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Do You Crave a Drink at a Definite Time Daily?

by | Johns Hopkins 20 Questions | 6 comments

(0.16) Our ancestors
(1.16) My cravings
(2.18) My experience

Do You Crave a Drink at a Definite Time Daily is the eleventh question of 20 in the Johns Hopkins series of videos to see if you are an alcoholic…

 

The Habit Mechanism

One of the hardest parts of giving up alcohol is that you’re brain has built up habits and associations that fix drinking to other, normal parts of your life.

All drinkers have a time and place when they like to have a drink, they also like to do other things while they’re drinking.

For instance, you might be drinking while you’re watching a match, having a drink with your dinner, or maybe you have a few beers every night to chill out and relax after you’ve come home from a long day at work.

Over the years, you’ve built up these habits and associations, and they’ve become a day to day part of your life.

Your habits don’t take that long to become fixed in your brain.

Your brains natural state is habitual, it loves you to do the same things day in and day out, it’s safer for you that way.

So the process of establishing a habit needs to be quick.

After an initial steep climb where your brain is trying to hold on to the old habit, the going becomes easier; the effort you’ll need to establish your new habit will begin to level off and will reach a plateau where will become as fixed as it’s ever going to get after 66 days, on average.

That means that after doing something over a period of two months, even if you don’t do it every day, it will become a part of your life forever, unless you change it.

That’s why cravings become associated with certain times of the day, or they become affixed to behaviours, or activities.

My Cravings

There was no one time of the day that I craved a drink.

After a hard day’s work, the pint craving was a huge one for me.

I would be thinking about the taste of the pint for at least a couple of hours before I’d finish working. I could see it, smell it, almost feel it going down my throat, and I really wanted it.

By the time the day was finished, I would be racing around, getting all the gear into the Landy, clearing up and trying to get the hell out of there as fast as I could.

I wouldn’t go home to change or shower, straight to the pub. It didn’t matter; we were all the same, straight from work and into the pub.

The first pint always went down the smoothest, taking about two minutes. I used to order two pints when I arrived in the pub, one to guzzle straight away, the next to relax over.

Another time for a drink was with dinner. Another was watching the television. Most of the time I lived by this equation:

work over = drinking begins

When You Can’t Drink Matters

To really tell what drinking means in your life, you have to think about those times when you would normally have a drink, but on occasion for some reason you can’t.

What happens when you get a craving for a drink at a certain time of the day, a time you’d normally knock one or two back, and now you choose not to, or you can’t?

  • Do you stop thinking about it and let it go?
  • Do you carry on thinking about it for the rest of the night?
  • Do you sulk?
  • What do you do?

If I didn’t follow through with a drink, say if I went to an Arsenal match and I couldn’t have a drink for whatever reason, I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking Kim-Littleabout it.

Not in terms of having a picture of the drink floating around in my head, or saying to myself “I’d love a pint” over and over. I just wouldn’t enjoy things as much, I’d be looking at the other pints sitting in front of my mates or the other customers with envy, I wanted one! I wouldn’t voice that though.

This was the eleventh post in the series of articles on the Johns Hopkins 20 questions which was designed for you to self-test and discover if you might have an alcohol problem. If you answer yes to this question and yes to some of the others in the test, you need to take a look at your drinking habits. You can find the master article here: Are You Alcoholic Twenty Questions

 

Leave a message below if I can offer any help at all in your fight with alcohol.

Until next time…
Onwards and Upwards…
Kev

Download the Crave a Drink Transcript

Do You Crave a Drink at a Definite Time Daily Transcript

Watch Other Videos in the Series:

Do You Turn To Lower Companions and an Inferior Environment When Drinking?
Does Drinking Make You Care Less For Your Families Welfare?
Has Your Ambition Decreased Since Drinking?

6 Comments

  1. john

    Good afternoon Kevin, This was a great video that resonated with me. Like you, after lunch at work I’m thinking
    about drinking beer. More importantly and sadly as well is that over all of these years there are not many
    activities that I don’t associate without beer . What really bothers me is that almost all of the
    things I really enjoy doing would be enhanced without beer. Keep up the good work. I think your videos
    are hitting a nerve with many people worldwide. They are certainly inspiring me. Thanks. John

    Reply
  2. Kelvyn

    So So true, I get this every day at around 5pm – Great Video

    Reply
  3. Amy

    Thank you for this. I know I’m not alone anymore.

    Reply
  4. Glen

    I always knew I wasn’t alone in this battle, and it’s truly nice to see others come together and rally against this diseases. I especially liked the part where you asked, “what do you do if you can’t drink”? I thought about a time when I literally couldn’t drink for two weeks, and funny enough I never thought about it. I actually kept busy playing chess, but no sooner when I was able to drink again… I did, and went right back to it. After reading your article I have realized that I CAN do it again, I just need to find an alternative good habit to replace my bad one. Thank you for this article brother, and keep strong!

    Reply
  5. Julianne Callaghan

    I thought my drinking had improved over the years but after watching this video I realise it’s actually got worse. When I was young, I’d binge drink at weekends. Now I have a few every other night, but actually crave it every day after work. It’s such a battle to control it and deny myself on “dry” nights. Although I regularly binge drank when younger, I don’t remember having these cravings. It’s so indidious the way alcohol has crept up like this over 30 years.

    Reply
  6. Tony

    Twice daily. I crave at 5pm and again around 8-9pm–just before bed. I’m on my forth dry day, and that little beast is barking tonight. “Just one pint, it’ll be okay…” It’s never just one pint, and it’ll never be okay.

    It’s going to be a long month…

    Reply

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