New Year Resolve: How To Quit Drinking

‘To quit drinking’ must be on top of the New Year Resolution list for most alcoholics.  New Year always brings positive sentiments in an individual and everyone looks forward to improve their lives during the coming New Year.

So this New Year if your resolve is to stop drinking, you need to get equipped to make this drastic lifestyle change.  First of all one needs to have a very practical plan of action instead of attempting to quit in one day where you may fail most often than not.  So here is a plan of action to make your New Year Resolution a big success.

The first and foremost is the thought that you are attempting something very signicant that helps you, your family, society and the country.  What a great feeling in the New Year that you are going to contribute to a big social cause that helps so many people around you.

The next best thing is to find a support group that can constantly support and motivate you in your efforts.  Many such support groups start new plan for alcoholics in the New Year.  They advice you with the right knowledge that can help you quit gradually.  There are a number of programs ranging from treatment based programs to advice and motivation for heavy drinkers or binge drinkers.

The New Years resolution to quit drinking must be written out in a paper or card.  You need to constantly remind yourself that that this is the most important thing in your life.  For every days improvement reward yourself with a chocolate or a gift that can help you take your attention away from drinking.

Quit Gradually.  If you cut right away you may have withdrawal symptoms which may weaken your resolve.  You may also get tempted after a couple days and go on a binge drink.  The best thing is to cut your drinking by 50% right away and gradually progress to complete abstention within the month.  But for this you must have a day by day plan on paper which must be achieved without deviation.  This will give you major psychological boost and help you achieve your new years resolve.

To achieve your New Year resolution to quit drinking one major support is the power of prayer or affirmations.  You can memorize a prayer or repeat an affirmation.  The spiritual power of prayer can give you good mental solace and support in difficult time. 

Making the resolution in New Year 2009 to quit drinking is not only possible, it's do-able. Obstacles can be exciting and thrilling, or they can be turn-offs and excuses for failure. It's up to the individual.

You Can Read My Book "How To Make 2009 Your Your Most Powerful Year Ever" to help you in your journey to recovery.

The person most likely to succeed is the one who asks: Why not go for it? Why not saddle up and sit back for what could be a fascinating ride?

Srinivasan Gopal

Mild Drinking May Turn Disastrous

If you must have your odd drink to relax  for the evening it is best to do it at home and when you have no other business for the evening where you need to drive to get some place.  It may sound a bit alrmist but it is best not even to step out of your house for a walk or small errands.  The reasons are well documented.

It is now well established that even small quantities of alcohol impairs your judgment where some amount of precision or co-ordination of the mind and body is required.   Even at low doses of alcohol, ability to judge is fairly decreased. 

Low doses could make you aggressive and prone to domestic violence including child abuse.  You turn more talkative, have disregard for social niceties and lose proper etiquettes required for interaction with others.

Depending upon your physical health you also experience some dizziness.

While any type of drinking is not advocated, drink mildly if you must in safe surroundings such as your home where you can get to bed after dinner and be out of harms way.  

Shocking Facts About Alcohol Consumption

Alcoholism is fatal disease. If it is not diagnosed and treated well in time it could result in disastrous consequences for the health if not resulting in untimely and unnatural death. Why I say unnatural is most of the death of alcoholics occur due to avoidable accidents.

The sad part is most of us do not recognize alcoholism as a disease. Alcohol affects our physiology in predictable ways that lead to addiction.

Here are some shocking facts about drinking and consequences of alcoholism

Worldwide alcohol causes 1.8 million deaths, which is 3.2 % of total deaths. US alone accounts for more than 100,000 deaths every year.

Alcoholism is the primary cause of 58.2 million Disability Adjusted Life Years.

Nearly 14 Americans meet with the diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorders.

Most of the youth who drink get their drink from friends and relatives.

50 % of the alcoholics have a blood relative who is or was an alcoholic or a problem drinker.

About 18% of Americans experience alchol dependence and go through alcohol abuse at some period during their lifetime.

45 % of road fatalities are due to alcohol related crashes.

World wide 20-30% of esophageal cancer, liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, homicide, epilepsy, and motor vehicle accidents occur due to alcohol abuse or heavy alcohol consumption.

Global consumption of the alcohol is on the increase especially in developing countries.

So next time around when you reach for that extra drink please keeps these facts in mind.

*Source: WHO & National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Alcohol Abuse Leads to Liver Damage

All the temporary pleasures of excessive alcohol consumption can lead to extreme pain in the long term.

Studies have conclusively proven the serious and harmful effects of long term alcohol abuse on the various organs of our body. While there have always articles that promote moderate consumption of alcohol as good for heart, there are few articles that promote the ill effects.

One of the most affected part of the body due to alcohol consumption is the liver a very vital organ of the body. Leave alone alcohol abuse even a somewhat higher consumtion can wreak havoc on the liver. Liver plays a central role in processing fat, sugar, proteins and vitamins and filtering the toxins from our internals. It also plays an important role in the body’s defense mechanism.

An excess consumption of alcohol puts stress on the livers ability to eliminate the toxins resulting in ALD (Alcoholic Liver Disease). Depending on severity it may ultimately lead to premature death due to livers incapacity to remove the toxins and poisoning the entire body.

Women compared with men develop the ALD’s faster and with lesser daily doses of alcohol.

It is best to cultivate a moderate alcohol use if not altogether avoid it if you want to lead a happy and healthy life. The recommended safe drinking is 1.5 ounces of 80 proof distilled spirit for men and half of it for women.

Drink if you must or want a little fun but keep it to the limits or consequences could lead to more pain than pleasure in the long run.

How to Recognize If You Are an Alcoholic

Most alcoholic do not believe that they are addicted. They tend to believe that they are well in control just because they are not drunk senseless. Here are a few symptoms which can tell you whether you are normal rare social drinker or alcoholic.

Craving: You are having an uncontrollable urge to drink through the day. Though you may want to cut down on your drinking you are unable and weak willed and reach for a drink at the smallest excuse.

Loss of Control: Unable to stop drinking once you begin. You may come in for criticism by friends and family. However the alcoholic will continue to drink in spite of all criticism and social ostracism.

Withdrawal symptoms: Feeling of depression, nausea and shakiness. Your hands may be shaking uncontrollably once the craving for a drink hits you. If you are unable to have your periodic drink you may have high anxiety. You may also have feelings of guilt but nevertheless you are unable to stop your drinking.

Increased tolerance: As alcoholism takes rout you need to drink greater amounts of alcohol to get the ‘highs’. You may also badly require a drink first thing in the morning to calm your nerves or get over your hangover.

If you are suffering from any one or all of the symptoms, it best to reach for help immediately through counseling and medical treatment. Prolonged alcohol abuse can result in mental and physical disorders and untimely death.

Glamorization of Alcoholic Drinks

At every turn in our life we see the blatant promotion of alcohol. The glamour of lifestyle and adventure associated with alcohol gives rise to the use of alchol as a extension of your personality and glamour.

One of the most common representation of such misuse and glamorization is seen often on TV during sports events when winners are drinking wine from the winning cup itself. We also see alcohol associated with success in various ads.

When on the one hand governments the world over are fighting the alcohol abuse, do we need such glamorous promotion of alcohol?

Sri

Check Your Alcoholism Now

If you are high strung individual with tendency to drink away your stress, you may unknowingly be turning into an alcoholic. While a very moderate drinking may help relieve the stress temporarily, it does not remove the root cause of the stress. To overcome you need to make lifestyle and career changes rather than resort to drinking.

The alcohol dependence, abuse or binge drinking is always camouflaged into social drinking, the rare binges or relaxation. The drinking of a relaxer in the evening may slowly be turning into a couple of extra drinks and slowly they may be leading into an alcoholism.

So what are the symptoms of alcoholism?

You are starting your drink very early in the evening.

You are unable to face the day without a drink during the course of the day.

You may be starting your drink early in the morning.
You need a drink before the crucial meeting with your clients or the boss.

If you do not get your regular alcohol you get into extreme depression.

You try to hide how much you drink or deny that you have drinking problem.

These are just a few of the early symptoms. You will be more shocked to know the effects of alcohol. The physical, psychological and the long & short term effects are disastrous for your life. You can download a free report on the effects of Alcohol right now here.

Many of the people who have had a drinking problem have benefitted immensely by The How To Give Up Alcohol Course. The choice is yours. Either
drink and die early or enjoy a happy healthy life by giving up the drinking habit. Just try it!

Alcohol Abuse Cannot Cure Stress

American Psychological Association reports that as the stress levels increase due to the worsening US and Global economic conditions, more people are reaching out to unhealthy passive methods of dealing with stress. About 50 % of the americans reach our for some kind of fast food to cope with stress. 18% drink alcohol and 16 % smoke to help deal with stress.

Most people do not realise that reaching out for that extra drink or the cigarette is slowly but inexorably pulling them into addiction. Acohol addiction is especially dangerous as it leads to severe health and psychological problems.

The results of alcohol abuse can be shocking as you can see from the video below.

Stress and problems never go away because of alcohol. They get compounded.

Find people who can listen and give you the right advice when you have stress. The choice is yours whether you want to get stressed or take a grip on the circumstances and setting them right.

Please don't hit the bottle.

Alcoholic Abuse - More Social Initiatives Needed

Today one of the headlines in an Indian news paper Times of India that caught my attention is ‘Drunk man slips and fall into well, dies’. 

Death due to binge drinking is not an isolated event even in a country where alcohol sales and consumption is highly regulated by the government.  Accidents and death due to alcohol consumption is an everyday occurrence and though shocking gets scant attention. 

People generally shrug off such events.  So what has gone wrong in a society where drinking is taboo?

Various government organizations enforcing prohibition are riddled with inefficient and corrupt officials who simply look the other way to get their own pound of the flesh.  However the major problem lies in the attitudinal, cultural and behavioral areas of alcohol consumption.

Instead of prohibition, the governments need to educate and mobilize public opinion on moderate social drinking.  Free availability with a proper attitude towards drinking can curb the problem to a great extent.

Schools and collages should have special sessions to educate the young people who are more impressionistic on the ill effects of drinking.  Above all glorifying drinking in advertisements and the entertainment mediums must be stopped.  Parental vigilance on children staying out over night or in hostels and proper counseling in time can help curb alcoholic abuse and binge drinking.

Though it is a long drawn out process, such social initiatives alone can help curb the alcoholic menace.  Regulatory measures may prove to be counterproductive.  

   

Binge Drinking Leads to Alcohol Poisoning

Binge drinking can lead to very serious consequences, the least of which is alcohol poisoning

How does binge drinking happen?  Why does a fun evening get together turn into a long evening of downing drink after drink?

The hidden frustrations, the upbeat mood of the evening, freedom from any restrictions, the macho challenges all add up to binging.  When a person has more than 5 drinks then it is considered as binge drinking.

Physiology and the rate of metabolizing vary from person to person.  Not all can have the same metabolic rate there by processing the amount of alcohol also varies.  When the body cannot process the large quantities of alcohol being poured in it results in alcohol poisoning.

The major symptoms of alcohol posing are loss of consciousness, slurred speech, seizures, erratic behavior, slow reflexes, no response to painful stimuli, pale skin, feeling very ill, protracted vomiting, slurred speech, difficulty awakening the person and irregular breathing.

Immediate medical attention is needed when a person is down with alcohol poisoning.  Failing to attend to alcohol poisoning may result in liver damage, cardio-vascular problems, neurological problems and even death.

An hour of fun can turning to serious life threatening problems.  It is always best to mix with people or groups who behave responsibly so that one is not drawn into a binge drinking and negative consequences for life. 

Srinivasan Gopal

Binge Drinking - Disastrous Consequences

If you have more than five drinks within short period of hours you are on binge drinking.

Binge drinking among youngsters especially those who are just entering collage is becoming cause of worry for the parents as well as the teaching community.  Bing drinking and alcohol related statistics related to students are staggering. 599000 collage students suffer alcohol related injuries.  1700 of those are fatal.  

The consequences of alcoholism and binge drinking among students include impaired mental abilities, unwanted sexual encounters, rape and sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea.

Women are more at risk of sexual exploitation after a binge drink session than men.  Women also suffer more as they end up with higher concentration of alcohol in the blood due to their smaller body mass.

While binge drinking is accepted practice in collages and among the youth, nevertheless society must sit up and take note of the ill effects of such drinking and strive for balance and dissemination of knowledge to the youth on the future consequences.

Underage drinking must be watched, discouraged and legal age must be raised to act as a deterrent.  Only then can we hope to seriously tackle alcohol abuse.

Srinivasan Gopal