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 tightly 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 the brain, 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 the drink begins to emerge. Everyone may notice that the beginning of human consumption of alcohol is mainly associated with good and bright events: holidays, weddings, birthdays and corporate parties. And remember all these parties that you remember, which means that your brain only remembers the joy, the fun, the good mood. If it happened bad from binge drinking, then it happened the next day and there is always an excuse for this, they say, drunkards, with whom it does not happen, but it was fun.
Also, many people notice that after a hard day at work, having a glass, another alcoholic drink or even a light beer like beer, immediately followed by stress relief, the good mood comes, the fatigue subsides. Experts explain this by the fact that alcohol is actually in the group of narcotic substances, and the World Health Organization compared alcohol to a drug in 1975. Entering our brain, and for this there are practically no access barriers in our body, it affects dopaminergic neurons, which become excited and begin to produce dopamine, in fact producing the hormone of happiness and pleasure. The brain detects the onset 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. Then, to get the same "pleasure", it is necessary to drink more, and then more and more frequently, as the sensitivity of the 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 headed with frequent alcohol consumption, and 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 a quick and bright moments of "joy" 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 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 facing them.
By drinking alcohol, we get a large amount of dopamine secreted by the brain from contact with alcohol, a neurotransmitter responsible for joy, euphoria, and pleasure in the brain. This number is so large that it outshines even the happiest moments of our life. This "undeserved" stream of joy and pleasure comes precisely from the effects of alcohol on the brain. So, having received "cheap" pleasure through alcohol and acquiring a strong attachment to it, you are trying to achieve - like, "I want more pleasures of this kind, I want more joy so quickly, I want to quickly relieve the stress of life "in the simplest way, drinking alcohol, not trying to solve the difficult piled-up tasks, and then enjoying your 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 obtain a more "difficult" joy, a more "difficult" pleasure, gained after applying a lot of force, and not only: I drank and "I feel good, and I don't care about anything. "Only the desire to receive true "earned" joy interrupts the brain's desire to receive "light" joy quickly, here and now. Since, as soon as he made the decision to quit alcohol, he declared war on his brain, at the same moment he formed an order in his head for other "work" desires and took the direction of sobriety.
Step 3: Get out easily! Not starting over is difficult!
Don't start over. . . Sometimes it is disastrously difficult! Therefore, giving up addiction is always a war. The brain ignites a strong desire to accept something and removes all barriers to it. 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 about how nice it would be to drink beer, vodka, or brandy right 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 the same time, you will not be able to resist the urge to drink again. Here you must be able to think of alcohol as a bad event or be coded. Coding for alcohol will help to relive this moment of desire and give you time to have a chance to turn 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 desire (like a typhoon or like a storm). Rarely, realizing the degree of desire, the scale reaches a powerful 10-point thirst. Therefore, based on the results of consciousness, it is necessary to change this non-powerful desire to other types of activity.
Start receiving simple natural human joys from life, from work, from family, from hobbies, from communicating with other people. Never drink alcohol, otherwise you will have to start over.
The more varied your new entertainment, the faster the brain will adapt to low normal dopamine levels and, as we recall, alcohol dramatically and often artificially increases the level of dopamine in the body.
Step 5 - Throw away only alcohol!
We don't recommend quitting and quitting at the same time, or giving up your favorite foods. If this is done at the same time, then the risk of collapse increases many times, since by giving up everything, the brain experiences much more stress than when giving up some of the habits or addictions. At first, you can stick with the rest of your bad habits.
So if you decide to stop drinking, stop drinking. If quitting is more important to you, just quit. By leaving everything at once, you will not be able to resist the double or triple temptation. And if it breaks down, for example when smoking, it will most likely break down when you quit alcohol.
Step 6 - don't get lost!
In the 1st week the most difficult moments arise when giving up alcohol. Fear, anxiety, increased desire. Here, whatever they say, it is very difficult to get by without medication. If you understand that it will only get worse, it is best to seek medical support from your doctor. There are drugs that actually 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 regimen to stop drinking. Provide drugs and optimally selected vitamins and minerals necessary for the body. Monitor your well-being with the latest medical devices.
After all, the most important thing is not to let go and start drinking again.
Step 7: you need help!
For support, there is always the opportunity to contact the Alcoholics Anonymous group. If we discard all conventions and unwillingness, then it is obvious that people can help each other. Without support, we are practically defenseless even in everyday life. If you do not want to join the Alcoholics Anonymous group, 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 the rejection of alcohol, it must be burned. Burning adrenaline without affecting others is possible only through physical activity. Like everything in our life, it is necessary to start gradually. It is better if there is an opportunity to exercise in the gym. Otherwise, short walks in the fresh air or jogging will suffice.
If you quit alcohol, walk more, meet friends, and take active rest.
By providing yourself 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 you to distract yourself from alcohol-related thoughts. This 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 total rejection of alcoholic beverages.
Go on a hike, travel, where the brain has nowhere to hide with its thoughts about alcohol. Displace and burn old memories of the pleasant drink with new impressions.
Step 9: you will succeed! Do not hesitate!
It is important to resist: sleep, nutrition, try to be in a positive mood and spirit. Also, this applies to all people, as we all depend on something. That is why the regimen is so important to achieve a positive result. only the regime is capable of sharpening us to fight (in the first place, with ourselves)
Step 10: try to be happy!
Being sober after drinking alcohol is pretty boring. The world around us ceases to please us 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, it must be constantly sought - a new hobby, interest, desire. Happiness is a product of our brain (just like fears). The brain can be customized and you decide.
Popular questions about alcohol and their answers.
Every time I stop drinking and can't help myself, I start over, 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 it will not work to expel its effect on the body from the body without great work, perseverance and will power.
If you don't have enough willpower to resist alcohol, then you should think of 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 trick your brain, because it is the main leader of your body. Think of alcohol 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 to make drinking alcohol unpleasant.
- Start drinking alcohol in very small doses. Just a little sip. Be adamant about this.
- For any alcoholic suggestions, translate your desire into the non-alcoholic beverages you like best, and drink only for pleasure instead of alcohol.
Try all your knowledge and tricks to resist addiction to alcohol. 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 allow the patient to live the coding time without drinking. During this time, in general, you can improve your health, destroyed by alcoholic beverages, restore family and work relationships, if they have been violated by alcohol addiction, and recover morally and physically.
Can a person drink alcohol and not be an alcoholic?
Sure you can. There are a lot of people like that. They are well aware of the dangers of heavy drinking and do not allow themselves to get drunk "in the garbage", fall asleep at work, fight with their wife, ruin their health and create a host of other problems. Even the most resistant to alcohol addiction, if you drink a lot of alcohol almost every day, you 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 probably cover almost anyone who drinks alcohol a lot and frequently. Therefore, drink alcohol only in a limited amount that does not lead to addiction.