Can Ozempic help you cut back or quit drinking? (No, seriously...)

When we saw this article about how Ozempic seemed to curb people’s desire to drink, we about fell off our chairs with excitement.

Anecdotal reports say that Ozempic seems to kill the desire for drinking, smoking, gambling, and other self-destructive habits. It may even reduce tolerance for alcohol, causing people to drink less because they’re getting drunk faster than usual.

If that proves true, it could be an incredible boon not only to people trying to lose weight or improve their health, but also to those hoping to cut back or quit drinking. It makes sense: the drug is meant to curb cravings triggered by dopamine, and it appears its effects may extend well beyond the desire for food.

But before you get too excited, here’s why you shouldn’t necessarily run to your doctor just yet for Ozempic for reducing drinking:

1. Ozempic has been approved for reducing blood sugar and reducing heart attack risk in diabetes patients, not for treatment of alcohol use disorder. Similarly, Wegovy is approved for weight loss support, but not for treatment of alcohol use disorder. Studies will need to prove out their effectiveness at helping people drink less alcohol.

2. Per the above, there are not yet large, controlled human studies confirming that medications like Ozempic help people drink less. Some studies are already in progress, though, so stay tuned for updates! Plus, there are studies showing promising effects in mice: similar medication caused mice to reduce their drinking by 50%, and reduced the chances of relapse into problem drinking (yes, problem drinking in mice exists!).

3. There have been hundreds of anecdotal reports of psychological side effects from using semaglutide medications, including suicidal thoughts and worsened depression. To be clear, these are just individual stories, and it’s hard to assess how often they happen and whether they can be traced back to the medication or not. Studies will need to determine how common these side effects are, and if there are identifiable factors that influence the likelihood of experiencing them. But it’s obvious that people struggling with excessive drinking might also struggle with depression or anxiety, and ought to be cautious with medication that might make things worse.

We’re excited to follow the progress of studies in this area; cutting back or quitting drinking is tough, even for motivated people, and we’re always on the lookout for new helpful tools!

Speaking of which: if you want to cut back or quit drinking alcohol in the meantime, we have an app for you.

Where medications like Ozempic may be able to reduce your desire to drink, behavioral health apps like Drinker’s Helper can help you decide to do it, build the motivation to stick with it, and build a life that supports you in your new, low-or-no alcohol lifestyle.

Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, an insightful drink tracking system that helps you understand why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We’ll help you stick to a weekly limit that reduces your health risks from drinking and helps you stay in control. Plus, it’s completely anonymous - even we don’t know who our users are, and we will never ask! If you’re working toward a healthier relationship with alcohol, try the app today!

Synthetic alcohol without the downsides? Here's why that's unlikely to work...

GABA Labs, based in London, is one of a few companies working on a synthetic alcohol without the downsides.

According to press stories about it, their synthetic alcohol Alcarelle will still get you tipsy - relaxed, chatty, and happy - without the following negative side effects:

1. Hangovers. Obviously, one of the biggest downsides of drinking is the next day’s hangover that hits ever harder as we age. Synthetic alcohol wouldn’t leave you with a pounding headache, but allow you to wake up clear-headed and energized.

2. Clumsiness. Who hasn’t twisted an ankle misjudging a sidewalk while drunk? People are less physically stable and therefore significantly more injury-prone with the real thing. Alcarelle promises you won’t be clumsier after a drink or two.

3. Stupidity. Being drunk on real alcohol negatively affects your short-term memory and your multi-tasking, planning, and speaking abilities. Alcarelle is supposed to leave you mentally functioning, unlikely to make stupid, risky decisions like its natural counterpart.

On top of that, it’s flavorless, so it can be easily added to any drink.

It sounds incredibly exciting. Let’s be clear: something like this could really help people, if it isn’t as harmful as alcohol itself. The company says they may struggle with regulatory hurdles with getting synthetic alcohol to market. But that’s not the only reason it may struggle, despite an alluring premise.

The problem is that this calming synthetic alcohol is still attempting to affect brain chemistry in some of the same ways alcohol does.

Alcohol causes more production of GABA, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel relaxed. Unfortunately, as you recover from drinking, your brain fights back against alcohol’s calming effects. This can result in heightened anxiety after drinking, or “hangxiety.” Because it uses the same neurotransmitter, synthetic alcohol may still have this effect of increasing anxiety.

On top of that, synthetic alcohol may struggle to compete with zero-alcohol drinks that are all-natural and plant-based.

We’re all learning about the dangers of a diet high in ultra-processed foods for both mental and physical health lately. Testing will need to determine whether synthetic alcohol has any long-term health effects. After all, many people choose to cut back or quit drinking purely on the basis of the long-term health risks: increased risk of heart disease, several forms of cancer, and of course, liver disease.

If you want to cut back or quit drinking alcohol the old-fashioned way, we’d love to help.

Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, an insightful drink tracking system that helps you understand why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We’ll help you stick to a weekly limit that reduces your health risks from drinking and helps you stay in control. Plus, it’s completely anonymous - even we don’t know who our users are, and we will never ask! Start your journey to long-term health and lower risk - get the app today!

How Drinker's Helper can save you $$ on insurance... seriously!

Ok, hear me out: drinking less alcohol always reduces your cost of living. You’re not paying for $15 cocktails at bars; you’re not springing for expensive wine or liquor to celebrate. You’re also not ordering extra fast food in the wee hours of the morning in a futile attempt to sober up.

But we were surprised to learn that not drinking can actually save you money on several kinds of insurance, too! Here’s how:

1. Save on your life insurance: If you drink heavily and regularly, you may be denied a life insurance policy to begin with. Even if you drink more than the recommended low-risk moderation limits for your country, you’ll likely pay a higher premium for life insurance. It’s part of an insurer’s estimate of how healthy you are - the less alcohol you drink, the better.

2. Save on your car insurance: While the big guys (Geico, State Farm, or Progressive) don’t, several smaller insurers like AXA offer 1-3% discounts on car insurance for non-drinkers. It makes sense: non-drinkers are less risky to insure, because they don’t drive while impaired by alcohol. Drunk driving can result in a higher rate of accidents and even DUIs, which can be very expensive.

3. Save on health insurance: The higher risks associated with drinking: liver disease, heart disease, cancer, and more - result in a higher health insurance premium. See if you can get a discount by talking with your insurer and showing that you don’t drink.

The bottom line is: drinking increases risks to your life, your safety while driving, and your long-term physical health. These higher risks are reflected in a higher cost of insurance. It’s just one more way that drinking less alcohol can help you save money.

If you want to reduce the cost of your insurance by cutting back or quitting drinking, we’d love to help. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, an insightful drink tracking system that helps you understand why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We’ll help you track the direct savings that come from drinking less. We’ll help you stick to a weekly limit that reduces your health risks from drinking. Plus, it’s completely anonymous - even we don’t know who our users are, and we will never ask! Start your journey to long-term health and lower risk - get the app today!

5 ways society is changing to support the sober-curious

If you tell people you’re not drinking at a party, you can expect questions at the very least.

Our culture revolves so heavily around drinking sometimes that it’s almost an affront to others who are drinking to decline. It’s woven into everything: dating is notoriously difficult without drinking; in many professions, drinking is an expected part of networking.

The good news, for anyone who is seeking a healthy relationship with alcohol, is that things are changing.

The new ‘sober curious’ movement embraces a growing number of people who are open to drinking less alcohol. They might end up being fully sober; they might take short-term sobriety breaks; or they might just want to enjoy nights out without making it about drinking. However they do it, they’re drinking less alcohol.

And there’s more and more of them: studies have shown that young people are drinking less than previous generations. As a result, there are more and more societal accommodations out there for sober people in a variety of contexts.

Here are 5 concrete ways society in 2023 is more friendly and supportive to non-drinkers than it has been in the past:

1. There are more sophisticated non-alcoholic beverages: From Curious Elixirs to Seedlip Drinks, tons of new alcohol-free drinks have hit grocery store shelves. It’s a lot easier to avoid drinking when available alternative beverages are interesting and flavorful. Some companies offer complex, bitter, spicy, adult ready-to-drink mocktails; others make herbaceous substitutes for hard alcohol that can be mixed with juice or soda. It’s really helpful for those who enjoy the ritual of making or consuming a fancy cocktail to be able to indulge without the downsides of drinking alcohol.

2. You can go out to “bars” and not drink: In cities around the world from Austin to Tokyo, sober bars are opening that offer mocktails conceived with the same creativity and attention to detail as traditional cocktails. Socializing can be so intertwined with drinking that some sober people struggle to spend enough time with their friends. These bars are changing that - offering a place to have fun and hang out without the expectation of drinking.

3. You can go to music festivals sober and not be alone: Sober Lands is a group dedicated to attending concerts and music festivals sober. They had a booth at Outside Lands in 2023 that was a safe space for sober people to hang out, and offered sobriety meetings. It’s an awesome sign of social acceptance of non-drinkers, even in a setting that’s traditionally booze-heavy.

4. You can block alcohol ads: Per one of our previous posts, many online platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer ways for users to block alcohol ads that might tempt you to drink. It’s something to consider even if you’re not 100% sober! Who needs the extra temptation?

5. You can stop yourself from ordering alcohol: You can opt out of having alcohol delivered by Doordash. Opting out means you won’t receive any alcohol-related promotions via email, either. You can find instructions here. Doing so can be a great barrier to excessive drinking, because you’ll have to make more of an effort to obtain alcohol, and may not think of it as often.

Tools and experiences like these make it easier to avoid drinking, even temporarily. It’s encouraging to see so many ways in which society is embracing people who don’t want to drink all the time.

If you’re feeling inspired, think about how you can make life more comfortable and less awkward for the sober people in your life. Start small: even just offering something beside water for non-drinkers at parties can be hugely helpful!

And if you’re looking to cut back or quit drinking, we’d love to help. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, an insightful drink tracking system that helps you understand why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We’ll help you stick to a weekly limit that reduces your health risks from drinking. Plus, it’s completely anonymous - even we don’t know who our users are, and we will never ask! Start your journey to long-term health today - get the app!

Bachelor producers get contestants drunk for drama: why do we think that is?

File under “I could have guessed as much,” but a recent docuseries on ViceTV has confirmed that the producers on the hit dating show The Bachelor consciously manipulate contestants into saying and doing crazy things with a mixture of alcohol and personal secrets.

(Sidebar: if you want an idea of what this process looks like, watch Unreal - a fictional show about producers on a show just like the Bachelor. Or watch the documentary itself, Dark Side of the 2000s.)

It’s shocking that producers use personal trauma to produce drama, poking and prodding at contestants using material in personal dossiers on past breakups, family hardships, their sexual proclivities, and more.

What made so much sense to me, reading about their tactics, though, was that they frequently use alcohol to turn up the volume on the drama.

One time, some contestants were kept in a limousine en route to the mansion where the show is produced, with nothing to do and nowhere to go - but with an ample supply of champagne. They were then left to "get blotto” and urinate in their dresses just outside the car.

But in general, the drinking led contestants to share more than they wanted, fight over stupid things, get emotional more easily, kiss more, act crazier, and in general create “good TV.”

Here’s the thing: in life, we rarely want to be good TV for ourselves, our friends and our families. We want to be in control, making good decisions, listening to our inhibitions, aware of our surroundings. The less drama, the better. The fact that The Bachelor producers use alcohol to do precisely the opposite is food for thought!

If you’re looking to cut back or quit drinking for less drama, we’d love to help. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, an insightful drink tracking system that helps you understand why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We’ll help you stick to a weekly limit that reduces your health risks from drinking. Plus, it’s completely anonymous - even we don’t know who our users are, and we will never ask! Start your journey to long-term health today - get the app!

The US may be setting new alcohol limits. Here's what it means for you...

Headlines recently blared warnings that “Biden’s alcohol czar” was “telling” Americans to limits their drinking to 2 drinks per week.

First of all, let’s get one thing straight: no one is going to limit your alcohol consumption for you in the United States. It was tried once: it’s called Prohibition, and it failed spectacularly.

What DOES exist are guidelines provided by governments around the world about suggested weekly and sometimes daily drinking limits to limit your health risks. These guidelines vary wildly by country: Ireland (perhaps to no one’s surprise) is on the higher end, with 17 drinks per week for men and 11 for women; Canada recently changed its guidelines to just 2 drinks per week, for both men and women.

Those low-risk drinking guidelines are what is up for review in the United States in 2025, and apparently, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is considering moving from its current guidelines toward Canada’s much lower ones.

Here’s what it means for you:

1. Less is always better: The NIAAA is considering changing its guidelines because of a growing body of research says that no level of alcohol consumption is fully safe. However, even limiting your consumption to the old recommended guidelines (14 per week for men, 7 for women) can meaningfully reduce your long-temr health risks from drinking. What are those? Well…

2. There are serious long-term health risks from drinking: Regular long-term alcohol consumption can not only cause liver damage, but can meaningfully increase your risk of developing many types of cancer, as well as heart disease. If you’ve been drinking heavily for a long time, talk to your doctor about the health impacts. You may be surprised.

If you’re looking to cut back or quit drinking, we’d love to help. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, an insightful drink tracking system that helps you understand why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We’ll help you stick to a weekly limit that reduces your health risks from drinking. Plus, it’s completely anonymous - even we don’t know who our users are, and we will never ask! Start your journey to long-term health today - get the app!

Women's risk of dying from drinking is rising

Two weeks ago, a report came out that showed alcohol-related deaths among women are rising faster than those among men, narrowing the gap between the sexes, especially for women over 65.

Using data from the CDC and a conservative measure of alcohol-related deaths (just those from, e.g. liver disease and alcohol poisoning, not injuries or homicides that might have been fueled by alcohol), the study found deaths rising for both men and women, but rising faster for women (15% per year between 2018 and 2020).

Why is this happening?

First, women are actually drinking more than they have in the past. According to Dr. Paula Cook, a physician who specializes in addiction medicine and host of the podcast, "The Addiction Files,” “we have been seeing these trends of increased alcohol use amongst women for quite some time.”

This increase could be down to increased alcohol advertising targeting women specifically: this BBC article in 2020 discussed this trend of using the idea of women’s empowerment to sell alcohol. It’s marketed to successful, high-earning women as the high-end way to relax.

There is also the question of changing social norms. Dr. Peter Martin of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine said that women’s alcohol consumptions has been more normalized socially, leading to a rise in heavy drinking among women.

But there could also be psychological reasons.

According to George F. Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “Women are twice as likely as men to experience anxiety and depression, and the stresses of the pandemic likely hit extra hard.” The recent rise in anxiety and depression may also help explain the drive to drink to escape.

Whatever the reason, it’s concerning, because women are actually MORE vulnerable to the effects of alcohol than men.

We’re less able to break down alcohol, with lower levels of a key enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, used in the process than men. We have more hormonal fluctuations, which can quicken the negative effects of drinking on our organs. We’re smaller and have less water in our bodies, so our alcohol concentration is higher even after consuming the same number of drinks. We need to be more conscious of the harm drinking can do, because we’re at a physical disadvantage.

If you’re looking to cut back or quit drinking, we’d love to help. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, an insightful drink tracking system that helps you understand why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. It’s help busy women executives can carry around in their pockets, and it’s completely anonymous - even we don’t know who our users are, and we will never ask! Start your journey to long-term health today!

Is Russia struggling in Ukraine because of alcohol?

According to the UK Defense Department, the Russian military has suffered significant casualties in Ukraine due to something other than the Western-strengthened Ukrainian military: rampant alcoholism among its troops.

It makes sense: a drunken soldier would be more likely to injure themselves or others with clumsiness, misjudge risks, cause collisions among vehicles, fail to be stealthy, and even be aggressive than is prudent.

Given all these obvious downsides, why do the soldiers continue to drink in a way that at best impairs their effectiveness, and at worst endangers their lives?

The UK government suggests it’s down to a cultural norm in which heavy drinking is accepted as part of military life, even during combat operations.

We thought it was just one more example of the powerful effects of alcohol culture. We absorb certain beliefs about alcohol unconsciously - when it’s appropriate, when it’s needed, what purpose it serves, what type of person enjoys it - from TV, music, movies, news, etc., and fail to question them consciously in light of alcohol’s real effects in our own lives. In this case, the Russian military’s deeply entrenched pro-drinking culture is causing soldiers to ignore the risk to their own safety.

If you’re not a Russian soldier, and you’re working to question alcohol culture and cut back or quit drinking, join us today. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We believe you can do it!

How to talk to someone about their drinking

We see articles like this one all the time in self help columns, with people asking for advice on how to confront a loved one (usually a sibling, a child, or a romantic partner) about their drinking.

It’s an extremely tough thing to do, and it can easily go wrong. On the one hand, if you’re too cautious, you may not convey the gravity of your concern. On the other, if you’re too aggressive, you can produce a defensive reaction.

We thought we’d share some tips based on our experience helping people cut back or quit drinking in our app, Drinker’s Helper.

Here’s how to approach this difficult conversation with a loved one with compassion, clarity and confidence!:

1. Keep it private. This isn’t a movie. An intervention featuring everyone they know and love is a confrontational way to come at this. That might be necessary after several gentler conversations have failed to make an impression, but it should be reserved for those more extreme situations.

2. Start with support. If you start the conversation by saying you love them and are coming from a supportive place, you can significantly reduce the tension. It’s easier for someone to brush off criticism or defend themselves against a perceived attack than it is to ignore someone worried about them and expressing concern.

3. Emphasize how their drinking has impacted you. It’s not that you can’t also share your observations about how it seems to be impacting them, apart from you. But it’s easy for someone to argue that their drinking isn’t hurting them the way you think it is. If you focus on the impact it’s having on you, that’s harder to argue with. Plus, you can focus the conversation on changes that might reduce the harm to you from their drinking. Maybe they can stop drinking on nights before they have important work or family responsibilities, for example.

4. Ask them if they’ve thought about cutting back or quitting. This can work better than recommending a change yourself. If you get someone talking about whether they’ve thought about cutting back or quitting drinking, and why or why not, they’ll share their reasoning. They may share what’s holding them back, or what’s causing them to drink the way they are. That helps you figure out how best to help them. Maybe they’ve been feeling down and need some reassurance. Maybe they don’t know where to start with making a change. Which brings us to…

5. Let them know there are options. If you don’t struggle with controlling your drinking, it can be hard to empathize with someone who does. For that reason, many people don’t anticipate that their relatives and friends may want to cut back or quit, but find it hard to do. The good news is: we’re way past the days when AA or rehab (which typically draws heavily on the tenets of AA) were the only options for someone who’s decided they’re drinking too much. Many therapists specialize in this area. There are support groups for many different approaches to cutting back or quitting drinking. There are also apps that help you track your drinking and stick to a more moderate level. And there are apps like Drinker’s Helper, which not only help you track your drinking or sobriety, but also help you learn techniques to stick to your goals in the face of temptation. We also give you a virtual peer support group to share your journey with for advice and empathy, and it’s completely anonymous, so you can share freely!

We hope this post has been helpful to you if you’re wondering how to approach a friend or loved one with concern about their drinking. If you have other ideas or tips, please feel free to share them in the comments!

If you’re working to cut back or quit drinking, join us today. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We believe you can do it!

Drinker's Helper in Glam

We’re happy that Glam has recognized the unique value of our exercise programs, designed to help people cut back or quit drinking.

Here’s just one snippet: “Perhaps the most innovative feature of Drinker's Helper is the chat-based skill-building exercises. Users can interact with a chatbot that guides them through difficult situations, offering in-the-moment tips and tricks. And if the chatbot isn't enough, the app connects users with a personalized virtual support group with members pre-selected based on their common drinking habits. Drinker's Helper is the app for anyone who wants practical sobriety support at their fingertips.”

Read the full review here!

The emerging science about alcohol and long COVID

We all know how the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns impacted drinking habits. Suffice to say many of us started to drink too much due to the resulting stress, despair, and social isolation.

But it turns out that’s not the only way alcohol and COVID are related.

A new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has shown that drinking in moderation may reduce your risk of developing long COVID (vs. heavy drinking).

Researchers studied over 30K female nurses’ lifestyles and studied the subsequent COVID experiences of those who contracted the disease.

They found six healthy lifestyle factors resulted in lower long COVID risk (the others were healthy body weight, sufficient sleep, not smoking, regular exercise, and high quality diet).

It was a big difference - someone who had five or six of these healthy lifestyle factors going for them had about half the risk of developing long COVID! They also had about a 30% lower risk of serious long COVID symptoms, if they did experience it.

It’s worth noting, too, that drinking less can help you achieve several of the other factors, too: eating well, maintaining a healthy body weight, regular exercise and sufficient sleep are all easier when you’re not drinking to excess.

So: if avoiding long COVID is important to you, consider drinking less!

If you’re working to cut back or quit drinking, join us today. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We believe you can do it!

Beating Blue Monday

So apparently, yesterday was the most depressing day of the year. Hey, at least it’s all uphill from here, right?

Psychologist Dr Cliff Arnall calculated the worst mental health day in the year based on dreary weather (cold temperatures), minimal sunshine, time since Christmas (for happy memories to fade and for us all to reckon with the costs we’ve incurred) and time until new holidays.

He recommends switching up your routines, exercising, taking vitamin D, eating right, and drinking less alcohol, to cope with some of that sadness.

It can also be a great time to invest in therapy. In our app, Drinker’s Helper, all users have the opportunity to match with the right therapist at Betterhelp, and get 20% off.

Download the app today, and you’ll also get a set of tools to help you cut back or quit drinking: a support group of people with similar drinking histories, an insightful drinking/sobriety/urge tracking system that asks the right questions, and a set of exercises designed to boost your motivation.

Good luck beating the Blue Monday blues!

How heavy drinking can derail your other New Year's Resolutions

We know that everyone isn’t planning on cutting back or quitting drinking this January.

It’s a popular time to do it - Dry January has become a global phenomenon - but there are so many other things for us all to work on that drinking less might slip off the priority list.

Here’s the thing, though: for so many other New Year’s resolutions, heavy drinking can really stymie your progress.

Let’s take a look at a few popular resolutions and how alcohol can play a role in success or failure:

1. Losing weight or exercising more: Whether you’re looking to lose weight, or just hoping to build cardiovascular health, heavy drinking can get in the way (in fact, Drinker’s Helper has an exercise devoted just to exploring the impact of alcohol on athletes!). Drinking reduces your aerobic performance and makes it harder to recover from exercise or injury. Being drunk makes food more tempting, and hangovers make exercise less so. On top of all of that, alcohol packs a serious punch of nutrition-free calories on its own. If fitness is on the agenda, heavy drinking will work against you.

2. Saving money: We bet you’d be surprised how much money you can save when you stick to your drinking limits. At just $8 a drink (assuming you go out to bars half the time and stay at home the other half), we estimate that the average user of Drinker’s Helper saves ~$900 a month when they stick to their goals. It’s a meaningful savings that you can count toward your goal.

3. Better relationships with friends or family: While alcohol, as a social lubricant, makes it easier to talk to people we don’t know, it doesn’t lend itself to particularly deep conversations. It also makes those you do have harder to remember. In other words, you’re not building true friendships with other people when you’re connecting with them drunk. If you’re hoping to build closer relationships with friends and family, maybe put drinking less in your plans, too!

4. Career advancement: If you’re looking for a new job this year, or just hoping to learn a new skill to advance your career, drinking could get in the way. The day after drinking heavily, hangovers prevent us from concentrating, thinking clearly, or thinking creatively. Many people cut back on drinking just to become more productive or creative.

If you’re pursuing a New Year’s resolution that means a lot to you, think about how it might be impacted by your drinking.

if you’re working to cut back or quit drinking in 2023, join us today. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We believe you can do it!

23 ways to spread holiday cheer without drinking

We know this isn’t strictly related to cutting back or quitting drinking.

But the holidays are a tough time for many, with the stress of family gatherings and financial stress from gift-buying.

If you’re trying to change your drinking, it can be even harder to do so at a social, stressful time when there may be nothing better to do.

So this December 23rd, we thought we’d share 23 ideas for making yourself feel happier during the holidays that involve no alcohol at all. (Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments!)

1. Make your regular meals low-stress. Make simple dishes like sandwiches or salads for anything but the one big family meal, or allow yourself to order in more than usual. It’s just not worth the stress!

2. Stay warm. Staying cozy can help you feel safe. Bundle up, even at home. Wear thick socks. Get a blanket you can throw over your knees.

3. Buy small indulgences. Spring for a candle you wouldn’t normally buy, or an extra string of lights. As long as they don’t cause financial stress, small indulgences can help you get through stressful days.

4. Watch holiday movies. Most services have a few: HBO has National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Elf; Hulu has Die Hard and the Grinch, etc. They’re created specifically to make you feel holiday cheer, and they work surprisingly well, even on adults.

5. Play with your pets. The sense of touch can give you a jolt of serotonin, and their joy is often infectious. If you don’t have one, search for a local cat cafe to get some tea and spend an hour!

6. Vent to friends if you need to. There should be Zooms and GroupMes just for this purpose. They can also help you realize when you’re putting too much holiday pressure on yourself.

7. Reward yourself with a daily advent calendar chocolate. Watch out, though - some brands have been recalled recently! (see here).

8. Escape into a novel, or a historical nonfiction book. Whether you escape to Hogwarts or 14th-century France, you’re outta here!

9. Look at old family photos. Nostalgia can be a real mood-lifter.

10. Go big on the apple cinnamon tea. The heat, the zero calories, the health benefits, the sense of safety - it’s hard to beat.

11. Do the crossword at the end of the day. It’s just a nice, meditative way to settle down before sleeping.

12. Focus on a friend or family member. If you’re all wrapped up in your own head, it can help to think about someone else’s needs

13. Blast your music and (if you’re feeling bold) sing along.

14. Make cookies and have one every day. Cookies are nice because you put in the effort upfront and then have a little treat for a month or so.

15. Set the bar low. Maybe put one item on your to-do list for the whole day. You’ll probably do more, but even getting that one thing done is success, as far as you’re concerned.

16. Make a dish you used to eat as a child at the holidays. Nostalgia + good food = happiness.

17. Work or eat in a different spot than your usual. Just changing things up can help you feel more present.

18. Do something small that makes you feel organized. For some, that might mean organizing your closet. For others (definitely me), that might mean just doing the dishes, finally! :)

19. Get out in nature. We all need it; even a few minutes among the trees can give us a sense of peace. Plus, you’ll appreciate the indoor warmth so much more!

20. Trim your beard, paint your nails, or do something else that makes you feel cute. A little self-esteem boost can work wonders.

21. Lie down. Whether it’s lying down in bed or just sprawling on the carpet, take a second to just breathe and look at the ceiling.

22. Buy a poinsettia. Its bright red can bring some serious holiday cheer, and taking care of it will give you something simple and soothing to do regularly.

23. Mocktail it up. There are amazing holiday punches to be made with frozen lemonade and ginger ale. Find one (here are some suggestions) and enjoy it!

Above all, if you’re working to cut back or quit drinking this holiday season, join us today. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We believe you can do it!

What the pandemic did to drinking

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released stats on the number of alcohol-induced deaths in 2020, and the results are pretty shocking.

Even by a conservative measure that only includes deaths directly caused by alcohol (e.g., alcohol poisoning, liver or pancreas failure, or alcohol withdrawal), alcohol-induced deaths rose 26% year over year in 2020.

That’s the highest increase in 40 years, per the Guardian.

It’s not hard to understand why. So many of us experienced the stress of the pandemic first as an existential threat and then as a severe disruption to our everyday lives. It lost many people their jobs and forced others to quit working to care for children who couldn’t attend classes. It hurt children’s social development and kept famiiles apart for a long time. Although it’s impossible to know for sure, we imagine many people started to drink more as a faulty means of coping.

Excessive drinking is one of the most common causes of death among young adults. A recent study of all US deaths from 2015-2019 found 1 in 5 were caused by alcohol.

It’s not just people drinking too much on one night and dying in a car crash or dying of acute intoxication, either. Almost 60% of alcohol-caused deaths studied were caused by diseases resulting from drinking too much over time.

This means it’s well worth it to get into healthier drinking habits for the long term.

If you’re working to cut back or quit drinking, join us today. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. We believe you can do it!

You should have the right... to not party

The French legal system recently produced a victory for the sober curious.

In 2015, a man was fired from a Parisian consulting firm for refusing to attend after-work drinks.

They claimed he wasn’t “fun” enough to fit their corporate values (wow). He claimed that at the core, their values promoted excessive drinking, even alcoholism (see details here).

Recently, the court ruled that he was wrongfully dismissed from his job.

While it’s just one case from one country, we are excited to see courts recognizing the decision to not drink as a protected form of self-expression.

After all, many of us find our alcohol-heavy work cultures are obstacles to cutting back or quitting drinking. No one should be held back professionally for not wanting to get drunk. It’s hardly conducive to doing your actual job well, and doesn’t even lead to deep, meaningful connections between co-workers.

I apologize in advance for the joke, but apparently, you have to fight for your right… not to party.

If you’re working on drinking less, we’d love to help. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes.

Why tracking your drinking actually helps

Tracking your drinking is an intuitive step for those who are attempting to moderate their alcohol intake. After all, how can you stick to low-risk drinking limits if you don’t know how many drinks you’ve had?

But it turns out tracking your drinking does more than just help you keep count.

A recent study of over 100 problem drinkers over 4-5 months found real benefits to the act of tracking.

The drinkers in the study called an interactive voice response system to report their drinking and urges to drink. The study found that people were less likely to respond to their urges to drink with heavy drinking if they tracked both frequently.

While we’re delighted, we’re not surprised by this finding. Drinker’s Helper has always emphasized the importance of tracking your drinks and urges to drink in our app, and not just to keep count.

Instead, our tracking system is designed to help users reflect: on the benefits of sobriety, on why they ended up drinking too much, on how they can avoid future heavy drinking, among other things. This process of reflection may help people react differently to urges to drink, seeing more clearly why they might not want to drink heavily. We believe tracking also helps people to become more conscious of their urges to drink, and therefore less likely to react unconsciously to them.

If you’re looking to cut back or quit drinking, we’d love to help. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. You can try it out for free for a week before joining.

All the best of luck with your goals,

The Drinker’s Helper Team

It matters HOW you drink

Which is better: sticking to a moderate, low-risk drink limit of 10-14 drinks per week on just two days, or having the same number of drinks per week spread out over three or four days?

New research out of UT Austin confirms what you might have intuitively guessed: those who binge drink a couple of days a week are at significantly (in fact, 2x higher) risk of experiencing alcohol-related problems almost a decade later. (Alcohol-related problems include everything from injuries and mental health challenges to difficulties at work and school). Researchers studied over 1200 people over nine years to develop these findings.

Low-risk drinking guidelines from several governments have included both daily and weekly drinking limit recommendations for some time. It’s one of the reasons we require Drinker’s Helper members to set BOTH a daily and a weekly drinking limit.

But we thought we’d highlight the research because there are many reasons to stick to a healthy, moderate daily limit as well as a weekly one. Binge drinking on a couple of “drinking days” not only leads to worse hangovers, but also may lead to increased tolerance for alcohol, increased potential for injuries and harm to your relationships and career, and increased desire to get out of control.

If you’re looking to cut back or quit drinking, we’d love to help. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. You can try it out for free for a week before joining.

All the best of luck with your goals,

The Drinker’s Helper Team

If your Facebook posts sound like this, you might drink too much...

A new study has found that artificial intelligence is capable of correctly identifying high-risk drinkers based on their Facebook posts.

Over 3500 adults agreed to have their posts analyzed, so there was a pretty good sample size involved. And 75% of the time, the AI program’s decision matched what participants self-disclosed about their own drinking.

Now, some of this isn’t groundbreaking - obviously, those who talk more about alcohol are more likely to be risky drinkers. Religious people who talked about prayer and God were less likely to over-drink. And young people may be more likely to drink at a risky level and also more likely to use slang and talk about partying - both of which were also keywords that identified risky drinkers.

But the intriguing part about the study’s findings to us was the following:

1. People who expressed negative emotions were more likely to be risky drinkers

2. People who talked about close relationships, like family, were less likely to be risky drinkers

We’re all more prone to falling into risky drinking behaviors when we’re feeling down, and it shows in how we express ourselves on social media. Moreover, strong connections with others can make a big difference in our emotional bottom lines, reducing our risk of over-drinking.

Here’s the full study if you’re interested in learning more: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acer.14807.

If you have fallen into a pattern of risky drinking, consider making changes with some support. If you’re looking to cut back or quit drinking, we’d love to help. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. You can try it out for free for a week before joining.

All the best of luck with your goals,

The Drinker’s Helper Team

Right now is the hardest time of all

We’ve found that one of the hardest experiences is to feel like you’re the only one who’s struggling.

In theory, we all know these past two years have been difficult, but it can sometimes feel like everyone else is doing well and feeling hopeful, that COVID lockdowns are over for the most part, and that people are ready to go back to the office and to travel and have fun again.

It can be really isolating if you feel worried about the future or discouraged in the present, particularly if those feelings have led you to drink more than you’d like to cope.

Well, we have news for you: you’re not alone.

A recent study found that there was a 22% increase in deaths related to drinking alcohol in 2021 compared to the previous year. The increase was particularly bad among young people 25-44, who might have felt most acutely the social isolation caused by COVID, and struggled with parenting young children while working from home. And as you might guess, 2020 was already a bad year, with a 25% increase of its own.

Another survey found that just over 60% - 3 in 5 - Irish adults admitted to drinking frequently to cope with the pandemic in 2021, and once again, the youngest generation were the most likely to do so.

All this is just by way of saying: if you’re drinking too much because you’re coping with some tough feelings right now, you’re so not alone.

Obviously, drinking is not a viable solution for sleep disorders, anxiety or depression (in fact, it can worsen all three!). So if you have fallen into a pattern of self-destructive drinking behavior, consider making changes with some support. If you’re looking to cut back or quit drinking, we’d love to help. Drinker’s Helper is an app that provides motivational exercises, drink tracking and insights into why you drink, and a personalized support group of your peers to help you make needed changes. You can try it out for free for a week before joining.

All the best of luck with your goals,

The Drinker’s Helper Team