So your new year’s resolution was to lose weight and get healthy? Try quitting alcohol.
Sia, Tyler the Creator, Kendrick Lamar, Lana del Rey and Brené Brown are just a few of the names who have joined ‘the sober club’ and you can too.
Alcohol has been labelled as the most culturally accepted and widespread legal drug, with excessive consumption rampant in Australia.
A shocking 25% of Australians place themselves at risk of harm by consuming alcohol. It’s about time for non-drinking to be popularised.
Whether you are trying Dry January for the first time or have decided to ditch the booze for good, quitting alcohol comes with a range of benefits.
1. More Money
If you drink three times per week, with 4 drinks each time at $10 each, that’s $120 per week, $480 per month and $5760 per year.
That is money that can go towards a holiday, a new car or 6 month’s worth of rent in Sydney. Choose wisely.
2. Health
Staying off the booze is better for your emotional and physical health.
There are a slew of negative long and short term physical effects of alcohol including liver disease, depression, brain damage, cancer, heart disease and alcohol dependence to name a few.
Not only is going sober better for your liver health it’s better for your skin and fitness. Enjoy quicker recovery times after training when you don’t drink.
Staying off the booze will allow you to sleep better, therefore having more energy and better mood states.
Heavy drinking greatly affects your circadian rhythm which influences your body’s hormone release systems, eating habits, digestion and body temperature.
3. Better Memories
Alcohol is a powerful (and popular) depressant which affects both long and short term memory.
Drinking alcohol makes you lower your inhibitions and loose control over your actions. This can lead to unhealthy behaviour like saying or doing things you regret.
There is no need to try to piece together the night by cringing through your camera roll, be in control by staying sober.
Have fun with your drinking buddies in other ways. Try out bouldering or spend an afternoon at the beach.
4. More Confidence
A lot of people lean on alcohol to ease social situations, and to ‘take the edge off’.
When alcohol is no longer a buffer it can be difficult to adjust at first. Over the long term however, it allows people to gain skills and build confidence in a way that doesn’t have to be supported with a reliance on alcohol.
Foster meaningful relationships, one sober social event at a time.
5. Show Up For Your Friends
Be the one your friends can count on.
Whether it’s giving them a lift after a night out or being the deso driver, they will thank you.
6. Mocktails
Non-alcoholic bevvys are cheaper (and healthier) than their alcoholic counterparts.
Most people won’t even realise you are not drinking alcohol.
Just because you aren’t drinking doesn’t mean you need to stop drinking. Treat yourself on a night out.
Click here for our founder’s story on giving up booze.
