Signs You Need To Take A Break From Alcohol
If you have ever asked yourself if you should take a break from alcohol, chances are yes you probably should.
Many people who struggle with addiction do not think they have a problem and therefore do not get the help they need.
Taking a break from alcohol, even for as little as 30 days has benefits.
I get that not everyone is ready to give up alcohol.
However, take a break from alcohol, or at least consider it, if you drink often.
Your body will thank you.
Keep reading for Signs you Need to take a break from alcohol.
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor. I’m just a mother who had a terrible experience with alcohol and I want to share my experience with others so you know what to look for should you or someone you know struggle with alcohol addiction. ♥️
You drink for aNY reason
Evaluating your drinking habits is a start to determining if you need to take a break from alcohol.
Whether it’s a celebratory drink or drinking out of boredom, you’ll drink for any reason or no reason at all. There really is no in between.
Got a promotion at work? Celebrate with a drink.
Got divorced?! Celebrate, or wallow with a drink.
Bored at home? Drink.
You love enjoying some drinks to celebrate the good moments, but you also resort to drinking when you have nothing else to do.
Any social setting that allowed for alcohol, I was always drinking. But I also used to drink out of boredom at home A LOT too.
If you look for any excuse to drink, that’s a sure enough sign it’s time to take a break from alcohol.
You’re using alcohol to cope with every day life
Life is hard! Believe me I get it! And I honestly don’t think we are properly taught how to cope with stressful, every day situations.
If you find yourself drinking whenever you are angry, upset or stressed, you could be using alcohol as a coping mechanism.
I get it, after a long day at work, a hard day of parenting, or just a hard day period, you want something to take the edge off.
While drinking might offer you momentary relief, in the long term it does more harm than good.
It affects the way you eat, sleep, and essentially function.
Overwhelmed, exhausted, and stressed… I found myself reaching for the wine bottle way too much.
I didn’t know how to cope with life and thought drinking would help ease my anxiety.
It did not! Drinking only made it worse.
In these situations, you need to form healthy coping mechanisms such as going for a walk, reading a book, or talking to a friend whenever you feel the urge to reach for a drink.
[Related Post: Why Mommy Wine Culture Is So Toxic And Problematic]
You suffer from anxiety and depression
I hate to say it, but if you’re suffering from any mental health issue, you really shouldn’t be drinking at all!
ESPECIALLY if you are taking medications for anxiety and depression. Mixing those with alcohol can have some serious consequences.
When I would drink to help ease the anxiety and make me happy, the rush of dopamine felt great in the moment and that’s really all that mattered to me.
It didn’t feel so great the next morning when I would wake up with “hangxiety“. A hangover and anxiety 2 in 1.
It is horrible.
Feeling impending doom while the room is spinning from a hangover has to be one of the worst things you can experience.
I was drinking because I was anxious and depressed and it made my anxiety and depression WORSE! Funny how that works huh?
You are a High functioning alcoholic
One of the reasons most people won’t take a break from alcohol or stop drinking completely is because they truly think they don’t have a problem.
“I drink all the time and still go to work and take care of my family so therefore I’m not an alcoholic and don’t have a problem with alcohol.”
My friend, you are a high-functioning alcoholic, I was too.
I drank every day and still went to work. I drank everyday and still took care of my child and my home.
They live completely normal lives but keep their addiction a secret and you wouldn’t even know.
It can be very hard to spot a high-functioning alcoholic, but there are signs.
This is not sustainable. Eventually, you will end up damaging your body and mind.
This is a sure sign that you need to take a break from alcohol.
You isolate yourself so you can drink more
I get it, you don’t want others to think you are an alcoholic, so you isolate yourself so you can drink as much as you want without judgment from others.
For one, isolating yourself so much isn’t good. You need human interaction.
But two, you’re definitely doing harm to your body if you have no limit to how much you’re drinking or how often.
Isolating yourself from society can be good if you are actively doing something to better yourself.
Isolating yourself from society so you can drink yourself into oblivion just isn’t it.
So yes, take a break from alcohol if you find yourself doing this.
You lie about how much you are actually drinking
Just as bad as isolating yourself to drink is lying about how much you’re drinking.
If you feel the need to lie about how much you’re drinking, you’re halfway there to becoming an alcoholic.
But who are you trying to convince that you don’t have a drinking problem? Others or yourself?
There’s no logical way to justify your drinking just to make you feel better about yourself.
You can lie to others all you want about how much you’re drinking, but ultimately, you’re going to be the one who suffers in the end.
And the more you lie about it, the more damage you’re doing not just to yourself, but to others too.
alcohol is affecting your relationships
Have you noticed that your friends don’t want to do anything with you anymore because all you want to do is drink?
Or have those close to you told you that you may have a drinking problem and are concerned for your well-being, but you get defensive about it?
People can notice the change in your behavior when you have bad habits that are destroying your health.
And quite frankly, nobody wants to deal with a person who just wants to drink all the time and not change their drinking habits.
And I’m not talking about the “life of the party” once they’ve had a couple in them.
I’m talking about the people that drink too much and start doing stupid things.
Nobody wants to deal with that kind of second hand embarrassment. So, they will keep their distance and not make future plans with you.
All you’re doing is pushing people away and eventually you will end up lonely drinking yourself to death if you don’t make a change.
If you find yourself defending your drinking habits instead of making a positive change and cutting back on alcohol… yup you guessed it! It’s time to take a break from alcohol.
You binge drink
You might not think you have a drinking problem since you only drink on special occasions or weekends.
The problem is, you’re binging when you do drink to make up for the time you have gone without it.
Because alcohol is a poison, any amount is toxic to the body.
When you’re drinking so much of it in such a short amount of time, you’re putting your body through unnecessary hell.
But again, people don’t see the issue in that.
They are not aware of how much they are actually drinking in that short amount of time.
Especially for the people who have no self control when they drink.
You drink almost every day
Just as bad as binge drinking on weekends, if you find yourself drinking almost every day, it’s definitely time to take a break.
You absolutely need to lay off the booze if you’re binge drinking everyday! That was me.
I used to drink an entire bottle of wine almost every day.
If I was hungover the next day, I wouldn’t even think about alcohol. But as soon as the hangover was gone, I was back to drinking.
The most damage was done when I would drink the entire bottle and wake up the next morning feeling fine. To me, that meant I was in the clear to down yet another bottle that night.
And this vicious cycle continued for 4 years.
The amount of damage I put my body through in that time was horrific.
Yet sadly, there’s people who drink more than what I was consuming.
If you feel the need to drink every single day, you really need to take a break and seek help from a professional.
If those aren’t enough to convince you, Here are some physical signs you should take a break from alcohol
You’re not getting enough good quality sleep
Alcohol disrupts your sleep cycle which ultimately will disrupt your entire life!
While you might fall asleep quickly, you’re definitely not going to stay asleep.
It disrupts your REM sleep meaning you are not getting enough deep, restorative sleep.
Sleep is crucial for your overall health, and if you’re not getting enough of it, you’re definitely going to feel like crap every day.
Especially if you’re drinking a lot and often.
Alcohol is making you gain weight
Not getting decent sleep can cause you to overeat the next day.
Not good if you’re someone like me who was trying to lose weight during that time.
Drinking too much, especially sugary drinks, is just empty calories and a bunch of unnecessary sugar.
I used to get what I called drunk munchies.
I would get super hungry whenever I would drink so before I would get too wasted, I would cook myself a drunk meal.
Needless to say, I was gaining weight at such an alarming rate.
I remember getting new stretch marks on my body! Something I had not seen since I was a teen.
alcohol is affecting your mood
For one, if you’re not getting enough sleep that will make you irritable for sure.
And if you’re drinking often on top of not getting decent sleep, it can affect your mood.
Do you wake up cranky and irritated feeling like everything is getting on your last nerve?
That’s how I used to be all the time when I was drinking. I had such a short fuse and anything, and I mean ANYTHING would set me off.
I was always in a bad mood not realizing that alcohol was to blame for why I was behaving the way I was.
Drinking excessively can disrupt your brain chemistry which in turn will cause damage and brain fog.
And of course, we lose all common sense when drinking because we think having a drink will help calm our cranky mood, but it’s just adding fuel to the fire.
This just makes any already existing mental health issues worse and that was surely the case for me.
You’re blacking out when you drink
This one has to be one of the scariest things that happened to me while drinking.
When I began drinking heavily, I started blacking out.
Absolutely no recollection of the night before.
I would fall asleep in one place and wake up in another (at home).
It got so bad that I was blacking out even if I only drank one glass of wine.
That was definitely a sign that I needed to stop, but it wasn’t so easy as I’m sure is the case for many people.
Please consider getting help if you have experienced any of these signs from drinking alcohol
For some people, it doesn’t matter how bad your life is due to alcohol addiction, when you’re dependent on that substance, nothing else matters.
If you’re able to catch the signs in time, you might be able to stop a full blown addiction.
If you or a loved one are struggling with alcohol addiction, please seek help before it gets worse.
Take a break from alcohol, for at least 30 days, and see how you feel.
