Do you drink alcohol? About 85.6 of people in the US report drinking alcohol at some point in their life. Many find themselves struggling with alcohol addiction, though, with nearly 15 million people around the age of 12 and older battling Alcohol Use Disorder or AUD. If you love knocking back a glass after work or during the weekends, that may be nothing more than habit. However, there’s a slippery slope between regular consumption and when drinking becomes problematic.
I’m Drinking Alcohol: Am I All Right?
In the United States, drinking is a socially acceptable practice. But knowing what a healthy relationship with alcohol is helps. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans says that women can have a drink or none, and men can have two drinks or fewer in a day. If you go beyond the average, you may be struggling with alcohol addiction.
How to Identify Your Relationship with Alcohol?
Determine if your relationship with alcohol is already harmful.
- How many drinks do you have in a week? Is it more than average?
- What is your tolerance like? Can you outdrink most of the people you know?
- Have you started to miss obligations or work due to alcohol?
- Do you feel healthy? Is your drinking problem catching up with you? Long-term excessive drinking harms your kidneys and results in a fatal kidney disease. Don’t wait until that happens before you look for an alcohol treatment center in Arizona for help.
- Is your drinking habit putting you in dangerous situations? Do you get behind the wheel after you drink? Do you have indiscriminate sexual contact? Those interactions can put you in danger.
- Is your drinking harming your relationships? You lie to friends and family about how much you’ve had to drink. You don’t like it when they point out that you may have had too many drinks already. You don’t want anyone stopping you from drinking.
- Do you drink more than you planned? Do you say you’ll only have one drink only to go back on your words later and end up drinking four or five?
- Do you drink even when you say you can stop?
If some or all these scenarios are familiar to you, that means you’re struggling with alcohol addiction.
Building Better Habits
Notice the impact of the alcohol on your relationships, health, and life. Enrolling yourself in rehab program can help you change your destructive habits and build better ones. Participating in therapy and counseling sessions also provides you with the opportunity to identify your triggers and learn strategies to cope and handle your addiction. That will improve your chances of achieving a successful recovery.
Be Mindful When Drinking
Once you start developing better habits, the rest will follow. You’ll learn how to build better boundaries. You won’t put yourself or your loved ones at risk just to go back to drinking. You won’t compromise your health and future with excessive drinking. The positive social interactions you’ll experience in rehab will help you get your life back on track.
