How Much Can You Drink and Still Be Improving?
Welcome to Journey to the Sunnyside, the podcast where we have thoughtful conversations to explore the science of habits, uncover the secrets to mindful living,
Speaker 2:and of course, your own mindful drinking journey.
Speaker 1:This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform. And if you could benefit from drinking a bit less, head on over to sunnyside.co to get a free fifteen day trial. I'm your host, Hartenbrook, published author, neuroscience enthusiast and habit change expert.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to Journey to the Sunnyside. I'm Mike Hartenbrook, today I'm coming from London, England. I'm traveling with my family. I'm a little bit in vacation mode. I got my baseball cap on if you're watching the video.
Speaker 2:I actually was a bartender here where they call them barman. So very much in the pub culture. This is a pub culture, lots of drinking. But this time when I went out, something that stood out is that almost every single spot that I visited had nonalcoholic options. And I don't just mean on the menu on the back side, but they literally had them up on the bar front and center.
Speaker 2:You know, when I worked here and probably even like five years ago, that wouldn't have been something that you've seen. So it was just a nice reminder of this shift that's going on towards more mindful drinking and that it's not just happening where we live or where I live in The US. And that brings me into today's episode because this is actually a question that I hear all the time. So you're making moves towards fewer drinks, more dry days, more intention. But a lot of time the question comes up is what's a good goal for me?
Speaker 2:Or even more directly, how much should I drink and still be improving? And those are valid questions and there's no set of guidelines or rules for all this. So I'm going to do my best to answer that, not by throwing out more rules at you, but to more reverse engineer the right goal based on your reasons for cutting back. And so let's go through some of these steps. So I want you to start with the upper limits and then work backwards.
Speaker 2:So we're going get into the guidelines. So these, in my opinion, are very outdated. However, in The US, the CDC recommends up to two drinks per day for a man or up to one drink for a woman. So those are the maximums. That's not really the target because if you go above that, you're in the classification of heavy drinker.
Speaker 2:Now in Canada, for example, which is more updated when it comes to its standards, the bar is higher or lower, I guess, whatever you wanna say. Zero to two drinks per week equals low risk. Three to six is moderate risk, and seven plus puts you in a higher risk category. So the question is, how much is safe and how much is too much? Well, that depends on what you're aiming for.
Speaker 2:And so we're going to continue reverse engineering this session based on that. The question is, what's the result that you're trying to get from drinking less? Because that's going to determine how much is too much and what is on par for your goal for you specifically. So let's walk through this a little bit. So if your goal is health, for example, like you want to be optimal in your health, but you still don't want to be like an all or nothing when it comes to alcohol.
Speaker 2:You want things like better sleep, lower information, longevity, fewer risks down the line. Well, based on what the information tells us these days and based on probably the more accurate of Canada's recommendation, you're gonna probably wanna be closer to one to two drinks per week. And obviously, no alcohol is better, but we also are here because that's not really the option we're looking for. We still wanna have somewhat of a healthy relationship. So if you are really looking to optimize and that seems like a goal that's doable, honestly, one to two drinks per week is probably gonna get you to the optimized health while still having alcohol in your life at some capacity.
Speaker 2:So even one fewer drink per week has a measurable impact on your health. So your blood pressure, your sleep quality, your liver health, your immune strength, your gut health. And this is where Canada's model might be useful for us and not because it's necessarily right, but if your goal is health, it aligns with that long term health outcome. So to focus on physical health, your goal might be no more than one to two drinks per week or some variation of that, maybe one week, you you might have more because you have something planned, but overall, you're trying to shoot for that. Now that might be a really lofty goal for many people because that's just above total abstinence, you know, one to two drinks per week.
Speaker 2:However, if your goal is health, you know, you at least have a baseline and a reason for picking a number and it's not just, you know, grabbed out of the air. Now let's move to another goal. Maybe your goal is to get better focus and mental clarity. So if you want fewer foggy mornings, less anxiety, more emotional stability, then it's not really how much you drink, but maybe how often. So the science tells us that even in small doses, alcohol will disrupt your REM sleep.
Speaker 2:So if you get continuously disrupted sleep throughout the week, that's obviously going to have an impact on your focus and mental clarity. Alcohol also increases cortisol over time, so this is going to raise your baseline anxiety. It also reduces neuroplasticity that's then going to slow your habit change. So if focus is your priority, your goal might be, you know, only drinks on the weekend or maybe sticking to one to two drinks max per sitting or even doing, you know, two dry weeks per month to let your brain sort of reset. So we get, you know, variations based on your goal.
Speaker 2:So if your goal is energy, you want fewer crashes, better mornings, a more steady rhythm to your week, then again, frequency is going to matter more than volume. So even one to two drinks multiple nights a week can keep your energy low even if you don't feel hungover, so to speak. So a good energy based goal could be something like, you know, no drinking on work nights, max one to two drinking sessions per week, and then really prioritizing recovery, things like hydration, movement, and good sleep. And then if your goal is relationships or commitments, and by the way, these are all examples and the actual amounts are going to vary per person. I'm just giving you some sort of baseline to maybe come up with your own numbers where you think this actually affects you and what you can draw the number back to where you think, you know what?
Speaker 2:I think this is going to put me in a better place. So back to relationships or commitments. If you wanna be more present, you wanna show up better as a parent, as a partner, or feel more aligned with who you're becoming, then I think it's the drink count becomes more about the intentionality. So you might want to ask yourself, is the drink helping me feel more connected or am I getting less connected? Do I feel proud of how I show up after I drink and even during when I drink?
Speaker 2:And then am I honoring my promises that I've made to myself? So if that lines up to your goal, maybe you might think about, you know, I'm only going to drink during celebrations or parties and not necessarily out of habit, or only when I'm feeling aligned and not doing it because I want to numb out or check out or it's been a rough day. Or maybe just cap it at two drinks so that you stay more present, more clear, and more consistent whenever you do drink. So that still brings us to the question, even though we got some numbers here is how much can you drink and still be improving? And like I said, those are sort of lofty goals and those might seem unattainable to you.
Speaker 2:But here's the real answer is that if you were drinking less than you used to, and if your current drinking still supports your personal goals, then you're making progress. Those goals that I mentioned before might seem lofty, but as long as you're making steps that are improving and moving towards where you actually want to be, there's no single number necessarily that defines success, as long as it's moving in the right direction. But there are patterns that are going to support this, you know, lower total volume of drinks, fewer drinking days per week, fewer drinks per occasion, and then more clarity around why you're drinking and when you do it. And if you build your goal around that and you stay consistent, then you're improving. And if your goal shifts over time, you know, life evolves, things change, and that's totally fine too.
Speaker 2:The perfect goal is one that matches your values, moves you towards how you want to feel, is sustainable right now, and then leaves room for you to grow. So I'm going to leave with a week challenge for you like I normally do. Write down two things. Number one, your current goal. Be honest.
Speaker 2:Is it health? Is it focus? Is it energy? Is it connection? Is it a combo of those things or is it something completely different?
Speaker 2:And then number two, what is one way that you'll align your drinking with that goal this week? Is it a hard stop after two drinks? Is it a no drink zone Monday to Thursday? Is it a dry weekend for an energy reset or a pause between each drink to check-in intentionally? So then track how it feels.
Speaker 2:And that is the best measure of success and moving forward with momentum and consistency. And I'm going to leave you with that. You're already in the process. You're already taking the biggest steps by paying attention. And you don't have to hit a perfect number.
Speaker 2:You just have to keep heading in the right direction. And that's exactly what you're doing here. Well, thanks for hanging out with me today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'll see you next Monday, and cheers to your mindful drinking journey.
Speaker 1:This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform. And if you could benefit from drinking a bit less, head on over to sunnyside.co to get a free fifteen day trial.
Creators and Guests
