Whilst hangovers are notorious for rendering us helpless and hanging over a toilet bowl Bridget Jones style, the ‘alcohol blues’ which commonly comes along with said hangover can last for much longer and can be far subtler and more insidious. In fact, so much so that many people, when they give up drinking for the […]
Whilst hangovers are notorious for rendering us helpless and hanging over a toilet bowl Bridget Jones style, the ‘alcohol blues’ which commonly comes along with said hangover can last for much longer and can be far subtler and more insidious. In fact, so much so that many people, when they give up drinking for the first time cannot believe just how amazing they feel once they have allowed for their neurochemistry to settle down. It can be said then, that most regular/ mid to heavy drinkers are harbouring some sort of alcohol blues all the time and not even realizing it.
Alcohol blues are ‘thing’ because alcohol messes with your neurotransmitters. Once we have had the initial dopamine spike from our first few sips of drink, our brain fires out cortisol, adrenaline (stress hormones) and dynorphin (a depressant) to balance things back out again, leaving us feeling worse than when we started. When we drink regularly, we start to associate that short lived initial dopamine spike with some sort of relief from our perceived normal rather miserable state that has in fact been created by the chronic alcohol blues. We don’t realise that we are feeding the feelings of feeling blue by doing the very thing that we think is relieving it.
Step 1 then: stop drinking
Easier said than done some might say but entirely worth it. This is where sober coaches like me, amoungst many others can be of help and of course reading Quit Lit, listening to podcasts and submerging yourself in the amazingly magical and growing sober world out there.
Step 2: ditch the lack mentality
You are literally adding in so so much more than you are taking away. When you stop living in chronic alcohol induced blues it is really quite magical to realise that life does not have to be just a little bit depressing.
Step 3: bring your brain and body back into balance
This won’t happen straight away and you will need to give yourself about 3 months for your bio chemistry to balance out but there are lots of things you can do to help this:
Nutrition:
– balance your blood sugar by eating three meals a day, plus snacks;
– eat protein with every meal.
– Rather than worrying about cutting out anything “bad” focus on adding in lots nourishing foods to help your body repair. Dark leafy greens are GREAT for your liver so adding some in daily is a GREAT move.
Supplements:
– Consider supplementing – there is a new fantastic supplement out created by the Natural Health Practice in collaboration with Janey Lee Grace whom I have trained with called ‘Advanced Liver Support’ which is packed full of things that your body needs to bring itself back into balance and repair from years of drinking.
Dopamine:
– Become aware of where you are still seeking a dopamine hit. Addictive behaviours cause the dopamine receptors to flatten and become less responsive to dopamine cues. The quicker we stop over stimulating our dopamine response the better, as this allows everything to come back into balance once more. Becoming aware of behaviours such as over checking of our phones, over consumption of sugar, gambling, shopping binges etc. can be really helpful.
Exercise:
– According to Dr. Kelly McGonigall, exercise can help to re-wire the addictive pathways in your brain and help to get all of your happy hormones balanced and firing properly again. Whilst exercise also creates pathways that mimic addictive behaviour, the lasting impact of exercise on our neurotransmitters is positive, unlike drugs and alcohol (although alcohol is a drug, but that’s another blog post).
The Good news:
For some, stopping drinking can result in feeling really fantastic really very quickly and with others it may take a little longer, but I can tell you that it is 100% worth it. When we give our bodies the chance to balance out, we come back to our natural feel good state- the way that we were born to feel.
The really good news is that there are so many resources out there to support people with choosing a sober journey now with me being one of them! If you need any support at all in your sober journey, wherever you may be along that path, please reach out to me for coaching by clicking the contact tab on my website or emailing me at thrive@coachingbyanneka.co.uk and I will be happy to design a package that works for you so that you can step into your true power and banish the alcohol blues for good.
