With the rise of wearables, like smart watches, we have more data than ever about our physical and mental health. Have you noticed that the days you drink alcohol your wearable shows more disrupted sleep? Or have you noticed it’s just that bit more difficult to get yourself out of bed in the morning? Although alcohol is a depressant and can make you feel sleepy, its impact on sleep quality is far from restful. How does alcohol affect sleep? Disrupted sleep patterns: While alcohol may help you fall asleep faster, it disrupts the natural sleep cycle by suppressing rapid eye movement sleep, often ..read more

I always had an on-and-off relationship with alcohol. From a young age, my friends and I loved partying – we lived for the weekend. Friday and Saturday nights were spent at the pub or nightclubs often not getting home till sunrise. I was also very involved in sport and I would abstain from alcohol completely while I was training and competing. However, once the season was over, I would “let my hair down” and that would always get out of hand. It’s almost like there were two versions of me. It got to a point where, as much as I loved a beer or a night out, I struggled to control my drinking. Th ..read more

If you’re thinking about changing your relationship with alcohol, one of the first decisions you will make is whether you want to cut back or quit altogether. In Australia, alcohol is involved in so many aspects of everyday life that for some people, the thought of never having a drink again is so daunting that they end up making no change at all. For others, having alcohol only in particular situations of their choice, feels doable. So how do you decide what’s best for you? Understanding moderation vs abstinence Drinking in moderation means you still enjoy a drink, but avoid the harms to heal ..read more

In a society where socialising and celebration usually means alcohol, the choice to take time away from drinking can be tough. The good news is, if you’re looking at changing your relationship with alcohol, attitudes towards drinking are changing. You have options. Our changing drinking culture According to new data from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, just released, there has been a continued decline in the proportion of Australians drinking at risky levels compared to previous years, especially among those in their 20s. It’s becoming the new normal as more people become aware of ..read more

If you set an intention to do some things differently this year, now is a good time to review how you are going and give yourself a little high five.  In our last article, we talked all things goal setting: how to set clear goals, understanding your ‘why’ and working out what support you need to set yourself up for success.    Nailing your new year’s goals? Reward yourself without alcohol  Celebrating the wins, big and small, can keep you on track. Let’s face it, change can be hard, even when you are really motivated. A little self recognition of your persistence and commit ..read more

A new year, a new years’ resolution. Have you ever enthusiastically set a new year’s goal only to have it fall over by the time February rolls around? We’ve all been there. Why? It could be that those resolutions are too big or unrealistic and you’ve set yourself up for failure instead of success right from the get-go. Success means different things for different people. When it comes to your relationship with alcohol, if you’ve ever wondered about how to set great goals and how to keep to them to make real changes, read on. If you are planning to cut back on alcohol, or quit altogether, you’l ..read more

I grew up in a Sydney inner city pub culture where even now, in my late 50s, if I have a chat with a mate, it is generally over a beer or two. I am OK with this. However, while going through an unreasonably tough time at work during the COVID-influenced work from home era, I did “lean on” nightly drinking because I thought it was helping me get through the stressful situations. I have wonderful supportive people at home that I should have ‘leaned on’ instead, but I forgot what was important to me. Of course, it became a habit and got to the point where I was sick of waking up feeling rough and ..read more

The ending of the old year and the beginning of the new can be a joyous time of celebration and connection, but if you are trying to change your relationship with alcohol it may not always feel like the most wonderful time of the year. Alcohol is everywhere – even more than usual at this time of year. It’s served at every event – and there are so many more events. It suddenly becomes more acceptable to drink lots, more frequently and earlier in the day. It’s even in food! It can make it really hard to stick to your goals or make changes. So, if you are trying to take a break, cut back or quit ..read more

How to get back on track after a slip up  Changing your relationship with alcohol takes a lot of courage. You have to look at the things that are not working for you anymore and find a way to make changes. Change does not necessarily happen in a linear fashion. Even when you have the best plan in place, slip ups or what is termed lapses and relapses can occur. Experiencing a slip up where you reach for a drink is not a failure nor a sign of weakness. These are just years of automatic patterns and ways of coping coming up that need re-working. After the patterns are identified, you have a ..read more

As we journey towards a better relationship with alcohol, we often start thinking about our self-identity. We think about who we’ve been when we were drinking heavily, and we think about who we want to be, and why we want to change our drinking behaviour. We start assessing our own life stories and experiences. It is common for our ‘drinking stories’ and beliefs to become a part of our identity and who we think we are.  For some of us, we think drinking brings us fun and light-heartedness, so we come to believe that we probably can’t have these feelings without alcohol. How would we be ‘t ..read more