September Could Be the Perfect Time to Reset
Summer can be one of the easiest times of year to drink more alcohol than you intended.
Holidays, barbecues, weddings, festivals, weekends away and long evenings in the garden can all create extra opportunities to drink.
Perhaps you started having a glass of wine with lunch while you were away.
Maybe you drank every day on holiday.
Perhaps the occasional summer beer became two or three drinks most evenings.
Then September arrives.
Work starts getting busier, the children return to school, holidays are finished and normal routines return.
But sometimes the summer drinking routine doesn’t disappear with the summer.
If you’ve reached September thinking, “I drank too much this summer and I need to cut down,” you’re certainly not the only person reassessing their relationship with alcohol.
And you don’t necessarily need to wait until Dry January to do something about it.
September can be the perfect opportunity to reduce drinking and regain control.
Has Summer Changed How Much You Drink?
The first step is simply being honest with yourself.
Think back to May or June.
How many days each week were you drinking?
Now compare that with August.
Has anything changed?
Perhaps drinking that previously happened mainly at weekends has gradually spread into the working week.
That’s particularly important because alcohol can quickly become attached to routines.
So rather than thinking only about how much you drank on holiday, consider what’s happening now you’re home.
Look for the New Drinking Triggers
It could be the wine you open while preparing dinner.
It might be a beer when you finish work.
Perhaps you automatically pour a drink when you sit down to watch television.
The important question is:
Are you choosing to drink, or has drinking started to feel automatic?
That distinction can tell you a great deal about your current relationship with alcohol.
“I Want to Drink Less, But I Don’t Want to Stop Drinking”
This is something many people struggle with.
They know they’re drinking too much, but they don’t necessarily want to become completely alcohol-free.
Perhaps you still want a glass of wine with dinner.
Maybe you’d like to enjoy drinks with friends.
You simply don’t want one drink to keep becoming four or five.
That’s why people increasingly search online for terms such as:
“How can I reduce drinking?”
“Is there medication to help me drink less?”
“Is there a pill to stop drinking?”
There isn’t a magic pill to stop drinking that instantly changes someone’s relationship with alcohol.
There are, however, prescription medicines used in the treatment of alcohol problems.
One of these is Naltrexone.
What Is Naltrexone?
Naltrexone is an opioid-receptor antagonist that has been studied extensively in alcohol treatment.
Rather than making you sick if you drink alcohol, Naltrexone acts on opioid receptors involved in alcohol’s reinforcing effects.
For suitable patients, Naltrexone may form part of a medically supervised approach to reducing problematic alcohol consumption.
This isn’t an experimental concept. Oral Naltrexone is included within NICE guidance as a pharmacological option in appropriate alcohol-treatment circumstances.
But Naltrexone is not suitable for everybody and must be prescribed following an appropriate clinical assessment.
John Sinclair and the Sinclair Method
One of the most interesting chapters in the history of Naltrexone and alcohol reduction involves the work of Dr John David Sinclair.
John Sinclair began researching learned alcohol-seeking behaviour in the 1970s.
His subsequent work explored the theory that alcohol drinking could be understood partly as a learned behaviour reinforced by alcohol’s effects.
This ultimately became associated with an approach widely known as the Sinclair Method.
A key idea associated with Sinclair’s research is pharmacological extinction.
In simplified terms, Naltrexone blocks opioid receptors involved in alcohol’s reinforcing effects. Sinclair investigated whether repeatedly blocking that reinforcement in connection with drinking could gradually weaken learned alcohol-seeking behaviour.
This helped create a very different conversation about alcohol treatment.
Instead of assuming that everybody seeking help must necessarily start with complete abstinence, Sinclair’s work became particularly interesting to people whose objective was to reduce drinking.
The Drink Less Method has been inspired by the pioneering work of John Sinclair and the Sinclair Method, while using its own clinically guided approach.
September Is an Opportunity to Change Your Routine
If you drank too much over the summer, don’t turn September into a punishment.
Instead, use it as an opportunity to understand what’s actually happening.
Start by recording every alcoholic drink for a week.
Look for patterns.
Which days are you drinking?
What time do you normally start?
What are you doing immediately beforehand?
And when are you most likely to drink more than you intended?
The source material suggests identifying your top two or three situations where things tend to slip and creating simple “pre-decisions” for those moments.
That could mean deciding before you get home from work that you’re going for a walk instead of immediately opening a beer.
Or having an alcohol-free alternative ready for the evening.
It could mean deciding which evenings will be alcohol-free before the week starts.
What If You’ve Tried to Reduce Drinking Before?
This is where frustration often appears.
You decide you’re going to cut down alcohol.
For a few days everything goes well.
Then there’s a stressful day.
A dinner out.
A Friday night.
One drink becomes several and gradually you’re back to your previous routine.
If this happens repeatedly, it doesn’t mean you should simply give up trying.
It may mean it’s worth exploring different forms of support, including whether medication to reduce drinking could be clinically appropriate.
Could Naltrexone Help You Drink Less?
Naltrexone isn’t a guaranteed pill to stop drinking, and it doesn’t work for everyone.
But for appropriate patients, prescription treatment can be one component of an overall approach to changing alcohol consumption.
At the Drink Less Method, adults who want to reduce their drinking can complete a confidential online assessment. Where clinically appropriate, an independent prescriber can assess whether prescription treatment may be suitable.
Medication should sit alongside greater awareness of drinking patterns, tracking consumption and changing the routines that encourage unwanted drinking.
People who are drinking heavily or regularly and may be physically dependent on alcohol should seek medical advice before suddenly stopping or substantially reducing their intake, because alcohol withdrawal can sometimes be dangerous.
Don’t Wait Until January to Reduce Drinking
If you’ve spent August telling yourself:
“I’ve definitely been drinking too much.”
Listen to that thought.
You don’t have to wait for a New Year’s resolution.
September already gives you a natural reset.
Summer is ending.
Work routines are returning.
Schedules are changing.
That makes now an excellent opportunity to decide what you want your relationship with alcohol to look like for the rest of the year.
For some people, changing a few habits may be enough.
For others who have repeatedly tried to reduce drinking, learning about Naltrexone and medically supported alcohol reduction may provide another option to explore.
The research that began with John Sinclair in the 1970s, the ideas subsequently associated with the Sinclair Method, and the wider evidence surrounding Naltrexone have all contributed to a broader way of thinking about alcohol treatment.
You don’t necessarily have to begin with the statement:
“I’m never drinking again.”
Your starting point might simply be:
“I’ve been drinking too much, and I’d like to regain control.”
Want to Find Out More About Naltrexone and Reducing Your Drinking?
Learn more about the Drink Less Method, Naltrexone, medication to reduce drinking and an approach inspired by the pioneering work of John Sinclair and the Sinclair Method.
Find out more: www.drinklessmethod.co.uk