How To Stop Drinking Naturally: Home Remedies

So when you get seriously thirsty, what’s a strategy that will save you? If your buddies aren’t answering the phone and you’re staring a bottle down, playing the tape through is a craving crusher that will help. It’s a mental exercise that is easy to do anywhere and at anytime.

Naltrexone is a medication that belongs to a group of drugs known as opioid antagonists. It binds to and blocks opioid receptors in the brain, which reduces the buzz and intoxicated feeling you get from drinking alcohol. Internal triggers are thoughts, feelings, sensations, and beliefs inside you that feed your cravings for alcohol. Cravings are rooted in both psychological and physical factors. Understanding and recognizing these factors will help you reduce or manage cravings more effectively.

External Triggers for Alcohol Consumption

The drug helps ease alcohol withdrawal symptoms like insomnia, anxiety, and depression. With time, and by practicing new responses, you’ll find that your urges to drink will lose strength, and you’ll gain confidence in your ability to deal with urges that may still arise at times. If you are having a very difficult time with urges, or do not make progress with the strategies in this activity after a few weeks, then consult a healthcare professional for support. In addition, some new, non-addictive medications can reduce the desire to drink or lessen the rewarding effect of drinking so it is easier to stop.

Drinking on an empty stomach is never a good idea, so make sure you eat food when you drink. Get enough sleep every night as exhaustion can make cravings worse. In a sense, triggers produce changes that are very similar to the types of changes that occur when one is about to be rewarded. If certain environments, scenarios and places tempt you to drink, the simplest and most effective approach may be to avoid them, at least temporarily.

Ready to drink less, but don’t know where to start?

Consider how giving into an urge keeps it alive while not giving into the urge slowly kills it. While you can’t make the urge go away, you can see it for what it is. Discover your earliest red flag signals so you won’t be caught off guard.

Reminding yourself of what the consequences will be if you do indulge in alcohol cravings can help you resist the urge to drink as well. Continuing to misuse alcohol can weaken your mental health, making you more susceptible to anxiety and depression. Giving in to alcohol cravings might also cause you to reopen wounds you’ve been trying to mend with friends and family. So when the urge to drink is strong, ask yourself if drinking “just this one time” is worth everything and everyone you could potentially lose. When you focus on eating foods that support a healthy digestive system, you are ensuring that your body has the ability to properly absorb any vitamins and nutrients that are entering its system. Having a consistent replenishment of these amino acids, vitamins, and minerals will decrease the chances of experiencing alcohol cravings.

The Fastest (and Most Effective) Ways to Curb Alcohol Cravings

Each drinking relapse is an opportunity to learn and recommit to sobriety, so you’ll be less likely to relapse in the future. Lean on close friends and family – Having the support of friends and family members is an invaluable asset in recovery. If you’re reluctant to turn to your loved ones because you’ve let them down before, consider going to couples counseling or family therapy.

• When you’re craving alcohol, there’s a tendency to remember the positive effects of drinking and forget the negatives.
• Nuts are small nutrient powerhouses and a healthy snack for a quick pick-me-up.
• Most commonly used to treat depression, St. John’s wort may also help curb the urge to drink.
• This may happen often if you have used alcohol to relieve boredom in the past.
• After successfully going through Muse alcohol rehab or dealing with alcohol addiction it is crucial to curb your alcohol cravings.
• Salmon is protein-packed, which can boost neurotransmitter levels.

Individualized treatment programs delivered in a comfortable, relaxed setting promote healing in your recovery journey. Eating on a consistent schedule may also regulate blood glucose levels to prevent cravings for beer, wine, or liquor. You can accomplish this by having breakfast, lunch, and dinner about four to https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-to-stop-alcohol-cravings/ five hours apart and consuming light snacks between meals. This, in turn, will reduce your need for an alcoholic drink as a quick, but short-termed energy source. Fresh fruits and veggies are a given in any diet, but including a few portions of your favorite fruits can reduce a craving quickly and effectively.

While all of these tools are integral to your success in sobriety, there are natural forms of coping that will increase your chances and abilities to remain sober and curb cravings. During and after your alcohol rehab program, you’ll inevitably experience mood changes, accompanied by physical changes. Sometimes, these will go hand in hand, leading to alcohol cravings, especially in the early phases of recovery. Besides learning to take good care of yourself mentally, you should also pay attention to the physical component of being in recovery. After successfully going through Muse alcohol rehab or dealing with alcohol addiction it is crucial to curb your alcohol cravings.

• Of course, none of these tips on their own will ever eliminate your cravings completely and the best avenue for treatment will always be through a reputable treatment facility.
• Make a table like the one below, weighing the costs and benefits of drinking to the costs and benefits of quitting.
• The information we provide while responding to comments is not intended to provide and does not constitute medical, legal, or other professional advice.
• You may be triggered by associating alcohol to places, situations or people.