When is it time to stop drinking?

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Now it does not seem strange if a person gets drunk every Friday to the state of "shit", on Saturday he gets a hangover and on Sunday "cucumber", because he does not drink all week. Also, you don't feel any tragedy if you drink a glass of wine every other day or often indulge yourself with coffee and cognac. You can even jokingly call each other alcoholics, knowing that they are not. What if this is the case?

Every Friday I'm in shit, and every Monday I'm a cucumber. Semyon Slepakov

Of course, everyone knows that it is better to stop drinking altogether, but rarely does anyone do it. Where is the fine line between a healthy person who drinks alcohol and an alcoholic who thinks he is a healthy person?

A little about drunkenness without alcoholism

So, on a weekday evening, a friend invited you to have a glass of beer in your favorite bar, a friend invites you to visit and takes wine, after work to relieve stress, you drink a cup of coffee, heavily charged with cognac. Is it about you?

This is an episodic drunkenness

You can't even tell how often you drink, because it's very irregular, and you can't tell exactly how much to drink to get drunk, because when how. If you have gone too far, it will be bad in the morning, but the thought of drinking in this state makes you feel sick.

It's too early to worry if your episodes are not repeated too often.

Another type is ritual drunkenness

Every second can boast of this. Family or public holidays have traditionally dealt with alcohol, and you don't give up alcohol. It's a lot of fun for everyone to plan together what you will eat and drink, buy all of this, then sit down at the table and, in fact, celebrate. On other days, you do not touch alcohol.

This is also not very scary, but only serious holidays are considered, and not the International Day of KVN or the Day of the Journalist in China (of course, if you are not a KVN player or a Chinese journalist).

And so we got to the first dangerous level of drunkenness - habitual

If you can drink with or without reason (well, of course!), Or absolutely any event becomes a reason for you, for example, stress at work, or even just returning from work.

This does not mean that you get fat every day to the state of a log, but you do drink very often. Sometimes you may not drink (which helps you think that you are not an alcoholic and not dependent on it), but these periods of sobriety are becoming less common.

Attention! If you drink 2 times a week consistentlyand sometimes more, this is it. The habitual drunkenness is relentlessly followed by the first stage of alcoholism, and in the body, meanwhile, this is what happens.

How the body gets used to booze

Gradually, the balance of chemicals in the brain is disrupted: gamma-aminobutyric acid, glutamate and dopamine hormone. The first substance is responsible for impulsivity, the second for stimulating the nervous system, and dopamine in general for pleasure, which decides.

The metabolism of this hormone in pleasure centers and reward centers changes, so you stop getting high on simple things that please non-alcoholics.

Of course, everything is not as critical as in neglected cases, when pleasure and a normal existence in general is simply unthinkable without alcohol, but the degree of joy from meeting friends, a festive event and everything else without alcohol is noticeably reduced.

When the body is already accustomed

When drunkenness turns into light alcoholism, no events are needed to drink, you can do it just like that. You don't want to get drunk yet, but you can force yourself. For example, if you have to go to work, and you feel very bad, or on Saturday morning or Sunday.

And here are some more signs that you might be calling yourself an alcoholic in earnest:

1. One is also not bad to drink, and it does not matter what - beer in front of the TV or vodka, because it is sad and at work they got it.
2. Thirsty for a drink, just like that.
3. You do not know how to control yourself - you drink to the cut, and then your friends drag you home.
4. Memory losses. Large sections of dead neurons in the brain carry away memories of yesterday's fun into oblivion.
5. There are special rituals - walking after work with a bottle of beer to your favorite music in the player, celebrating Friday with a liter of vodka or something else just as regular.
6. You score a lot on what. Favorite activities disappear, there is simply no more interest in doing something that has always brought pleasure, for example, playing sports or gluing airplanes.
7. More quarrels with family and friends, friends. You freak out over trifles, and constantly with someone at knives.

In fact, you are not alone in your mild alcoholism, a lot of people are at this stage, they can stay at it for a long time or quit completely.

But how long does it take before the first stage turns into the third(the standard alcoholic no one doubts about)?

It depends on your condition, character, health and gender. Maybe five to seven years, maybe a few months. If any problems arise: a broken heart, troubles at work, missing inspiration, many are comforted in the usual way, and this is already really dangerous.

Which exit? Quit completely.

The first stage of alcoholism can be checked like this: try not to drink for three months.

It seems to many that this is simple, but few can cope. In the end, during these three months, your body will recover, it will begin to produce as much dopamine again as it needs to get high without drinking. Who knows, maybe you just don't want to start over afterwards?