Next week it’s Alcohol Awareness Week (15-21st November). Alcohol is a large fixture in many people’s lifestyles, therefore it’s very relevant when it comes to nutrition and health. This article explores the effects of alcohol on our mental health and whether it can fit with intuitive eating.
Alcohol is a causal factor in more than 60 medical conditions.1 It’s well known that alcohol increases the risk of many diseases such as liver disease and some cancers etc. However, in my area of nutrition, I’m more concerned about the mental health side of alcohol – how it can interfere with your mind and its links with depression. There are several different angles to talk about:
Alcohol and mood
Alcohol can have different effects depending on your mood. For many people, going out drinking with their mates is fun and they experience a rush of euphoria and happiness through their drinking. The alcohol emphasizes the feelings which were already there. Unfortunately, this can work negatively, where if you happen to be struggling with something like depression or are in a low mood, drinking alcohol could just make those feelings worse. Alcohol and depression can mutually reinforce each other, for example, if you already have depression, you may feel like drinking more, or drinking alcohol can increase symptoms of depression. It can be a vicious cycle.
Dopamine
When drinking alcohol, the body produces extra dopamine (the happiness chemical in the brain), which is what gives people a euphoric ‘boost.’ However, with regular heavy drinking, the body becomes used to these boosts and starts making less dopamine, which could contribute to low mood.
Self-medicating
Have you ever heard somebody say that they are self-medicating with alcohol? In a lot of instances this is said in a jokey way, however it is true that alcohol can become a coping mechanism for someone who is emotionally struggling and feels like they have nowhere else to turn. The danger of this is that using alcohol regularly as a coping mechanism means that the underlying reasons for drinking aren’t being addressed. In extreme cases this can lead to dependence on alcohol, which is a serious medical condition.
Hangover effects
We all metabolise alcohol differently depending on our genetics. Some can drink a lot and wake up fine the next day, whereas others get horrific hangovers from a very small amount. You’re much more likely to end up with a worse hangover the older you get. The nausea and headaches which come with a regular hangover, can help contribute to feelings of depression and/or anxiety. Having regular days feeling hungover can have a negative impact on quality of life as it affects your average day-to-day.
Alcohol and intuitive eating
Alcohol can have a negative impact on the intuitive eating process, as the very nature of drinking alcohol means losing your inhibitions and not being tuned in with the body. Alcohol puts the body under stress, as the liver must work hard to metabolise the alcohol and you can become very dehydrated. It can make your body feel awful physically (as well as mentally), so doesn’t fit well into ‘self-care.’ Alcohol can also give you the ‘munchies’ which can lead to overeating and having a negative effect on relationships with food. Therefore, if everything was black and white, I’d be sitting here telling you not to drink alcohol due to the negative impact it can have. But in this world, that’s not realistic, and alcohol can have its place within a healthy lifestyle, as long as you have an awareness of its possible effects.
My story with alcohol
Having read this far, you may be assuming that I am tee-total – I am not. However, I do have a wariness with alcohol due to my background with depression. I’ve previously mentioned my past struggles with mental health, which you can read in more detail here. In my teens I battled depression alongside an eating disorder. Like many other teenagers in the UK, I started drinking from time to time at house parties, but it was when I started university at the age of eighteen that I started drinking very heavily – my hangovers were so bad that I couldn’t get out of bed the following day. The problem was, with depression the alcohol just made me feel worse about myself and without going into any details, I was a danger to myself when I drank due to where I was mentally.
By the age of nineteen I was going through therapy for my mental health. After starting my recovery from depression, I saw no point in drinking alcohol, due to the way it made me feel. Therefore, I became tee-total for the sake of my mental health. Most people at the time didn’t know what I was going through and didn’t understand why I didn’t drink, so I told people that it was for sporting performance. Not drinking didn’t bother me, because I knew I was a happier person without it.
Fast forward to my mid-twenties – fully recovered and travelling around on the world on a gap year. There wasn’t a specific moment when I thought – yes, I’ll drink again, it just happened naturally. I can’t even tell you what my first drink was after years of being tee-total. But I started enjoying a couple of drinks every now and then – never to the point of being drunk, just a bit tipsy. And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. But I still carry a faint awareness of the negative effect alcohol can have on my mood – for example, if I happen to be in a bit of a low mood or something sad has happened, I won’t drink. I’ll only drink if I’m in the right frame of mind. This is what I consider part of being an intuitive eater. I’m aware of the effect’s alcohol can have on me and will only drink in certain conditions – call it my own imposed personal self-care.
My philosophy on alcohol
The reason I am telling you this, is because this is my philosophy on alcohol when it comes up as a topic with clients. I have no problem with clients enjoying alcohol, when they are in a good place and it’s not having a major effect on their lives. But if drinking ever reaches the point of not being fun anymore, there is nothing wrong with having some time away from it. You don’t have to reach the point of being an alcoholic for alcohol to be having a huge negative impact on your life. As intuitive eating is all about tuning in with the body’s natural signals, alcohol can be a disruptor to this – so having a break may be something to consider if you’re struggling.
If you want to read more about alcohol and getting involved in Alcohol Awareness Week, you can head to this website: Alcohol Awareness Week | Alcohol Change UK
If you’re worried about alcohol and want some help, you can search for help near you on the NHS website: Find Mental health services for alcohol addiction services – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
If you’re keen to learn more about the process of intuitive eating, you can book your free discovery call with Hattie here.
References
- Alcohol Change UK (2021). Alcohol Statistics. Available from: Alcohol statistics | Alcohol Change UK (Accessed 11th November 2021).
