I deal with alcohol and how it affects sleep in Alcohol Explained, but I think it is worth going in to a bit more detail on exactly how drinking alcohol impacts our sleep. To appreciate the effect fully we need to understand three things; how our brain works, how...
It's not just Alcohol Explained, in fact it's not just alcohol. Whether you are trying to quit drinking, or smoking, or anything else, often a method that worked very well the first time just doesn't seem so effective the second time around. Why is this? Actually...
I find myself working from home at the moment, which is a challenge, albeit mainly because I am getting used to a slightly different way of working. Years ago this would have been an excuse to drink even more and a lot of people seem to be using the Coronavirus as an...
One of the central frustrations of the drinker is the fact that we get alcohol into our bloodstream through our stomach (we imbibe it my drinking it, it goes into our mouths and from there into our stomach where it works its way into our digestive system before...
One of the reasons we tend to drink far too much when we fall off the wagon is because alcohol isn’t all it’s cracked up to be; we exaggerate the effects in our mind and build it up to be the elixir of life when all it really is, is a drug in a drink form. It’s the...
Something that some people struggle with is the concept that every drinker, no matter how occasional or light, suffers alcohol withdrawal. They understand the concept that the brain has its own naturally occurring drugs, hormones and chemicals, they understand that...
I have read a few articles recently saying that there is no point trying to give up an addiction until you address the underlying problems that caused that addiction to take hold in the first place; the loss of a loved one, unemployment, low self-esteem, depression...
The problems with drugs is that the brain seeks to compensate for whatever effect the drug is having, so when the drug eventually leaves our system the brain is then out of kilter. Imagine your brain as one of those memory foam mattresses. Flat is ok, a lump on it...
This is a talk I gave at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary Alcohol Liaison Unit. You'll have to forgive the rather dreary monologue, it was better live; talking in front of a live audience is far more engaging than than sitting alone at home late in the evening after a...
This is a slightly amended response of mine to a post in the Facebook Alcohol Explained group about cravings. I thought it was worth sharing a bit more widely: Don’t forget what a ‘craving’ is. It is you, fantasising about how nice it would be to have a drink. It is a...
A contact through the Alcohol Explained Facebook Group recently posted an animation of my last blog post. I thought it was incredibly effective so we’ve worked together to create the following which details the physiological effects of drinking. Please let me know if...
Let’s look at the ways in which our lifestyle can influence our drinking. This article is primarily about the dynamics that come into play in regular, daily drinking, as opposed to binge drinking. To be clear I am not dealing with traumatic events that have been shown...
Most people can understand how drinking upsets the delicate chemical balance in their brain, leaving them feeling anxious, out of sorts, and even out and out depressed. They therefore have a reasonable expectation when they stop drinking that they will be happier....
There a general accepted platitude about alcoholism that the addict has to hit rock bottom before they can start recovery. Like most of the platitudes and accepted ‘knowledge’ about drinking and alcoholism, it is not only incorrect it is also dangerous and contributes...
So how do you redeem yourself for all the terrible things you did while you were drinking? Do you need to seek people out to apologise? Or do good deeds to make up for the bad? Or spend your life dragging around your guilt like Jacob Marley's ghost? Well here's some...
I’ve been thinking a bit recently about how and why alcohol withdrawal is so powerful. As I cover in Alcohol Explained the physical withdrawal from alcohol occurs because the brain seeks to counter the depressive effects of the alcohol by releasing its own supply of...
