Drinking A Bottle of Wine Every Night Is Normal, Right?
Aug 30, 2023
Why So Many Think Drinking A Bottle of Wine Every Night Is Okay!
You don't have to go back too many years to a time where wine really wasn't a part of our daily lives. A bottle of cheap plonk from the supermarket was a rare addition to meal times. Perhaps you may go with the waiter's suggestion in a restaurant, but it wasn't all pervasive like it is today.
Today our Instagram and Facebook feeds are littered with our friends announcing their 'need' for wine. Whether it be exhausted moms or stressed out office workers. The call for wine-o-clock has never been so loud.
The space in our supermarkets dedicated to vino has increased tenfold over the last few decades. All thanks to the aggressive marketing which has somehow convinced us that relaxation and wine go hand in hand.
Mommy's Little Helper
There is even a brand of white wine called 'Mommy's Little Helper'!
That may sound fun, but something devious is happening behind the scenes. There has been a deliberate attempt to slowly move our mindset from enjoying the occasional glass of wine with a good meal. To where we are heading today. A world in which we all believe we 'need' a few drinks to take the edge off life.
There is no doubt about it; life is getting more stressful. Women, especially, are carrying more and more of the load. Plus, social media is not helping, it's making it oh so much worse. We are continually being presented with a distorted reality of other people's apparently perfect lives.
Social Media Social Pressure
If our Facebook timeline is to be believed. All of our friends have beautiful relationships, amazingly clean and tidy homes, and sweet little, high-achieving angels for children. While we consciously know this to be 'make-believe.' Nonetheless, subconscious pressure is slowly growing in the back of our minds.
We must be a success in our careers; the right car must be on the drive. You must vacation in the best resorts, but more than anything, we must be a 'Hollywood style' inspirational mom or dad to our kids.
We are being unwittingly ordered to achieve the impossible dream. But worse than that, we are being told that we can't fail because everyone else is managing to do it just fine, thank you very much.
Is it any wonder Wine-O-Clock has become a thing?
So you may well wonder, if that cheeky glass (or three) of Pinot Grigio is helping to take the sting out of our modern-day, hectic lives, then what’s the problem?
The trouble with using alcohol, as a coping mechanism is it tends to cover up problems rather than make them go away. Understandable when you think about it. Alcohol is a mild anesthetic, a painkiller of sorts.
If you cut your hand and only take a couple of Tylenol ™, sure, the pain may go away, but that doesn’t mean you have fixed the problem. This is also true of the bottle of wine we open on an evening when the kids have gone to bed.
The illusion of wine and relaxation
Another problem is that the sensation of relaxation we experience as we take that first exhilarating sip of the golden liquid in our glass is not real. It’s an illusion, admittedly a perfect one!
Alcohol is a bizarre little drug. A drug that we don’t even like to label as such. However, despite all the bright and glossy marketing informing us that vino is something we deserve. Our reward at the end of another stressful day on planet earth. The truth is alcohol kills nearly 3,000,000 people every year (according to World Health Organization figures).
We may have found cute ways to describe our cheeky evening glass of Merlot, and those beautiful bottles look good on our Instagram feed. But we are being tricked by a cunning illusionist over and over again!
How the cheeky trick is done
When we drink, it feels like it is helping us to relax, but something entirely different is happening. What we label as relaxation is really the removal of withdrawal symptoms.
However, because the withdrawal symptoms from alcohol feel precisely the same as general everyday stress, we mistakenly assume the wine made life feel better. The truth is, it is removing the burden it placed there in the first place.
A Bottle Of Wine A Night: How the loop begins
This is how a habit forms because the drug continually motivates us to drink by using both stick and carrot. It makes us feels stressed and then appears to offer a solution. We get a small reward for our compliance, and then off we go again – round 2.
Alcohol addiction is a progressive and growing problem. More and more health-conscious individuals are starting to switch out the bottle of wine a night with a tasty sober alternative.
Thankfully it’s becoming much easier to find genuinely tasty alternatives to wine-o-clock. Plus the number of sober celebrities is growing by the day, making cutting back on the booze something that’s seen as cool.
Only a few years ago, not joining in with the alcohol party was seen as a little strange.
Drinking A Bottle of Wine Every Night?
So what gives, is it a big deal or not?
You often get in from work, and relaxing isn't easy. After you put the little ones to bed, you still feel frazzled, so you choose to open a bottle of red wine. If this does not occur regularly, you have nothing to stress over.
Sadly, it is a routine for many working mothers, even though it feels like you are doing the same as your girlfriends. You might quickly end up being reliant on drinking to deal with stress.
As soon as it gets to a particular point, it's dangerous, so we'll check out how you can rescue yourself.
1. Is it time to quit drinking?
Loads of hard-working women are waiting in substance rehabilitation facilities because they assumed they would stop tomorrow. Here's the hard reality, if you are worried about your drinking, the best policy is to go cold turkey right now.
Trying to drink in moderation when you have already established a drinking problem is hell on earth. A completely alcohol-free life is MUCH easier.
It's very likely you find drink does appear to help you relax, but this is actually an illusion of the drug. I know we don't like to call it a drug, right?
Problems with alcohol only ever get worse.
If you let it take hold that won't be an option.
2. Do Not Keep Any Liquor In Your Home
It's easy grabbing a little something because you can conveniently access it. You may feel like snacking on chips or chocolate, but will you go to the trouble of driving to the grocery store for them? You'll quickly feel similarly about the nightly vino.
Do not have any wine sitting about in your house. When your cabinets are dry, you'll be compelled to do something better with your time and energy. In fact, do not keep any booze in your home, or you may wind up attacking the hard stuff by accident.
3. Find better ways the relax
A big portion of the populace has an obsessive temperament, so it's not always the merlot you are craving. Possibly you will need to discover a more savvy means to relax after work. Plus some ways to keep your overactive mind in check.
If you wish to consume alcohol for the taste, why not check out the many calming herbal teas available. They're incredibly appetizing and will help you unwind. When the children are tucked up in bed you can spend a while relaxing in a steaming hot tub.
4. Put up A Schedule On The Fridge
The very first day you quit drinking wine, you should put a big CROSS on the schedule. Place a brand-new one up daily until your schedule is full of crosses. This is a neat emotional technique that generally works miracles.
Perhaps you'll feel like drinking alcohol, but you will not be able to force yourself to open a bottle of wine. If you drink, you're not permitted to put a CROSS on your schedule. At this moment, an arbitrary CROSS is more significant to you than the attractively packaged poison.
It helps if you are little OCD, and a missing cross would drive you crazy of course!
5. Listening To A Hypnotherapy Download
Tons of hectic mums would benefit from practicing meditation, but it's difficult when you're harassed. Hypnotherapy is a great deal less complicated because somebody is advising and leading you to what to do.
Download and install a hypnosis to stop drinking mp3 track and make it a part of your evening routine.
A few wonderful things will start to occur. First of all, it's going to make you 100 times more de-stressed. It will also let you manage your feelings so you will not think of pouring a glass of wine.
It's More Frequent Than You Assume
I hope you don't feel embarrassed about drinking a bit too much wine in the evenings, considering that it's a great deal more prevalent than you presume. There will be any number of stressed-out mothers all over the USA pouring themselves a glass at this moment.
Nevertheless, there is no safety in the numbers
" It's especially harmful to the liver because this organ metabolizes alcohol, breaking it down into the component parts. They are poisonous and harmful."
Consuming alcohol above the government's advised safer limitation (21 units per week for males, 14 for females, with a modest glass of red or white wine or half a pint corresponding to just one unit) can bring about liver scarring (aka fibrosis).
The liver stores fat in addition to fuel and with 33% people near to obese. More individuals are developing unwanted fat inside this vital organ, leading to comparable harm to that inflicted by drinking.
Liver failure and other nasty stuff
Liver disease is a serial killer presenting very little signs and symptoms until well evolved.
"Scarring continues slowly throughout the years. Depending upon just how much the individual drinks and their hereditary composition. It could result in cirrhosis, the severe type of fibrosis," states Dr. King.
"Countless individuals are walking about oblivious they have got cirrhosis. They'll first learn about it when it's so severe that the liver quits working.
"Then signs and symptoms like jaundice, passing blood and bloating from the liquid gathering in the midsection and legs start. By then it's frequently too late."
Early diagnosis is critical. "Offered the opportunity, the liver has an amazing ability to recover when harmed, damaged tissue can fade away, but only if caught early," states Dr. King.
Today, things are changing.
People are becoming more committed to putting only healthy food and drinks into their bodies. It can still be naughty, but it doesn’t have to involve hurting your body anymore. For the avoidance of doubt, a bottle of wine a night is seriously going to damage your life.
Are you ready to take action on your drinking?
The Stop Drinking Expert program has helped over 250,000 problem drinkers to escape the trap of wine-o-clock.
Click here for more information on the Stop Drinking Expert and to reserve your place on our next free quit drinking coaching session.
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