7 psychological benefits of quitting alcohol (forever)

Alcohol is currently the most widely used legal drug in the world. It is the social drug par excellence, and it is difficult to find people who have not drunk alcohol in their life.

But that is changing. For years we have had scientific evidence that discourages alcohol consumption, due to its clear relationship with various types of cancer and many other diseases. The World Health Organization and the vast majority of health institutions warn that there is no safe consumption of alcohol, and that the safest dose is 0.

• Related article: "Alcoholism: these are the effects of alcohol dependence"

7 psychological benefits of quitting alcohol

Gone are those hoaxes about a glass of wine a day being good for the heart. False myths financed by alcohol companies to continue selling their poison.

But I'm a psychologist, so I'm going to talk to you about the psychological benefits of quitting alcohol (forever). Because there are (and there are many).

1. Greater mental clarity

Alcohol kills neurons, destroys connections, damages the cerebral cortex, hinders blood supply to the brain. These physical effects

have direct consequences on our intelligence, on our memory, on our ability to concentrate.

And of course there are many extremely intelligent people who have been drinking alcohol all their lives. But we must not fall into the fallacy that they are immune to the neurological damage of alcohol. Simply, they have achieved all their successes despite the consumption of alcohol.

If a successful or famous person who drank a lot of alcohol comes to mind, think that alcohol has only been a glass ceiling in his life. He has limited his potential, he has limited his abilities. Alcohol does not add, it does not provide advantages of any kind, it only subtracts.

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2. You will improve your self-esteem

Why do we drink alcohol? Largely because of its obvious disinhibiting effects. Alcohol temporarily "turns off" part of the prefrontal cortex, a part responsible for much of our self-control abilities.

Most people use alcohol to temporarily ignore feelings of embarrassment, and thus dance in public, talk to the person we like or allow ourselves to do the first silly thing that comes to mind.

Alcohol does not give any magical power, it simply makes it easier for us to do certain things without feeling bad about it (until the hangover comes). What is the relationship between alcohol consumption and self-esteem? Well, what we commonly call self-esteem depends largely on our sense of self-efficacy. Getting things and being aware that we had something to do with it.

What alcohol does is give us a false sense of self-esteem., as if Asterix took a few sips of his magic potion to fight the Romans. But since Asterix has the power of the magic potion, he doesn't exercise or train. So if the Romans arrive at a time when you don't have a potion, you won't have much to do against them.

When we abuse alcohol to keep our low self-esteem afloat, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to learn how to deal with scary social situations. Self-confidence is not something we suddenly gain one day. It is something we build from many interactions. So, a direct consequence of giving up drinking is to improve our self-esteem and our social skills without needing to get high.

• Related article: "Do you really know what self-esteem is?"

3. You will overcome dependency

Alcohol is addictive, and many people suffer from psychological dependence on alcohol, even if they don't know it yet. Many dynamics of abusive consumption are normalized in our society, so some cases of addiction easily go unnoticed.

When we're down, we grab onto the closest lifesaver. That's why many people who have had recreational alcohol consumption on weekends for years end up escalating their consumption and developing alcoholism after drinking. some emotionally intense event, some crisis. Like the death of a loved one, a divorce, a bad time...

Getting away from alcohol as soon as possible will eliminate the chances of developing an addictive behavior problem in the future.

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4. You will regain your motivation

Alcohol, like all other addictive drugs, hijacks the brain's reward mechanisms. One of the reasons alcohol and other drugs are so addictive is that they promote the release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters associated with feelings of reward and reinforcement.

When we abuse these mechanisms for a long time, the brain develops tolerance to the effects of these neurotransmitters, so it becomes more and more difficult for us to experience the feeling of motivation without consuming alcohol (and greater amounts every time).

A person who uses alcohol every weekend or even daily, you are likely to experience this lack of motivation in the rest of your life. Giving up alcohol restores the brain's reward mechanisms, making it easier for us to feel motivation and other pleasurable emotions on a daily basis and often.

• Related article: "The brain's reward system: what is it and how does it work?"

5. You will feel less anxiety

Another reason why so many people consume alcohol is as a way to self-medicate in the face of worry, anxiety, or sadness. If our usual relaxation rituals revolve around alcohol, we will be taking away the opportunity to face stressful situations on our own, in a natural way.

Alcohol temporarily disconnects us from unpleasant emotions, making us less anxious in the short term, but at the price of making us feel more anxious in the long term. Because every time we feel anxiety, instead of accepting it and managing it in a healthy way, we turn to alcohol, the closest emotional lifesaver (just out of habit).

6. You will strengthen your friendships

Many people drift away from us over the years. Our interests change, evolve, mature, we prioritize other things. It is something that also happens a lot with "friendships" that are only sustained by alcohol consumption.

They often tell me in therapy how after giving up alcohol, they realized that they were having quite superficial friendships.even somewhat toxic. People with whom almost 100% of the plans had to revolve around alcohol. And if there weren't any drinks in between, they didn't really know what to talk about or how to enjoy their time together.

Stopping social dependence on alcohol also helps us to better "filter" our relationships, and focus only on those that really bring us, that we enjoy spending time together. If you think about it, the fact that you need to get high to hold a conversation with someone is a bad sign of the connection you have.

7. you will sleep much better

Alcohol alters the circadian rhythms of the brain, including the complex mechanisms of sleep. Most people who stop drinking alcohol improve their quality of sleep over time, with all the benefits that this brings to other aspects of life.

• You may be interested: "Insomnia: what is it and how it impacts our health"

Do you need help to quit alcohol?

Giving up alcohol and becoming abstinent is a very brave decision, because it means facing a large part of society that is going to pressure us to continue drinking. In addition, almost everyone has been subjected to years and years of marketing and normalizing alcohol consumption to celebrate and feel good. It is not easy to free ourselves from psychological dependence on alcohol.

Am Louis Michael Royal, specialist psychologist in addictions, and if you think you need help to quit alcohol, it will be a pleasure to lend you a hand. Contact me and we will get to work as soon as possible.