Is Moderate Drinking Possible for People With Alcohol Use Disorder?

They share that “risks start from the first drop” and increase with every additional sip of alcohol. A systematic review and meta-analysis published in March 2023 also concluded that not even low to Alcoholics Anonymous moderate alcohol consumption provided any healthy benefits, despite past research suggesting so. While some studies suggest that moderate drinking can benefit the heart, others haven’t found such a link.

Set Attainable Goals

Past can you moderate your drinking studies may have masked the health benefits of not drinking at all. You can lower your health risks from alcohol by drinking less or not drinking at all. Some of these strategies — such as watching for peer pressure, keeping busy, asking for support, being aware of temptation, and being persistent — can also be helpful for people who want to give up alcohol completely. By Buddy TBuddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website.

Center social gatherings around other activities

Moderation gives you control of your drinking and allows you to take back control of your life. Once you’ve cut back on your drinking (so you’re at or below the recommended guidelines), examine your drinking habits regularly to see if you’re maintaining this level of drinking. Some people attain their goal only to find that old habits crop up again later. The most frequently cited definition of moderate drinking comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which defines it as consuming one drink a day or fewer for biological women and two or fewer for men. The agency considers a single drink to be a 12-ounce beer, a 6-ounce glass of wine, 8 ounces of malt liquor, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor, the equivalent of a shot.

Feel like you should be drinking less? Start here

If you consider alcohol as a coping strategy, then it makes sense why heading straight to abstinence would be terrifying. Maybe you feel that you’re drinking too much or too often. Scientists know that alcohol is carcinogenic, or cancer-causing. In the body, alcohol turns into a carcinogen called acetaldehyde. If acetaldehyde builds up in the body, it damages DNA and prevents cells from reproducing or repairing themselves.

The conflict has been on display in recent months, with the release of assessments that will be used to shape the U.S. Researchers from two federal organizations reviewed the science on moderate drinking—and reached some different conclusions about how it affects health. Whether via self-talk or a conversation with a trusted friend, family member, or healthcare professional, it’s important to talk about your urges and remind yourself why you chose to moderate your drinking in the first place. Accepting, embracing, and then distracting yourself from these feelings in a healthy way will help you fight the urge to drink. Here are my top 10 things that you need to do to moderate how much alcohol you drink, and ‘control’ your alcohol consumption. So many people are invested in drinking less alcohol for one reason or another, and in response, the zero-proof spirit market has exploded.

• Experts said it’s possible to undo the negative effects of moderate alcohol consumption, but this would depend on the damage and the person’s unique characteristics and habits.
• That type of design would eliminate other potential factors—for example, participants having a healthier diet or exercising frequently—that could actually account for moderate drinking’s link with certain health outcomes.
• You could also get help to better manage your emotions, address past trauma, and understand how anxiety, depression, or other emotional difficulties have powered your alcohol abuse.
• Generally, these healthier options will be low in (or free of) added sugars.
• John C. Umhau, MD, MPH, CPE is board-certified in addiction medicine and preventative medicine.

For people who have not been able to maintain sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or other 12-step programs, they may wish to consider if moderation may be a more effective path for them to take. That advisory suggests that having a daily drink may raise the risk of a woman developing an “alcohol-related cancer”—breast, colorectal, voice box, liver, mouth, and throat—by about 2.5%, compared to drinking less frequently. When taken together, the new reports implicate moderate drinking with a higher risk of breast, esophageal, and oral cancer, but an advisory from the Surgeon General outlines even more dire outcomes.

Tons of beverage brands offer delicious non-alcoholic drink options from Surely Wines and Ritual Zero Proof Spirits to Little Saints and even Heineken. If you’re looking to enjoy more than one drink in a sitting, diluting your drinks is a great way to stretch a smaller amount of alcohol. To do this, simply cut the amount of your hard liquor, cocktail, or wine in half and mix with sparkling water (flavored or plain) or just plain old filtered water. Depending on the drink and your taste preference, you can also add fresh fruit juice. Maintaining moderation in drinking means starting out with a specific goal.

Moderate drinking

Binge drinking is well defined and something we should all strive to avoid for best health and safety. Moderation can allow you to feel in control and like you are making progress. Many who practice it find that they are better at understanding how much they are drinking, are able to reduce or eliminate binge drinking, and suffer fewer negative consequences from alcohol abuse. Over the past few decades, research has demonstrated that complete abstinence isn’t always the most effective approach for treating alcohol abuse. While total abstinence is necessary in some cases, in other cases people are able to reduce their drinking to moderate levels without needing to abstain totally.

• Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website.
• It’s always wise to check with your doctor — she should be able to help you decide whether it is best for you to cut back or to abstain.
• Surgeon General issued a new advisory, stating that alcohol is the “third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity, increasing risk for at least seven types of cancer.”
• The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans are a set of nutrition recommendations for Americans across all lifespans that is updated and released by the U.S.

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You’ll want to stop hiding the ‘spare bottle’ of wine at the back of the cupboard, and stop ‘topping up’ the actual bottle that you want people in your house to focus on. You might also want to stop pretending that it’s the same bottle being poured from, even thought there’s a warm empty bottle wedged in an empty cornflakes box in the recycling. You will need to be prepared to be constantly aware, on guard, and actively moderating, every day, and every time you find yourself https://wp1-c12356-2.btsndrc.ac/5-guided-meditation-techniques-for-addiction-2/ with an opportunity to drink. If my clients can achieve those numbers on a monthly basis, that’s excellent—but that’s often unrealistic for many, which is perfectly OK. It’s important to meet yourself where you are and make small steps towards healthier practices from there.