As drinkers, we know about cravingsA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More and have experienced them between most of our drinking sessions. So it should be no surprise that we will experience uncomfortable and unpleasant cravingsA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More when we change our drinking too.
Understanding our cravingsA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More helps us to put them into perspective and allows us the opportunity to put a plan in place to make it easier to deal with them.
Over the last few years, you have trained your body to expect alcohol at certain times or circumstances, and when we don’t allow ourselves or are not able to have it, we experience cravingsA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More. These cravingsA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More can be uncomfortable and sometimes overwhelming, but the good news is that they’re usually relatively short-lived.
They’re mainly real, physical experiences such as a knot in the stomach, a feeling similar to that of hunger, a sense of being flushed or having a dry mouth. And after many years of drinking, we have trained our minds to interpret those sensations as needing a drink.
Using the hungry sensation as an example, we often get an intense cravingA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More as the evening draws in and our sugar levels drop. And during our drinking years, we may have been topping our sugar levels up with drink before we eat anything substantial. Leading the mind to believe it is alcohol that we need to satiate this discomfort when in fact, food would do a better job – hence the overwhelming urgeUrges are that overwhelming feeling of needing or wanting a drink. They can happen after a craving or a trigger. More. We’ll talk about this more in a later Pep (xx).
Likewise, the knot in our stomach could be due to the stress or anxiety of our busy lifestyles or the resurfacing of uncomfortable thoughts, a sensation we’ve learnt to numb or suppress with alcohol. Again, this causes the mind to believe drinking is the remedy when alcohol withdrawalUnlike withdrawal symptoms, everyone can experience withdrawal from alcohol. It can happen from around 40-minutes after a drink as the alcohol begins to be processed our bodies. Continued drinking delays and extends withdrawal. More could be the cause. We’ll talk about this more in a later Pep (xx).
And a dry mouth; ever considered that you might just be thirsty? As beer is around 95% water, could it not be the water content quenching your thirst and wouldn’t 100% water be even more effective? Has our behaviour tricked our minds into believing it’s beer/wine/G&T that relieves the thirst?
The exercise here is to recognise these cravingsA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More for what they are, uncomfortable physical sensations that will pass in minutes – and not orders to drink. It may be more positive to view cravingsA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More as growing pains –a sign that your body is embarking on, transitioning, or learning something new.