This year I've been really rethinking my relationship with alcohol and so I decided to commit to dry January to really kickstart 2025 and just test myself.
Heineken Zero Zero is the perfect companion for dry January because you feel like you're still participating when you're out for dinner with friends, out for drinks, whilst you're still meeting your lifestyle goals.
I'm a big beer fan so I also love the taste of Heineken Zero Zero plus being alcohol free you can enjoy whenever refreshment calls.
Heineken Zero Zero is available at your local Heineken retailer or for delivery at heineken .com.
You must be 21 plus to purchase.
Enjoy Heineken responsibly and good luck with dry January.
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hello everybody welcome back to the show welcome back to the podcast new listeners old listeners wherever you are in the world it is so great to have you here back for another episode as we of course break down the psychology of our 20s i just want to say a huge big full thank you to all of the love
and support that you guys have shown my new podcast mantra so far um in case you haven't heard I launched a new show you know just wanted to spend even more hours behind a microphone one podcast wasn't enough but mantra is basically a weekly podcast that I put out every single Monday that gives you
a phrase and affirmation for your week to help you guide your week whether it is I release the need for external validation I cultivate peace within I create my own reality we go into what each mantra means at the start of every week to kind of give you some guidance and some inspiration as you start
things off and as you get into it whatever it is you are going through so the first episode was released yesterday on the 13th of January and the love that you guys have poured into that show already left me kind of speechless So thank you so much for those who have already listened, already rated the show,
who are following along on Instagram.
Every single little two second act, whether you're rating it, whether you're just playing the first, you know, 30 seconds, whether you honestly just hit follow means the world.
So I really, really appreciate it.
But with that aside, just to say a big thank you.
I want to talk about today's topic because today we are talking about alcohol.
specifically what alcohol does to our brains how it impacts us emotionally and psychologically and also the shift we're kind of seeing in society today towards sobriety especially in our generation of 20 somethings a lot of us are starting to question whether our current drinking habits both individually
and as a culture are really what's best and this has been a big topic of conversation in my life at the moment.
It's been coming up everywhere I look because I'm doing dry January and you know what?
I just kind of set it as a personal challenge and if I'm being completely honest with you all, I did not expect it to be as hard as it was.
It honestly shocked me a bit because I'm not someone who's ever had a problem with alcohol.
I could always stop drinking when I wanted but suddenly these 30 days have been hard and it's really got me thinking about well the psychology of alcohol and the role that it plays during this decade of life I think it's been so difficult because every social event or thing that's happening every interaction opportunity
to hang out with my friends kind of has alcohol at the center maybe not every single event but probably every second one whether it's going to the pub going out for drinks going to a party a birthday a celebration dinner alcohol is very much at the center and honestly as someone who actually does like
the taste of wine and who will have a few glasses of wine or a beer I never really noticed how dependent those situations felt on drinking until I put myself in a position where I couldn't participate in kind of the group activity what I have noticed has been really interesting as well both health -wise,
mental health -wise, brain -wise but also social -wise.
So I want to not only discuss the role of alcohol on our brains and our bodies because I think that's just something we should all understand but also what happens when we quit alcohol, what changes you're likely to notice, how to deal with things like anxiety and the rise of sober curiosity amongst
us also some of the things i've learned going out sober that might surprise you i also want to go kind of more in depth into the psychology of dependence substance abuse why we do feel like alcohol is so conditioned into how we socialize and so much more i think this episode is really important and it's
essential listening if you're in your 20s and beyond because how often do we really pause and consider how big of a role this substance plays in our lives you know until recently I hadn't really done that thinking so this is also such a really richly and deeply researched area I do just want to say
the evidence and the science is constantly evolving when it comes to alcohol like a paper literally came out yesterday that I didn't get a chance to put into this episode.
So as of right now, hopefully it is accurate, but maybe in a couple of years the research will change again and I'll have to revisit this topic.
But for right now, this is what we know about the psychology of alcohol, specifically in our 20s.
So let's get into it.
Let's get some basics down, Pat, first.
How is alcohol processed by the body?
Why does it make us feel the way it does, good and bad, what is the impact on the brain?
Three things we really need to know.
So first thing to know, when you have a glass of wine, when you have a little Aperol spritz, your martini, your shots of vodka, whatever it is, insert drink of choice here, the key chemical or substance that we are interested in that makes alcohol alcohol is ethanol.
This is what is going to make you feel tipsy or drunk and ethanol is really just a byproduct of the fermentation of a plant so for wine it's grapes for beer it's barley for vodka it's you know potatoes or sugar or rice gin it's juniper berries and fermentation basically just means that the fruit is rotting
it's fermenting so when you drink alcohol you're basically just drinking some really funky juice you know something that is rotten and it's important to note that our body actually sees that in some ways as poison like it's not meant to be here even if it feels nice if you for example see someone throw
up from drinking too much alcohol on a night out that is basically your body being like oh my gosh we have been poisoned get this stuff out of me and I remember someone telling me that when I was at uni actually she was like that is your body responding to a point like an overdose a poison overdose
and it really changed my whole perspective on how much I would drink on a night out like binge drinking was just so casually prevalent in my university experience that hearing that person explain it that way like kind of really shocked me so you know on a less extreme note when our body metabolizes
alcohol ethanol even in small quantities a number of things happen I'm not going to get too scientific but essentially it can only be processed by our liver which essentially does see ethanol as something that is harmful and it tries to clear it out of our system it tries to clear it out of our body
by processing it but when we have more than the liver can process at any given time this excess alcohol in our body is what starts to give us that loose drunken tipsy feeling because the alcohol is not being processed as fast as it's coming in.
That's not necessarily a problem at low levels only at high levels and all those feelings that we are going to be experiencing occur because alcohol is not only a drug but it's what we call a depressant drug.
So in comparison to stimulant drugs like MDMA, cocaine, that sort of thing we have depressant drugs like alcohol, marijuana now they're called depressants because of the impact they have on the central nervous system and the impact that alcohol or ethanol has is one of basically sedation so your central
nervous system you hear that come up a lot it is made up of two things your brain and your spine your spinal cord and alcohol is actually one of the few substances that can cross the blood brain barrier meaning that it can almost reach into our brain cells and impact them directly and when it does that it
slows everything down and it disrupts normal functioning so basically at any given moment right now you right now listening to this podcast all of your neurons in your brain are chattering away they're sending information back and forth like little workers in a big warehouse and they're thinking oh
this is interesting this isn't interesting pay attention to this while you're watching the road while you're cleaning they're sourcing all this information and alcohol is like going into that warehouse and slowly turning down the lights so that none of those little worker neurons can see where they're
going and they can't talk as easily that is basically alcohol's effect it is kind of shutting down the systems making it harder for your neurons to talk now this this depressing effect on our brain is what creates so many of those typical effects that we associate with drinking so big one feeling a little
bit clumsy a bit slower but also less inhibited because all of those parts of your brain that would normally tell you to hush or would respond to physical stimuli they are kind of quietening down they're finding it harder to communicate with each other think about like in a normal circumstance you go
to say something embarrassing or weird and your brain goes okay let's read this let's read the cues let's think this through we're not going to say that but when you're drinking your brain gets to that realization a little bit too slow it also slows down our anxiety meaning that your anxious thoughts
for a lot of us finally seem quieter.
We're going to talk about that in a second and why that's actually going to backfire on you.
Another impact that alcohol has that comes from that sedative effect is slurred speech.
It's why you should also never drive when drinking because your response times are slower even if you don't think that they are.
It's why we feel sleepy.
alcohol also causes our brain to release something called opioid peptides which basically are the thing that signals the brain to release dopamine and serotonin and when they do those areas of our brain open the floodgates and they let out they make more of these neurotransmitters available to us which is what makes
us feel really happy and euphoric because of how this substance impacts our reward pathways and also the release of endorphins so alcohol triggers opiopeptides which trigger dopamine and serotonin and in the process also release releases endorphins um it's interesting because they actually only really
discovered that this is what was happening this uh peptide to dopamine to endorphin link about 12 years ago um you know they'd long assumed it but it was really hard to prove that this was what was why alcohol made us so happy the way they did finally prove it was that they did a study back in 2012
where they injected 25 people half of whom were heavy drinkers half of whom weren't with a drug that would bind to their opioid receptors um but then they radioactively tagged those receptors so they basically gave them like a low level of a drug that stimulated their opioid receptors and that drug
would obviously attach to those receptors so they could see where they were in the brain and then they asked them to drink alcohol and the people who got particularly a lot of pleasure out of drinking so heavy drinkers they all those areas those places where the opioid peptides were located based on that previous
drug insertion they lit up even further and so that really showed researchers and scientists only 12 years ago that that was the system and the reason why we get that euphoric feeling so the effects of alcohol they're not just physical and biological they're also really psychological not just because of that happy
feeling but because of the impact on our mind and our mood in general and also our personality this amazing paper from 2008 titled why do we drink puts it really perfectly we drink because of alcohol's ability to alter our emotional state and make us more like the person we actually want to be even
if just for a second we want to be the confident person the relaxed person the disinhibited person the less stressed person and because alcohol gives us a gateway to this realization of the ideal self that is actually what can make it so addictive and what can fuel dependency you know it's not just
the feeling it's who it makes us become in comparison to who we are in our everyday lives you know that is one factor i also think the other factor why the other reason it's so normalized and while widely used is of course the social element to it how can we forget that you know that social celebratory
component to the use of alcohol is what makes it so hard for us to contemplate stepping away from it because we think that we're going to miss out on so many other things you know for millennium people have known that alcohol makes us have more fun it makes us merry makes us open more relaxed and so it
has become integrated into our culture our way of communicating and socializing you know the earliest evidence of humans making and drinking alcohol was from 7000 BC before Christ that is a lot of years ago that is definitely not modern history actually where they found this wine was in China in what is now
known as the Yellow River Valley and it really goes to show that humans have for a long time used this substance to alter their state of mind and for enjoyment.
Now you can obviously get this buzzed euphoric relaxed feeling from even just one drink even a couple of drinks but at some point your body can't process the alcohol fast enough and so initially you will get that buzzed feeling and then you'll start feeling nauseous dizzy confused and you may even black
out let's actually talk about what happens to your brain when you black out now i'm talking blacking out not passing out so not like you know being completely unconscious but being conscious but having no memory of what has happened when this happens you've basically drunk enough alcohol to disrupt
a really vital part of your brain called the hippocampus.
Now this part of your brain it's responsible for a lot of things but in this context it's really responsible for consolidating and storing memories.
So although you might be awake and you might be currently experiencing your reality your brain cannot take those moments and store them properly.
so that is what leads to those gaps in what you can remember everything that you're experiencing when you're really drunk on a night out or wherever you are basically it's only able to be temporarily held in sensory and short -term memory which you know normally has a life expectancy of about a couple
minutes so that's why you might wake up the next morning and go hey this is so blurry i can't remember saying that i can't remember doing that even though you hadn't necessarily passed out at any point when we pass out on the other hand what we are experiencing is as i described before basically minor alcohol
poisoning and when i say minor i mean less extreme than the worst case scenario but honestly any kind of alcohol poisoning is not that great and the next morning you know how can we talk about the psychology of alcohol and not talk about the next day when we've drunk past that limit we get a hangover
and that's typically due to dehydration and because when your liver breaks down alcohol a by -product is called encedelahide which is what makes you really nauseous and gives you headaches and then we also have anxiety as a component of that um i made a full episode on anxiety maybe two years ago the episode
is called the psychology of anxiety that goes really into depth on this subject but as a summary when we drink part of why we feel that calm feeling i was talking about is also because of the release of a neurotransmitter called GABA and in response to alcohol our brain dumps a bunch of this into our
body GABA has that said that the sedative effect it really slows things down it reduces your anxiety it reduces chatter between your neurons the next day though our brain is like all right cool we need to get everything back in balance now so it releases more of GABA's counterpart glutamate now glutamate
has the opposite effect it has an excitatory effect and that is why you feel quite anxious the next morning because it takes a while for your brain to really find the right level and restore that normal chemical balance so it's pumping in more glutamate pumping in more GABA pumping in more glutamate
and you know they're kind of trying to race to the top and your anxiety is rising and rising that is why you can feel really overwhelmed by oh my god what did I say last night what did I do even when you didn't do anything you feel like there's this lingering sense that something is wrong and this rising
anxiety in your body that my friends is glutamate so I think you know that even that interaction between GABA and glutamate really sums up alcohol consumption for me for every reaction you have with alcohol there is a counter reaction you might feel happy and merry but then the next day you might feel
sad and depressed when the buzz wears off you might feel uninhibited but the next you feel anxious again.
And for me, alcohol also was just a really terrible contributor to my mental health.
Because obviously, like you're feeling stressed and overwhelmed.
You've had a really hard day.
You might have a couple glasses of wine.
But I was finding that I would wake up the next day.
Firstly, I wasn't as productive.
I didn't have as much mental clarity, which is so important to me but secondly all of my anxious stressful worrisome feelings and sensations were just heightened and elevated and it was unbearable and that is something that I have noticed you know in this short period of time in this two weeks that I
haven't been drinking my anxiety symptoms have declined like they're still there but they feel manageable also I'm getting you know riding less of a wave like an up and down wave of spiked emotions from really jubilant to really you know terrified and sad very interested to see how that goes like in the next
two weeks after a month and even if I can do like six months I don't know I've got you know my book coming out kind of want to have a little glass of champagne with that but even in moderation whether my alcohol consumption is something that is directly correlated to poor mental health episodes for me
i do want to put in like a little disclaimer here like this advice and information i'm presenting isn't presented in a way to just be like everyone be sober and trying to dissuade you from ever drinking again like i think i will eventually drink again i just also think that what i needed to understand was some
of the consequences and you know really re -acknowledge in myself what was happening in my body in response to alcohol and whether I was willing to opt into that interaction or whether I would be better off without it but I honestly do think like I'll drink again I probably will get drunk again probably
a couple of times so this isn't like a blanket if you're listening to this never drink again kind of episode I just think that any form of education gives you an informed choice and you can take this and be like cool i'm still gonna get blackout drunk and i wouldn't you know can i wouldn't promote that but it's
still your choice as long as you know what you're doing to your body um all right let's take a short break because something we haven't spoken about yet is the psychology behind alcohol dependency and addiction i think that deserves its whole section of the podcast so we will be back after this short
break you know i love having a cheeky drink with friends post work or a beer with dinner but this year i have committed to completing dry january to start the new year off fresh and to really kind of the lifestyle i want to have for the next 12 months heineken 00 is the perfect companion for this journey
because it has 0 .0 alcohol so i can still socialize enjoy myself get out there without feeling like i'm missing out plus it genuinely actually tastes very very delicious my fridge is now stocked with heineken zero zero and friends of mine will even join me for an evening or for an afternoon going alcohol
free if you are also taking part in dry january this year or just looking for your new favorite drink heineken zero zero is it heineken zero zero is available at your local Heineken retailer or for delivery at heineken .com.
You must be 21 plus to purchase.
Enjoy Heineken responsibly and good luck with dry January.
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Let's go to work. why is it that some people cannot stop drinking when they start why do some people get really drunk make terrible mistakes ruin relationships and they still cannot quit basically i think the question that i'm asking is what makes alcohol so addictive for some people and it really it
really is even if we don't acknowledge it researchers at oxford university they've actually called it the second most addictive drug on the planet, second only to heroin.
Like that's wild to me, yet it's so widely accepted.
If, you know, we were all going around doing heroin every Friday, Saturday, and on Tuesday, you best believe that your friends would be like, hey, intervention happening here, this isn't a good idea.
But alcohol is just not treated with the same level of caution.
What really makes alcohol so addictive, and I've already kind of mentioned it, is what it does to us psychologically as well as physically.
And psychologically, what it does is that it numbs us.
But not only that, it also lights up the reward centers in our brain.
So, you know, of course, our brain is going to continue to repeat behaviors or tell us to repeat behaviors that are pleasurable, rewarding.
And also, you know, alcohol provides relief in a sense from really hard things, from negative circumstances.
When that association between, you know, alcohol makes me happy, alcohol takes away bad things.
When that association becomes a pattern, that becomes a habit, it becomes a lot harder and harder to stop.
We also have to acknowledge you know a lot of people feel more like themselves I guess in their drunk state and so of course they're going to continue to drink and sometimes drink heavily to put them back in the shoes of this person they wish that they were.
This really this pattern and association is really the neurological basis for addiction and we typically see addiction as happening in three stages so if we're speaking of alcohol often people begin with the binge and intoxication stage where we're experiencing all the pleasure we're experiencing all
the happy thoughts we associate drinking with really fun things environments people um and it hasn't gotten bad yet but then we get to the withdrawal period where it just feels crap to not be drinking because of the hangovers whatever and also the negative effect stage so when we do stop we become irritable
sad depressed anxious anxious so we drink again to reduce the stress of not drinking and then that is really followed by the preoccupation and anticipation stage this is when we have strong urges we have cravings when they're not acceptable maybe we are watching the clock for 5 p .m with sneaking drinks
at work this is where we don't feel like we can have fun without it we don't think we can function without it and it's where you know alcohol abuse disorder and alcohol addiction really kind of takes hold some of us are more prone to this than others and one of the biggest factors that makes us more
prone to it is genetics it's genetic factors and recent studies including one from only last year have showed that there are certain genes associated with an addiction or dependency on alcohol and those genes are inherited some you know scientists some researchers even call substance use disorders or alcoholism
a complex genetic disease a genetic disease like you know those that cause birth defects or birth deformities and it's also linked to generational trauma it's linked to environment to learned behaviors all of which are kind of passed down from those above us passed down from our family and you know
of course trauma comes into play here you know a study in australia found that a third of adults who are exposed to childhood trauma go on to abuse alcohol later in life a third of them and you know as a country who has australia being you know as a terrible history a terrible terrible history you know
you can see why people whose families and whose culture have endured that suffering would have problems with alcohol because as it's as it's called it's a complex genetic and generational disease that's how some people really see it this is why I really think that people who struggle with alcoholism
or substance addiction or abuse of any kind they deserve so much sympathy um maybe people will get upset at me for saying that and say you know no my uncle has this and he doesn't deserve a lick of sympathy he did this to himself that's your that's your perspective and your truth what i'm saying is that i
don't think anyone would choose that life for themselves no one as a child as a three four five year old says when i grow up i want to be dependent on alcohol no one dreams of that but I've also seen in my own life how easy it is to fall into that pattern.
I've seen this in people that I know who seem totally fine and normal but have serious problems with alcohol.
They're just able to hide it because they have a good support network because of you know other things in their life.
You know I just don't think that it really comes down to not being disciplined I think that or being lazy I really actually think that it can happen to anyone all it takes is one tragedy one bad year one instance of bad luck and all you have left might be alcohol that is how you self -soothe and I think
it's as simple as that it's such a widely available and accepted drug that there's also people who don't even question that they might have a problem until it's too late you know living in Australia we have such a huge binge drinking culture that there I'm so sure that there are people I would even
know who don't even realize that they have a problem until they would try to stop until they try to quit and you know they couldn't do it like even I struggled there's also the important thing to remember which is that alcohol is commonly used as a maladaptive coping mechanism because of again how it
can be used to help us manage stress bad thoughts inadequacy it does remove bad feelings but it also prevents a deeper truer form of emotional coping i think we really need to articulate the distinction here between dependence abuse and addiction because they are used very interchangeably even i've
been doing so so let's clarify this for a second when people use the term dependence they are usually referring to a physical dependence on a substance so what that is characterized by is symptoms of increased tolerance so it's harder for you to get drunk even as you drink more and also withdrawal so obviously
withdrawal is the removal of the substance when you are sober it doesn't feel great you feel sick you feel gross as the alcohol leaves your body and while it's possible to have a physical dependence without being addicted often it's a very slippery slope and it's right around the corner addiction is one
step above dependence because it's marked by a change in behavior that is caused not only by biochemical changes in the brain from using alcohol but also psychological changes you know linked to substance abuse the substance and in this case it's alcohol becomes the main priority for someone who is suffering
from addiction, regardless of the harm they cause to themselves or others.
So this is a really important part, even if it's hurting family members, even if you're going to lose your job, like you just cannot stop, you just cannot stop.
Something interesting though, is that you can be addicted to alcohol, and not abusing it or even using it like you could be completely sober and still addicted to alcohol which sounds strange but it's actually a very core philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous that you're basically always going to be an addict
you know there was some controversy around this because if you tell someone who's zero days sober hey no matter what you do you're always going to be an addict and that is a bad dirty word so you better not it's not even worth trying like that's not a fun thing to hear you know it's not a fun thing
to think that you're forever going to be under the control of this substance or your identity is going to be associated with this substance so some people have said that idea that you're always an addict is not necessarily good for an optimistic internal environment but there are people who say you
know knowing that you are someone who is always going to be an addict who was an addict serves as a good reminder to them that they do have a more addictive prone personality so they shouldn't take chances even trying to drink alcohol in a normal way like that is not something that they can do so wherever
you sit on that kind of scale of whether you think it should exist that you're always an addict or not like it's very much an individual choice what's going to allow you to move past dependency and addiction in the best way there is also I think one less severe level of alcohol dependence or abuse that I
would call context -based dependence and I think this particularly applies to our 20s you might not have a problem with alcohol you might be able to stop for weeks or months maybe just weeks let's say that maybe a couple of days but you know every time your friends say come out with us let's go to the club
my god I sound so old like let's go clubbing let's go out let's go to this party you have to drink you feel like once you're in that environment there is no stopping you that is not just addiction in the traditional sense but rather a context a contextual reliance on alcohol kind of as a social lubricant
or a way to fit in like you could not imagine going to something and not drinking and when you do it's incredibly hard I think in these moments drinking really does become tied to the context rather than a personal craving like this kind of dependence is subtle because when you're not in those environments
you might not want to drink at all but it's also something that means you know it's also a form of dependence that can be can go unnoticed I think it's especially problematic when you're someone who gets to the party and can't stop drinking.
So I think it's really worth reflecting on whether the choice to drink in those moments is truly yours or if you're being influenced by the environment, by other people's expectations of you and kind of just like this context -based reliance.
You know, if you don't feel good after drinking and if you always like, God, I don't want to do that again, if you feel pressured, if you know you want to go for a run the next but you still end up going too far I think that that's when you know it's a bit of a dangerous social habit perhaps even for you
it's more linked to FOMO right and the way alcohol reduces stress in a situation or makes it feel like you belong you don't want to miss out on the fun perhaps it's a fear of social exclusion of not being part of the interesting stories of not being part of of the moment but it is something that I think
if you're in your 20s you need to recognize.
How does drinking and social acceptance go hand in hand?
Something really positive that I've seen, you know, more and more, though, is a lot of us taking the sober route or being sober curious.
That's the name for it these days.
You know, there is this idea that you're either a problem drinker, an alcoholic, or a normal drinker who has no issues with alcohol.
but more and more definitely seeing these like shades of gray when it comes to dependency and sober curiosity is this amazing kind of lifestyle choice that doesn't require complete commitment to going sober for the rest of your life but it does mean that you can choose to kind of dip your toes into
occasional or periodic sobriety and just kind of modify your drinking habits without feeling like it's all or nothing you know it's not because you're necessarily worried about dependency it's more that you've evaluated what drinking costs you versus what you would benefit from cutting down or going
sober for small periods of time I have noticed that more and more in my own social circles something I actually noticed recently was more non -alcoholic drinks being available at parties it's become a lot more normal to ask someone like are you drinking at the moment rather than just assuming that they
are more people doing dry jan or dry july and I think that's really something we can expect more as we deprioritize drinking or make small swaps and you know I promise to tell you what I've noticed mental health thing has been one thing but there are so many other benefits you sleep better you are less
stressed because you're not artificially elevating and then lowering and then elevating again your GABA and glutamate levels so your brain and body is able to find that sweet spot and stay there you know if you drink quite a bit and then you suddenly stop sometimes you do experience like a strange spike
in anxiety in the first few weeks because your brain is adjusting to not having this substance to reduce or relax it but after a while like it turns out that your body can manage that stress itself it doesn't need the help of alcohol we also see regeneration in the frontal lobe which is where alcohol
hits the hardest the frontal lobe and the cerebellum and the frontal lobe is responsible for a lot of our executive functioning and decision making self -control our emotions our personality and sometimes you might not know it but prolonged and heavy drinking actually kills off brain cells in that area and across
the brain and it causes your brain to shrink it reduces brain volume so that is why alcohol is so often implicated in neurological diseases like alzheimer's and parkinson's when you are young and you cut back you're giving your brain more of a chance and you're allowing your brain space to prune rewire
keep those cells healthy and that's why you may see an increase in mental clarity oh my goodness if I have not noticed that I have less brain fog almost none at the moment you feel refreshed you can get more done also you know because your sleep is likely improved as well like this is all coming together
it's a common myth that you know alcohol helps you sleep that's where the term nightcap came from like having a drink a cap of something to help you fall asleep actually to myth bust that one for you drinking worsens your sleep quality significantly because it makes it harder for you to enter and therefore
stay in REM sleep so not drinking better shut eye one of the things I've also noticed that I didn't expect was how much inflammation went away in my face particularly but also in my body like within a week I wasn't as puffy I got less headaches my skin was breaking out less it looked healthier and that was just
me going from like mid -range social drinking to no drinking at all and it still made a really big difference like oh my goodness even my hands and like my face is the big one where I just feel less like bloated and less like puffy and it's really hard to like see i think if you were someone like just
just some like a friend or a stranger and you weren't seeing my face every day but obviously as someone who sees it every day like i've definitely noticed this um decline your liver your heart they both do better and this raises a really important point i haven't spoken about yet which is another myth
the myth that alcohol is actually good for our health i listened to this fascinating podcast by the new york times called how bad is alcohol for you really in which they basically debunk this idea that alcohol has any health benefit most of us have probably heard this suggestion or this quote -unquote
fact that a glass of red wine is like good for your heart it has antioxidants like it was even a fact that was like in the episode like an episode of the office it's so commonly spread but actually when you review the study that this fact is taken from the way they interpreted their data was really
misleading and now so many people believe a false conclusion.
When they conducted this original study they basically looked at people who drank versus didn't drink and you know the people who did drink it was quite moderate maybe a couple of glasses of wine and what they found was that those who drank moderately were healthier than those who didn't drink at all
and it was this huge finding at the time but what they didn't control for and anyone studying psychology knows you need to control for your confounding extraneous variables they didn't control for the people who were in that sober group who had stopped drinking because they had a real problem and it had
begun to impact their health you know it's kind of hard these days to find someone who is completely sober and one of the reasons that someone might be completely sober is because they can't drink so all of those people who were included in the no drinking group it wasn't like they'd never drunk before
in their life. It was actually the opposite.
They had a problem.
And so they were basically pulling down the group average of non -drinkers compared to casual drinkers so it looked like the casual drinkers were healthier.
That is a classic example in psychology research of poor sampling methods, not controlling for your extraneous or confounding variables.
And knowing that now, you know, there's been so many more studies coming out saying, actually, this is not good for your heart.
This is not good for your liver.
This causes cancer.
There are entire countries that have changed their dietary recommendations when it comes to alcohol saying it is not safe for you to drink at all.
It will increase your likelihood of dying.
Maybe only by a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny bit, but still.
Actually, interestingly, as I'm recording this, it actually looks like the US will be the next country to make a recommendation that people shouldn't drink obviously it's very harsh recommendation but they want to do what's safe all of this sounds very very scary but something to note that I found really
fascinating even the man who discovered the problem in those findings who said you know to everyone fears alcohol isn't safe we shouldn't tell people that he actually get this he still drinks and he is very open about the fact that he loves a couple glasses of wine and I think that is the important
thing moderation is important and it reminds me of that quote which basically says like you know yes sun gives you cancer ice cream is bad for you spending your money ruins your savings wine isn't the healthiest it ruins your liver but I'm going to do it anyway I want to have fun it's a good good philosophy
to have that yes anything can kill you everything can be bad for you how terrible is that but actually it's not because life is actually about sometimes indulging and having fun and enjoying flavor and enjoying richness and I think that if you don't have a serious problem with alcohol abuse maybe and definitely
why not enjoy what you enjoy enjoy the feeling the sensation the friendships that you might feel like you get from a glass of wine or a little Aperol spritz every now and again okay we're gonna take a short break but when we come back I want to talk about how sobriety impacted my social life what it
was like to go out sober and just like some fast rapid fire tips I have if you want to give it a go you know I love having a cheeky drink with friends post work or a beer with dinner but this year I have committed to completing dry January to start the new year off fresh and to really kind of kickstart
the lifestyle I want to have for the next 12 months.
Heineken 00 is the perfect companion for this journey because it has 0 .0 % alcohol so I can still socialize, enjoy myself, get out there without feeling like I'm missing out plus it genuinely actually tastes very very delicious.
My fridge is now stocked with Heineken 00 and friends of mine will even join me for an evening or for an afternoon going alcohol free.
If you are also taking part in dry January this year or just looking for your new favourite drink Heineken 00 is it.
Heineken 00 is available at your local Heineken retailer or for delivery at heineken .com you must be 21 plus to purchase.
Enjoy Heineken responsibly and good luck with dry January.
Do you want to understand an invisible force that's shaping your life?
I'm Osvaloshan one of the new hosts of the long running podcast Tech Stuff.
I'm slightly skeptical but obsessively intrigued.
And I'm Cara Price, the other new host.
And I'm ready to adopt early and often.
On Tech Stuff, we travel all the way from the mines of Congo to the surface of Mars to the dark corners of TikTok to ask and attempt to answer burning questions about technology.
One of the kind of tricks for surviving Mars is to live there long enough so that people evolve into Martians.
Like, data is a very rough proxy for a complex reality.
How is it possible that the world's new energy revolution can be based in this place where there's no electricity at night?
Oz and I will cut through the noise to bring you the best conversations and deep dives that will help you understand how tech is changing our world and what you need to know to survive the singularity.
So join us. Listen to Tech Stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm so sick of hearing men talk about women's basketball.
If only there were a professional WNBA player with her own podcast I could listen to.
Hey, this is Lexi Brown, WNBA player and professional yapper.
And this is Mariah Rose.
You may know me from Spilling the Tea on Hoops for Hotties on TikTok.
And we've got a new podcast, Full Circle.
Every Wednesday, we're catching you up on what's going on in women's basketball.
And not just in the WNBA, but with Athletes Unlimited, Unrivaled, and College Basketball.
We've got you with analysis, inside stories, and a little bit of tea.
I know you guys have seen a lot of former and current basketball players telling their stories from their point of view.
And I just think it's time for the girlies to tap in.
We want to share all of the women's basketball stories that you won't see anywhere else.
Tune into Full Circle, an iHeart Women's Sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.
Everyone's forgotten who runs this valley.
Time to remind them.
Yellowstone fans, step into the Yellowstone universe.
Our family legacy is this rich.
And I'm protected of my life.
Hosted by Bobby Bones, the official Yellowstone podcast takes you deeper into the franchise that's captivated millions worldwide.
Action! Explore untold behind -the -scenes stories, exclusive cast interviews, and in -depth discussions about the themes and legacy of Yellowstone.
You know, the first ones to settle this valley fighting was all they knew.
Whether you're a longtime fan or new to the ranch...
Welcome to the Yellowstone.
Bobby Bones has everything you need to stay connected to the Yellowstone phenomenon.
I look forward to it.
Listen to the official Yellowstone podcast now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Let's go to work. I think a big fear we have around trying Dry Jan, Dry July, whatever it is, going sober for a couple of months is social exclusion.
Am I going to be included?
Are people going to think that I'm like a wet blanket, that I'm not fun?
Am I going to be left out?
Is it going to be less enjoyable to be the only sober one?
that was definitely a fear that i had in like just doing 30 days of this especially like it's summer in australia like everyone wants to do little arvo beverages um so like it definitely felt like i was going to be missing out but something that i've really noticed is that my friends are very very accepting
now if you have a friend group that is pressuring you to drink i don't think those people are your friends they're not your friends because if they only feel like they can enjoy your company with a glass or something you know a can of something in their hand like that's not authentic like I don't know
I just feel like relationships shouldn't be elevated by drinking they should be just as good when you're sober as they are when you're tipsy as they are when you're drunk and I went out sober the other night like it was a friend's birthday party like a really good friend and I went out and I was like
okay I'm committing to this I'm committing to this I'm gonna drive I'm gonna drive me and my boyfriend we're gonna meet like 30 of our friends and I'm gonna like just chill on the diet cokes for a little while the first hour this is what I learned the first hour was the worst just get that out of the way
first hour was the worst because everyone was kind of like getting into the vibe everyone was kind of having a few drinks like lightening up and it was very much like based around like let's go to the bar like this drink tastes good we're gonna sip and sit um so I was a bit like I just feel like I'm
missing out you guys are all like getting more cheerful more cheerful and I'm just feeling like I'm left out here of my own of course with my own actions but then after the first hour was done it was so much fun it was so much fun because I was more present because I wasn't sleepy because I didn't just
sit in a corner and just chat to one person I was more like aware of who I wanted to speak to what I wanted to get out of the night.
I was able to like I know this sounds weird but actually have some foresight to like organize things do things like there was karaoke in the back of this bar and I was like okay like I'll take the initiative and I'll book this because everyone else is kind of like had a few drinks and is probably not thinking
about whether that's possible.
Also really really fun was driving everyone home afterwards let me tell you this I had more fun being the designated driver and getting to drop all of my drunk friends home than I have ever had in a club and I know that is a huge statement but it is a correct one it is an accurate one I could not tell
you the last time I went clubbing and had a good time like it's just not something that I think I like to do obviously when I was I actually probably could tell you like when I was in my early 20s and like in my teen years it was like a great time it was part of like socializing at uni but since I've
kind of hit my mid -20s like it's just not my thing anymore and I would always try and force myself to really enjoy it and get something out of it and make memories that's the big reason why I would go was for the memories I made more fun memories driving my friends home and going to McDonald's and they
said the funniest stuff and it was like I can remember the in jokes I can remember what they were saying like the stories that were told and then the next morning I was up by 8 a .m like it was still a Sunday I still had my sleep in but I was up by 8 a .m I was refreshed I felt amazing I went for a 5k
run and I just thought wow like I would not have this energy if I had had four gin and tonics last night and I would have missed out on so much and I also didn't get tired so I was able to stay out longer which is a big problem I sometimes have when I drink and go out like I have two red wines and I'm
like I want to go to bed but I really committed to it and it was a great time some tips I have for staying sober or trying out sobriety and I really would encourage you to just do 30 days have like a non -alcoholic drink that you like so kombucha diet coke lemonade non -alcoholic beer big fan of non -alcoholic
beer not so much non -alcoholic red wine that stuff is disgusting um have your drink that you enjoy that you can bring to the party you can order at the pub you can order at the bar like that really helps you feel like you're still integrated into the experience tell your friends that you are sober and like
open up a discussion about it so it's not like expected that you're going to be drinking and they can actually think through their own drinking choices and you can change plans based on your choice for the evening see if someone wants to do it with you um honestly like one of my friends is doing it
at the same time it's like kind of fun to exchange stories and just kind of have a bigger goal attached to why you want to do it so if you're just like I want to go sober for 30 days but you don't know why it's going to be a lot harder to achieve so mine was really like this is a personal challenge
I want to see if I'm capable for other people it's like they're training for a marathon they're training for a big run maybe it's that you want to see your skin improve whatever it is make sure that the reason you're doing this is really really clear to you and honestly good luck if you have done it
before please or if you are someone who is currently sober and has been for a while what can we expect in a couple of years what can we expect in like six months two years five years like i've heard that it gets better and it changes and that you feel even more energy and more attuned to yourself after a while
and also send over your best tips and i'll share them on instagram but i think that's all we have for today's episode i know it's been a long one so if you've made it this far hello um comment a little wine emoji in the comments on spotify and i'll go through and see who's who's gotten here but thank
you so much for listening make sure that if you haven't already you listen to mantra if you like the psychology of your 20s and you like the kind of positive calm environment we're creating here you want some inspiration mantra is probably going to be exactly what you're looking for so you can find
it on spotify apple podcast just by searching mantra with jemma speg also we are open to episode suggestions for this podcast at the moment if there is something about your 20s you want me to explore the psychology behind send it through i would love to hear from you make sure you are following along
make sure that you have left a five -star review please and thank you if you feel called to do so and until next time stay safe stay kind be gentle with yourself and we will talk very very soon do you want to see into the future do you want to understand an invisible force that's shaping your life do
you want to experience the frontiers of what makes us human.
On Tech Stuff, we travel from the mines of Congo to the surface of Mars, from conversations with Nobel Prize winners to the depths of TikTok, to ask burning questions about technology, from high tech to low culture and everywhere in between.
Join us. Listen to Tech Stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Catch Jon Stewart back in action on The Daily Show and in your ears with The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast.
From his hilarious satirical takes on today's politics and entertainment to the unique voices of correspondents and contributors, it's your perfect companion to stay on top of what's happening now.
Plus, you'll get special content just for podcast listeners, like in -depth interviews and a roundup of the week's top headlines.
Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome. My name is Paola Pedrosa, a medium and the host of The Ghost Therapy Podcast, where it's not just about connecting with deceased loved ones.
It's about learning through them and their new perspective.
I think God sent me this gift so I can show it to the world.
And most of all, I help people every single day.
Listen to The Ghost Therapy Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
What if you ask two different people the same set of questions?
Even if the questions are the same, our experiences can lead us to drastically different answers.
I'm Minnie Driver, and I set out to explore this idea in my podcast, and now, Minnie Questions is returning for another season.
We've asked an entirely new set of guests our seven questions, including Jane Lynch, Delaney Rowe, and Cord Jefferson.
Listen to Minnie Questions on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Seven questions, limitless answers.
