In the news recently, alcohol concern has been urging people to give up alcohol throughout January. The campaign “Dry January” hopes to raise awareness of alcohol-related problems. And if one of these problems is that you just cannot give up drinking, then you need to find a way in 2016 to achieve this.
Abstaining from alcohol for very heavy drinkers can cause problems
The people who have a dependency on alcohol, abstaining can be a major problem, as withdrawal symptoms include high anxiety, insomnia, and for very heavy drinkers, it could cause seizures, and hallucinations.
For heavy drinkers, attending your GP and going through rehabilitation scheme is the only way of dealing with this. Those with a less serious problems but still find they cannot give up a daily glass of wine, whiskey or beer will find that hypnotherapy is a very effective way of changing the habit.
Abstaining for a whole month will show whether you have a problem or not. Giving in part way through the month may show that it’s more than a habit. Last year more than 2 million people signed up to “Dry January”, and there is a lot of evidence to show that not drinking for a month can help with other problems such as weight loss. Fat accumulates in the liver as the result of drinking alcohol, and a month of not drinking any alcohol can improve the health of your liver. There is also clear evidence of abstaining from drinking alcohol will improve your sleep. Despite many people starting drinking to help relax them and to in prove sleep to start with.
Cutting back will also improve your performance at work. If you have ambition and you drink socially to network with people you might find it’s actually not helping, as alcohol will cause lack of focus which can result in costly mistakes. I used to work in the IT industry and going out on a Friday and Saturday night was a regular occurrence. But it was the undoing of some colleagues – some found they could not keep up with the pace of work, another actually died in a car accident on his way to a customer on Monday morning because he still had alcohol in his blood stream from late night drinking on the Saturday!
Ways of cutting back on alcohol
One way of cutting back drinking alcohol, is to make sure you don’t buy it in the first place. Quite a few clients of mine over the years have said their partners don’t help, as they insist on having a glass of wine with their dinner, and they feel obliged to join them. I point out to them, that if they had to give up because of serious health implications such as diabetes or cancer, then they would give up – and they agreed this would be the case. They think not drinking alcohol is antisocial, but that’s just a mindset that they can change.
Keep less alcohol in the house. Be mindful when you’re buying your shopping in the supermarket. When you’re out socialising, stick to non-alcoholic drinks. If you like Gin and tonic for example, then only drink tonic water. You can learn to change the way you think about socialising, and you may find it’s not as pleasurable as people who drink a lot tend not to notice how boring they have become!
So try joining those 2 million people for the month of January in giving up alcohol, and if you find it too difficult then contact me to help you change that habit.
Text “Drink” to 07508 658934 or contact me to help you stop or reduce your drinking habit using hypnotherapy as your tool of choice.
Disclaimer:
Hypnotherapy is effective, however results may vary and success in not guaranteed. Full client commitment is important. Please read FAQ’s for more details.
Penny Ling is a widely experienced hypnotherapist who has worked with everyone from top executives to stroke victims since 2007. She has been editor of Hypnotherapy Today Magazine and is a supervisor and mentor for members of the AfSFH and NCH.
Read Penny’s inspiring story “How I beat all my phobias”, or find out more how hypnotherapy could help your problem by downloading “How Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can help with life”. Feel free to send Penny a message here.
