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Five psychological tricks to make yourself drink less booze
We’re getting to the bit of Dry January where only the hardcore remain – and the rest of us have fallen off the wagon spectacularly.
For anyone who does make it, ‘Dry January’ has long-term benefits in terms of cutting down –
a study of 857 volunteers doing ‘Dry January’ found that even six months later, people were drinking less heavily.
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But even if you didn’t try going ‘Dry’ there’s quite a few proven psychological tricks which can help people cut down on the booze (without cutting it out altogether).
ONLY TAKE A FIXED AMOUNT OF MONEY – AND DON’T BUY ROUNDS
Your mates will think you are terribly tight-fisted – but one of the proven ways to cut down on the amount of alcohol you shift is to limit the amount you spend.
That means no rounds.
The NHS suggests, ‘Only take a fixed amount of money to spend on alcohol.
Dr Bob Patton of the University of Surrey says that refusing to drink in rounds,, ‘allows you to set your own pace of consumption.’
SET A DRINKING GOAL – AND KEEP A DIARY
Putting things in writing can help, according to advice issued by America’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
The NIAAA suggests putting down a list of reasons you want to cut down drinking – for instance, feeling healthier, or sleeping better – and then keeping a drink diary.
The NIAAA suggests that setting a goal of how many drinks you will have – and then recording it, should help you keep your drinking under control.
MAKE OTHER BIG CHANGES IN YOUR LIFE
Breaking habits is very, very hard – but it can be easier if you’re making other big changes at the same time, such as moving house.
(A bit extreme, we know).
Dr Bas Verplanken of the University of Bath studied 800 people – and found that people who had moved house were more easily able to break previous habits.
Dr Verplanken said, ‘Changing from December 31st to January 1st is not a dramatic discontinuity. Many resolutions are made on December 31st, and go down the drain on January 2nd.’
‘In the case of moving to a new home for instance, people may need to find new solutions for how to do things in the new house, where and how to shop, commute, and so on. All of these aspects are absent when talking about New Year resolutions.’
DON’T SMOKE
Many smokers believe that giving up with cause them to swill down far more alcohol to compensate for the lack of cigarettes.
But it’s actually not true, a University College London study found – in fact, people trying to stub out the habit tend to cut down on drinking as well, and especially binge drinking.
Lead author Jamie Brown of University College London said: ‘These results go against the commonly held view that people who stop smoking tend to drink more to compensate.
STAY NEAR SOBER PEOPLE
Boozers tend to judge their intoxication by the behaviour of people around them – and so if you’re surrounded by people who are absolutely steaming drunk, you’ll feel sober.
That encourages you to drink too much.
Researchers from Cardiff University analysed the blood alcohol levels of 1,862 men and women on Friday and Saturday nights – asking them questions about how drunk they felt.
Professor Simon Moore, from Cardiff University, said: ‘This has very important implications for how we might work to reduce excessive alcohol consumption.
