shift from heavy to moderate drinking, improve quality of life, and enhance emotional well-being. In some cases, the first step in treating alcohol use disorder is detoxification—experiencing withdrawal in a safe setting with medical professionals. Heavy drinking can fuel changes in the brain—about half of people who meet the criteria for alcoholism show problems with thinking or memory, research suggests. The ability to plan ahead, learn and hold information (like a phone number or shopping list), withhold responses as needed, and work with spatial information (such as using a map) can be affected.

Warning Signs of Sober Alcoholic Behavior

Staying sober requires a person to dive deeper and begin unraveling why they were using the substance, their triggers for relapse, and how to avoid falling into a pattern of use again. For example, your friends can say they support your sober living journey and avoid offering substances to you. However, if they’re still opening and actively consuming substances in your presence, you may still need to separate yourself. Building a support network can take time, but the efforts are worth the benefits of having the right people in your life for your sobriety journey. Building a support network is one of the best things you can do to build a strong foundation for sober living.