Everyone knows that getting rid of alcohol addiction and quitting drinking is very difficult, and for many it is almost impossible. Drinking alcohol is tightly 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 look for 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 get a dose of alcohol, and you really want to drink. So why does our body, and, in fact, our brain, want to drink an alcoholic beverage?
Why does the brain want to drink alcohol?
Here you need to look for when the connection between the brain and drinking begins to arise. Everyone can note that the beginning of human consumption of alcohol is associated primarily with good and bright events - holidays, weddings, birthdays and corporate parties. And remembering all these holidays you remember, which means that your brain only remembers joy, fun, good mood. If it happened badly from excessive drinking, then it happened the next day and there is always an excuse for this - they say, drunk, with whom it does not happen, but it was fun.
Also, many people noticethat after a hard working day, drinking a glass, another alcohol or even a light beer drink such as beer, immediately followed by relief from stress, a good mood comes, fatigue recedes. Experts explain this by the fact that alcohol is actually in the group of narcotic substances, and the World Health Organization equated alcohol to a drug in 1975. Entering our brain, and for it there are practically no barriers to access in our body, it affects dopamine neurons, which are excited and begin to produce dopamine, in fact, producing the hormone of happiness and pleasure. The brain senses the onset of this period and begins to associate it with the intake of alcohol, which, in fact, leads to the formation of a strong, stable positive psychological connection between alcohol consumption and the brain. Then, in order to get the same "pleasure", you need to drink more, then even more and more often, since the sensitivity of dopamine receptors becomes more and more dull. And, in fact, 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 dependence.
How to stop drinking?
Therefore, those who understand their "future", where their lives are heading with frequent drinking, and who want to get rid of this growing dependence, actually have to fight the brain itself, which begins to have a stable psychological connection and the need to drink alcohol to get somethen bright quick "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 we face initially 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 coping with them.
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 great that it overshadows even the most joyful moments of our life. This "unearned" stream of joy and pleasure comes precisely from the effects of alcohol on the brain. Therefore, having received "cheap" pleasure through alcohol and gaining a strong attachment to it, he is trying to achieve - like, "I want more such pleasures, I want more such quick joy, I want to quickly relieve stress from life" in the simplest way, by drinking alcohol, without tryingsolve the piled-up difficult tasks, and then enjoy 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 more "difficult" joy, more "difficult" pleasure, earned after applying a lot of strength, and not just - I drank and "I feel good, and I do not care about anything. "Only the desire to receive real "earned" joy interrupts the brain's desire to receive "light" joy quickly, here and now. Since, as soon as you made the decision to give up alcohol, you declared war on your brain, at the same moment you formed an order in your head for other "work" desires and took the direction of sobriety.
Step 3 - Quitting Easy! Not starting again is difficult!
Do not start over . . . It is sometimes disastrously difficult! That is why - giving up addiction is always a war. The brain ignites a sharp 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. Quitting drinking, you will immediately start thinking that how nice it would be to drink now beer, or vodka, or brandy. Remembering alcohol as a pleasant event, but otherwise the brain will not remember alcohol, which brings him a bunch of feelings of joy and euphoria, and all this at once, you will not be able to resist the desire to drink again. Here you need to either be able to think of alcohol as a bad event, or be coded. Alcohol coding will help to relive this moment of desire and give time for the opportunity to get negative from drinking alcohol.
4 step - will not last long!
Therefore, this desire must be assessed . . . Rate on a 10-point scale. How powerful the desire is (like a typhoon or like a storm). Rarely, when realizing the degree of desire, the scale reaches a powerful 10-point thirst. Therefore, based on the results of awareness, it is necessary to switch this not powerful desire to other types of activity.
Begin to receive simple natural human joys from life, from work, from family, from hobbies, from 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 adapt to low normal levels of dopamine, and as we remember, alcohol dramatically and many times artificially increases the level of dopamine in the body.
Step 5 - Throw Alcohol Only!
We do not recommend quitting and quitting smoking at the same time, or giving up your favorite foods. If this is done at the same time, then the risk of breakdown increases many times, because when giving up everything, the brain experiences much more stress than when it gives up some of the habits or addictions. At first, you can keep the rest of your bad habits.
Therefore, if you decide to quit drinking, then stop drinking. If it is more important for you to quit smoking, then just quit smoking. By dropping everything at once, you will not be able to resist the double or triple temptation. And if you break down, for example on smoking, you will most likely break down on giving up alcohol.
Step 6 - don't get lost!
In the 1st week, the most difficult moments arise when quitting alcohol. Fear, anxiety, increased desire. Here, whatever one may say, it is very difficult to cope without medication. If you understand that it will only get worse, it is better to seek medical support 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 at the drug treatment center. They will help you choose the right life cycle regime in order to stop drinking. Provide medicines and optimally selected vitamins and minerals necessary for the body. Control your well-being with the latest medical devices.
After all, the most important thing is not to break loose and start drinking again.
Step 7 - you need support!
For support, there is always the opportunity to contact the group of Alcoholics Anonymous. If we discard all conventions and unwillingness, then it is obvious that people are able to help each other. Without support, we are practically helpless even in everyday life. If you do not want to join the group of Alcoholics Anonymous, then you have the opportunity to contact the psychological support service.
Step 8 - burn the adrenaline!
Due to the pronounced increase in the amount of adrenaline in the blood as a result of refusal from alcohol, it must be burned. Burning adrenaline without affecting others is possible only through physical activity. Like everything in our life, you need to start gradually. It is better if there is an opportunity to work out in the gym. If not, then small outdoor walks or jogging will be enough.
If you give up alcohol, take more walks, meet friends, and have active rest.
By providing yourself with sports activities, you not only help burn adrenaline, but also strengthen your muscles, nervous system, health and provide your brain with new tactile and physical sensations, forcing it to be distracted from thoughts of alcohol. Such additional "work" for the brain has a beneficial effect on the movement along the path of sobriety and an active sober life.
Walk and travel more with a complete rejection of alcoholic beverages.
Go hiking, travel, where the brain has nowhere to hide with its thoughts about alcohol. Displace and burn out old memories of pleasant drinking with new impressions.
Step 9 - you will succeed! Don `t doubt!
It is important to withstand: sleep, nutrition, try to be in the mood, and in the mood for positive. Moreover, this applies to all people, since we are all dependent on something. That is why regimen is so important to achieve a positive result. only the regime is able to sharpen us to fight (first of all, 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 lack the power to interrupt the euphoric state of alcohol intoxication. This boredom is also a product of our brain. Therefore, you need to constantly look for yourself: a new hobby, interest, desire. Happiness is a product of our brains (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 quit drinking and I can not restrain myself - I start again, what should I do?
It is very difficult to quit drinking alcohol. The neural connections created in the brain between a positive idea of drinking alcohol and receiving joy, pleasure and euphoria from it cannot just be destroyed without a fight. Alcohol belongs to the narcotic group of substances and it will not work to expel its effect on the body from the body without great difficulty, perseverance and willpower.
If you do not have enough willpower to resist alcohol, then you should think about coding 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 of alcohol badly as a toxic substance, remember only bad experiences with drinking. Imagine it as an extremely dangerous substance and drink it with disgust, holding strong alcohol in your mouth especially to feel trouble. Do everything on purpose so that it is unpleasant for you to drink alcohol.
- Start drinking alcohol in very small doses. Just a little sip. Be adamant about this.
- For any alcoholic suggestions, translate your desire into those non-alcoholic drinks that you like the most, and drink only for pleasure instead of alcohol.
Try with all your knowledge and tricks to resist alcohol addiction. Remember that alcohol controls your brain.
Could alcohol coding be part of alcohol dependence treatment?
Coding is often included in the course of treatment to enable the patient to live the encoding time without drinking. During this time, you can usually improve your health, shattered by alcoholic beverages, restore family and labor relations, if they have been violated due to alcohol addiction, and recover morally and physically.
Can a person drink alcohol and not be an alcoholic?
Surely it can. There are a lot of such people. They are well aware of the dangers of drinking in large quantities and do not allow themselves to get drunk "in the trash", oversleep work, quarrel with his wife, ruin their health and make themselves a bunch of other troubles. Even the most resistant to alcohol addiction, if he drinks a lot of alcohol almost every day, then he will quickly develop the habit of drinking alcoholic beverages. And if we consider that alcohol belongs to the group of narcotic substances, which was approved by the World Health Organization in 1975, then alcohol dependence will most likely cover almost anyone who drinks alcohol a lot and often. Therefore, drink alcohol only in a limited amount that does not lead to addiction.