Five Distractions to Keep You From Drinking

Urges occur when least expected but if you react quick enough your chances of avoiding these sudden cravings of alcohol can increase ten-fold. If you are recovering from alcoholism, you may find our five distractions become extremely useful in avoiding alcohol.

The idea of a adopting the distraction distraction technique is to keep your mind occupied with another task or activity in an attempt to reduce brain activity lusting over alcohol.

Distraction #1: Talk to Someone

A partner, family member or close friend are the perfect types of people to call in your moment of need. It’s important to remember that there is a community around you that are there to support you in your time of need. Even if these support pillars of these people aren’t in the room or in the same building, alternative sources for talking to them are available including picking up the phone, texting or video chatting.

Distraction #2: Exercise

Keeping physically fit not only improves your physical well-being, but also your mental well-being. Introducing regular exercising routines into your daily activities increases concentrations of norepinephrine, a chemical that helps moderate the brain’s response to stress. If sudden urges of consuming alcohol appear, exercising outside such as running or alternatively doing push ups/sit ups indoors are all distraction methods that are available.

Distraction #3: Games

Gaming encompasses playing physical games including sports, darts and pool but can also include online gaming as it can be a great distraction from alcohol. A study in 1998 showed evidence of video game users dopamine levels raised in the brain by about 100 percent, approximately the same amount of dopamine triggered by sex. If that isn’t a great distraction, we’re not sure what is!

Distraction #4: Reading and Writing

Reading and writing whilst going through recovery of alcoholism can be extremely effective as these techniques can help alcoholics unlock emotions and thoughts that may not have previously been available. This process has been coined, bibliotherapy and usually incurs reading others journies to recovery or writing their own. As soon as urges set in about picking up the bottle, grabbing your pen and writing can be a great distraction.

Distraction #5: Drinking & Eating Well

Having a good nutritional based diet is paramount as recovering alcoholics usually see a distinct decline in blood sugar levels. You can maintain similar blood sugar levels by drinking beverages enriched with electrolytes. Drinking water is also encouraged and cannot be ignored as the human body relies on it to function properly. Consuming your 5 a day fruit and vegetables is advised as well as three course meals staggered throughout breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The distraction techniques mentioned above are meant for those who are not suffering from severe or excessive drinking problems as these may be counterproductive. If your situation is considered as a serious drinking problem, we advise speaking to a certified medical professional in tackling and providing alcohol rehabilitation. Quitting ‘cold turkey’ can be dangerous and potentially life-threatening if detox programs are not adhered to.

Although these distractions may be useful to anyone wanting to resist the temptation of alcohol, it’s important to remember these distractions are exactly that – distractions. These issues need to be addressed by a certified professional in order to permanently tackle and eradicate your urge for consuming alcohol.