Ever thought of how life would sound without alcohol? Ever wondered how sober people overcome social anxiety? What about adding sobriety to your repertoire–giving up alcohol and drug abuse entirely if you are addicted and seeking addiction recovery through a certified health care professional? If you have recently been thinking about such things, you could be sober curious.
What is the meaning of sober curiosity?
Sober curiosity is the ability to choose, question, think about and literally get curious about the expectation, invitation, and impulse to drinking. Sober curious people think more rationally and consciously about the choices and decisions regarding drinking alcohol. Unlike sobriety, the individual has the option to reason, question and change their drinking habits. The sober curious movement has helped people dealing with drug abuse and alcohol addiction to recognize the unhealthy effects associated with these habits and take a path to recovery.
Being sober curious when you are actually not sober is primarily never an option for serious alcohol-addicted individuals. Those dealing with extreme alcohol cravings, dangerous activities, withdrawal symptoms and other mental and physical problematic effects like depression can find it challenging to stay sober than other alcohol drinkers. With that said, sobriety is the only option for such cases.
Why should you seriously consider getting sober?
The idea of cutting down or completely doing away with alcohol is mainly to improve health. Alcoholism has many adverse effects on the human body, and only sober living is the comeback for a beautiful, healthy body. Here are a few reasons why you need to cut down alcohol and seek medical help.
1. To avoid dehydration
Alcohol is an astringent that works to dehydrate your body. When alcohol comes into contact with your body cells, your cell dries up as alcohol tends to suck the fluids inside the cell, making them exit the cell. It is the same reason why it is effective in injections at the hospitals as it kills and dehydrates the germs in a wound, making it sterile. Alcohol also contains diuretic properties, meaning that it makes your body get rid of fluids from both the digestive tract and the stomach. Similarly, it deactivates the water-retaining hormone in the body, leaving you dehydrated.
2. Sleep better
While alcohol can help you sleep, it heavily interferes with good, deep, restful sleep. Alcohol makes you feel lethargic– it depresses your central nervous system. It lowers the blood pressure & heart rate as well as slowing respiration. Once you take alcohol, the liver starts working immediately to metabolize the alcohol from the body. Consequently, all the bodily processes involved speed up and cause agitation.
When you are sober, you sleep better and rest more because your breathing is optimal, and metabolism is taking place effectively. Every time you ingest alcohol, a lot of organs have to be involved and work twice extra to eliminate it, this can make the body lose the ability to sleep and rest better.
3. Cut down on weight
While alcohol cut down is mainly associated with a healthy lifestyle, simply not taking alcohol is a free ticket to weight loss. Individuals who are addicted to beer are more likely to rejoice more as beer is high in calories. Alcohol is a natural appetite stimulant that makes one eat more. Due to its draining and dehydration effects, one is likely to feel weak, dizzy and sick if they don’t eat well, but when sober, you are in a better position to make wise decisions regarding your diet. This way, you keep your weight in check.
4. Reduce cancer risk
Alcohol is the number one contributor to cancer and other lifestyle-related conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke. Alcohol intake and drug abuse over a long period of time are both dangerous to the liver, kidney and other vital internal organs like the throat, stomach, esophagus, and colon.
Seek help and start your addiction recovery journey
As sober curiosity gets popular, more people are thinking, asking and considering sobriety. Most commonly known as “generation sober” millennials have embraced the sober curious culture which has made it possible for sobriety to be accepted. Entrepreneurs have eyed a profitable opportunity by opening sober bars where non-alcoholic, and mocktail drinks are served.
It is normal to be curious about whether drinking is actually considered normal, abusive, problematic or social. It doesn’t matter whether you are taking alcohol for the first time, take only during events, parties, ceremonies or holidays, or you are the type of people who can’t recall a day when you were sober, taking alcohol means risking being alcoholic. About 1 in 10 social drinkers develop alcoholism, and the odds increase to 5 if you live with or around people with alcoholism. Remember, alcoholism means the inability to stop drinking despite knowing the negative consequences.
If you immensely crave to drink alcohol, feel depressed, agitated or frustrated when you don’t take alcohol, then you may be dealing with alcoholism. It is essential that you seek help immediately and begin your recovery journey.
