How to Break the After-Work Alcohol Habit
Summer is coming to an end.
The holidays are over, children are going back to school and millions of us are returning to the familiar routine of work, commuting, cooking dinner and getting ready to do it all again tomorrow.
For some people, however, there’s another routine that returns at exactly the same time:
Drinking after work.
Perhaps you’ve also had a summer where you drank more than you intended.
There were holidays, barbecues, weddings, weekends away and long sunny evenings. A glass of wine on a Tuesday suddenly didn’t seem unusual. On holiday, perhaps you drank every day.
Now you’re back at work and thinking:
“I really need to reduce my drinking.”
If so, September could be the ideal time to change your relationship with alcohol.
Why Does Drinking After Work Become Automatic?
Alcohol can become connected to everyday routines remarkably easily.
You finish work.
You get home.
You open the fridge.
You pour a glass of wine or open a beer.
Eventually, you barely think about it.
The triggers can be incredibly ordinary.
Wine while preparing dinner.
Beer while watching television.
A gin and tonic because you’ve finally finished everything for the day.
Recognising these triggers is an important first step towards changing them.
Did You Drink Too Much Over the Summer?
There’s no benefit in beating yourself up about it.
Instead, ask yourself a much more useful question:
Am I drinking more now than I was before the summer?
Try recording every alcoholic drink you consume for the next seven days.
Don’t estimate.
Write it down.
You might discover that the occasional evening drink has gradually become drinking five, six or seven nights each week.
And if you’re regularly telling yourself you’ll only have one drink but frequently end up having several, it may be time to look at ways to reduce drinking.
Is There Really a Pill to Stop Drinking?
Thousands of people search online for phrases such as:
“Is there a pill to stop drinking?”
“Can I take medication to reduce alcohol?”
“Is there medication to help me drink less?”
There isn’t a magic pill to stop drinking that instantly removes somebody’s desire for alcohol.
There are, however, prescription medications used in alcohol treatment.
One of them is Naltrexone.
Naltrexone is an opioid-receptor antagonist. Rather than creating an unpleasant reaction when alcohol is consumed, it affects opioid receptors involved in alcohol’s reinforcing effects.
NICE includes oral Naltrexone as a pharmacological treatment that may be considered in appropriate patients as part of the management of alcohol problems.
So, while describing Naltrexone simply as a “pill to stop drinking” is an oversimplification, there is genuine medical science behind using Naltrexone in alcohol treatment.
Naltrexone, John Sinclair and the Sinclair Method
The story becomes particularly interesting when you look at the pioneering work of Dr John David Sinclair.
Sinclair began researching alcohol-seeking behaviour in the 1970s and went on to investigate how blocking alcohol’s opioid-mediated reinforcement could influence learned drinking behaviour.
His work became associated with an approach now widely known as the Sinclair Method.
The concept behind the Sinclair Method is often described as pharmacological extinction.
In simplified terms, repeated drinking behaviours can become learned because alcohol produces reinforcement within the brain. By blocking part of that reinforcement with Naltrexone, the association between alcohol and reward may gradually weaken.
The Drink Less Method is inspired by the work behind the Sinclair Method, although it is not identical to the traditional Sinclair Method. The Drink Less Method uses a clinically guided approach and introduces medication gradually where appropriate.
What Has This Got to Do With Your After-Work Wine?
Potentially quite a lot.
Imagine you’ve spent years following this routine:
Stressful day → arrive home → wine → relaxation/reward.
Repeat it often enough and the behaviour can become deeply established.
You may genuinely decide at lunchtime that you’re not drinking tonight.
Then 6pm arrives.
Suddenly you’re pouring a glass almost automatically.
This is why trying to reduce drinking can sometimes feel much harder than expected.
It’s not necessarily a lack of motivation.
You’re trying to change an established behaviour.
Change the Routine as Well as the Drinking
Medication isn’t the only consideration.
Look carefully at the situations in which you drink.
Have an alcohol-free drink while preparing dinner.
Don’t automatically put wine in the fridge.
Decide in advance which evenings you plan to drink.
Track every drink.
Changing the environmental trigger while working on the alcohol behaviour itself can help break the sense of autopilot drinking.
What If You’ve Tried to Reduce Drinking Before?
This is where many people become frustrated.
January: “I’m cutting down.”
Summer: “I’m definitely drinking less after the holiday.”
September: “I’ll only drink at weekends.”
Then gradually the old routine returns.
If you’ve repeatedly tried to cut down drinking but struggle to maintain the change, it may be worth finding out whether additional support or medically supervised treatment could be appropriate.
The Drink Less Method is designed for adults who want to regain greater control over their alcohol consumption, including people who may not necessarily want to give up alcohol completely.
Any prescription medication requires an assessment of individual suitability. Naltrexone is not appropriate for everybody, and NICE recommends medical assessment before treatment.
People who may be physically dependent on alcohol should also seek medical advice rather than suddenly stopping, as alcohol withdrawal can sometimes require medical management.
Make September Your New Starting Point
You don’t need to wait for Dry January.
And drinking too much over the summer doesn’t mean the rest of the year has to follow the same pattern.
September already represents a return to routine.
So why not create a better one?
Start tracking your drinking.
Recognise the moments when you automatically reach for alcohol.
Create alcohol-free days.
Break the association between finishing work and opening a bottle.
And if you’ve tried repeatedly to reduce drinking but find willpower alone isn’t enough, learn about the other options that may be available.
The pioneering research of John Sinclair, the development of the Sinclair Method, and decades of research into Naltrexone have helped change the conversation around alcohol treatment.
For some people, the goal doesn’t have to be “I’ll never drink again.”
It can begin with something much simpler:
“I want to drink less and feel in control again.”
That’s exactly the conversation we want more people to have.
Want to Reduce Your Drinking?
Discover more about Naltrexone, the science that inspired the Sinclair Method, and the Drink Less Method’s approach to helping suitable adults reduce their alcohol consumption.
Find out more: www.drinklessmethod.co.uk