Easy Ways to Drink in Moderation: 13 Steps with Pictures

She says that alcohol itself is not terribly toxic, but the liver breaks it down into acetaldehyde, which damages DNA and plays a key role in cancer development. Sunnyside helps you evaluate your current drinking pattern, devise a plan to cut back, record your progress, and offer support when you stumble along the way. Moderate drinking has the fewest health risks of all drinking patterns.

Moderation in the time of Coronavirus

By following this marker of moderate drinking, you can mentally take note and pace yourself when alcohol is involved. In my professional opinion those upon the continuum without a physical dependence such as mild to moderate Sober living house use disorder can, with the right tools, skills and support can learn to drink alcohol at safer levels. It is a fantastic opportunity to begin a moderation journey to increased health and wellbeing.

Understanding Alcohol Drinking Patterns

Monument https://ecosoberhouse.com/ also provides therapist-moderated online alcohol support groups on a range of topics, including navigating moderation. With Monument, you can feel empowered to make progress on your own terms, while knowing you have a holistic support network cheering you on. Adults of legal drinking age can choose not to drink or to drink in moderation. Excessive alcohol use, either on an occasion or over time, can have negative effects on your health, quality of life, and safety. That doesn’t mean that binge drinking or getting blackout drunk are OK, of course.

The potential benefits of quitting, at least temporarily

• It’s estimated some 15 million Americans have AUD, although the number may be higher as AUD is likely underdiagnosed (1,2).
• Establishing a healthy relationship with alcohol means something different for everyone.
• Third, people can try out Dry January—whether that involves cutting back or quitting entirely.
• Moderation gives you control of your drinking and allows you to take back control of your life.
• It can also be a sign of short-term memory issues and experiences of grief or loss, she says, which are better managed with proper treatment and support.
• You might wonder if there’s a healthy way to drink, how much alcohol consumption is considered moderate, and how much is too much.

For women, heavy drinking is defined as consuming 8 drinks or more per week. Limiting alcohol consumption to just a few drinks per week or avoiding it entirely seems to be the safest recommendation. “In general, it is better to have one drink per day rather than having several drinks at once during the week, as this minimizes the harmful effects of binge drinking,” added Chen. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that males have no more than two drinks per day and females have no more than one drink per day. Most experts agree that, in general, the less a person drinks, the lower their risk of adverse health outcomes. Still, the amount of alcohol that’s considered safe can how to drink moderately vary from person to person depending on their age, health history, genetic makeup, and general lifestyle habits.

• Here’s a list of 80+ low- or non-alcoholic beverages that mimic the taste of the real thing.
• That misconception is rooted in a 1992 paper that found that moderate wine consumption protected French people against heart disease—even though their diet included plenty of meat, oil and butter.
• She hears “the biggest complaints” about alcohol from patients entering perimenopause because the ability to metabolize alcohol really changes around that age.
• It is a fantastic opportunity to begin a moderation journey to increased health and wellbeing.

What Is Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)?

You will need be prepared to constantly swim against the tide of addiction. This is because the way addictive drugs affect humans is by confusing our minds and bodies into ‘needing’ to take more of it over time. The fundamental way it cons our minds is that the last drink we had causes stress hormones to be released into our bodies. This feeling of stress caused by the last drink is partially relieved by the next drink. Hence the ‘aaaah’ sigh of relief when you get that glass in your hand.

Moderated drinking is, in many ways, easier than complete abstinence. When your goal is only one drink instead of no drinks at all, the temptation to stray can become less powerful and you can more often enjoy positive reinforcement from your successes. Once you are able to control how much you drink, you may find that you’re better able to enjoy family gatherings, social events, and work events. If you use alcohol to manage stress or self-medicate, fear of how you’ll cope without alcohol might hamper your efforts to regain control of your drinking.