After a hectic professional week, where you have almost submerged yourself in completing presentations, meeting deadlines and those last-minute client meetings, we all relish Friday nights and welcome the upcoming weekend with open arms. While kick-starting the day-off with our endless bar hopping sessions, drinking mindlessly at the bar and those ceaseless Sunday beer-chugging routine, we often fail to understand ‘how much is too much’. Drinking alcohol for its mood-lifting effects is a normative behaviour when consumed suitably, alcohol can become an instant mood-changer, facilitate in relaxing your tensed muscles and worked-up brain, allows you to totally enjoy the moment you are in and also generates an atmosphere where new ideations and novel connections flow instinctively. Mindless or binge drinking will manage to get you a step closer to the many perils of drinking, thus automatically surging your alcohol cravings and increase your impulse to overdrink. Along with its umpteen health issues, binge drinking if not controlled at the right stage can also make you fall prey to rave issues like alcoholism or alcohol dependence.

Are you worried about your alcohol intake? Maybe you feel that you are been drinking too much or maybe way too often. Maybe it’s a habit that you would like to keep control on. Just like binge eating has adverse impacts on your health, binge drinking will do no good too. Below mentioned are tips that will help you either cut back or refrain yourself from alcohol intake. People who are dependent on alcohol, or have other medical or psychological health issues, should avert from drinking totally.

Amplify Your Diet: Switching to a healthy, wholesome and well-balanced diet is your first step towards curbing your alcohol urge. Upping your protein intake will majorly aid you in eliminating that excess belly fat or the much-dreaded beer belly caused due to binge drinking, it will further help in calming your alcohol cravings and will keep you feeling more contented throughout the day. It also plays a major role in boosting body metabolic rate, meaning you will end up burning more amount of calories. The biggest benefit of incorporating protein-rich foods into your meals like lentils, Greek yogurt, meat and oats to your diet is that it helps to combat your belly fat snags. It also enhances metabolism to build body muscles. Cutting down on the intake of sugar-rich foods will also help to uphold a healthy diet.

Drink less: While it is not required for one to quit beer completely to bring your binge drinking episodes under control, one definitely can consider drinking less of alcohol. Most importantly, pace yourself and avert from indulging in mindless drinking.

Comprehend How Much is “Too Much”?: According to various researches and statistics conducted, define a low-risk alcohol usage is termed as up to two drinks daily for healthy adult men and one drink daily for a healthy adult woman. The moment you exceed this limit, you are considered to be drinking heavily or is at-risk drinking. People can still have alcohol-related health snags even by drinking within these limits, chiefly if they drink too rapidly.

Mindful Moderate Drinking: Drinking carefully is the key to consuming alcohol moderately. Mindful moderate drinking, as compared to mindless habitual drinking nothing but means being aware of your drinking consumption, being attentive of how each drink is impacting your mood, behaviour patterns, thoughts, and body. Outlined below are some guidelines and strategies that can help facilitate mindful moderate drinking.

Apart from the above-mentioned tips, binge drinkers can also leaf through some additional guidelines that will nothing but further aid in controlling their urge to drink:

You must set a goal for drinking: It is always advisable to set an appropriate limit on how much you will drink; this will help you to keep your drinking consumption below the suggested guidelines, thus cutting down your regular excess intake.

Pick alcohol-free days: In a week, you must choose a day or two where-in you must decide not to drink at all and see for yourself how you feel both physically and mentally. Abstaining from drinks will help you stay away from it.

Stay away for peer pressure: Don’t give in to peer pressure and always learn to say no when you are offered alcohol on the days you don’t wish to drink. You must distance yourself from people who encourage you to drink.

Keep yourself occupied: Perform activities that keep your bust like, taking a walk, playing sports, adventures, and step out to eat, or watch a nice movie. These are surely good alternatives to drinking.

Be determined: Most people who efficaciously cut down or avert drinking do so only after numerous efforts. You will perhaps have hindrances, but don’t let them keep you from reaching your goal. You must be persistent.

So, if you are still comprehending on what is the right role for alcohol in a person’s life? And how can those worried about their drinking habits, continue to relish the pleasures of alcohol without putting their health at risk of suffering negative impacts? The bottom line is, the key to upholding a healthy relationship with alcohol is to be attentive of when, where, why, how much, and how rapidly you drink; to understand when it’s time to say “when” or take an escape from drinking.

Image Source: HealthPartners.com.au