Why I Gave Up Alcohol

‘Fancy a beer? – that age old question that brings with it social pressure to fit in, or the FOMO from not going out. Yet how many times do you wake up the next day & regret it; sore head from too much booze, regretting the dodgy kebab, ill from dehydration or just tired from lack of sleep. For me, why I gave up alcohol was the lack of productivity & time wasted – and just how much more re-energized I now feel without it!

Giving up alcohol isn’t for everyone, I understand for a lot of people that alcohol & the pub is a hobby, a way to catch up with friends & family. Its absolutely a healthy hobby in terms of social interaction. I’m not here to discourage that! I used to drink a lot in my late teens & early twenties. I grew up in a small village, where if you didn’t go to the pub Thursday to Sunday, it was assumed something was wrong. Played football, pint after. Not seen a friend in a while, pint. Bored, pint. I got to the point where I figure there must be more to life than the same bars, drinking the same beer.

As the years passed, my hobbies turned away from football & small village life, towards mountain biking, kayaking & world travel. Sure, alcohol was still a part of this, but in a more social capacity – after the activity, rather than being the activity. My reasons for why I gave up alcohol are to do with both my circumstances & my ambitions. I see it as a prohibitor to both.

Why?

I’ve been drinking since the age of 16, on and off. Why I gave up alcohol in 2023 was directly as a result of nasty head injury in 2022. I sustained a fractured skull & brain haemorrhage. I was told in no uncertain terms; you need to stop consuming brain altering substances. I wasn’t told for how long. The only thing I was told is that brain injuries take months & years, not days & weeks to recover from. I didn’t really think too much about it. I cared more for being able to ride my bike & pursue my hobbies again, than I did for drinking alcohol again.

Because of this obsession with wanting to ride & race my bike again, I didn’t get any cravings for alcohol. At no point did I think ‘I’d love a beer’. I should add at this point, during the height of Covid in 2021, I gave up alcohol for 6 months. Lockdown; unable to see friends/family & therefore eliminating the social aspect of drinking – which for me, was the only reason I drank! Low & behold, the first summer BBQ after restrictions were lifted, I found myself drinking again. I regretted it the day after.

I didn’t think about it at all – I just assumed ‘I’m at a social event, therefore I must drink’. On the way home I questioned why. What did I gain from drinking? All I could think was the negative, rather than the positive of seeing friends again. It affected me the day after. I’m sure any smoker will tell you, once you’ve had one, you want another. That was the trap I subconsciously fell back into. ‘Well I’ve done it once, another cant hurt’. I’d re-opened the flood gates.

The concept of reward is probably the way I’d describe it here. After a decent training session, great, I’ll reward myself. A busy week at work, or any other success, the list goes on & on as to why we justify drinking alcohol to ourselves.

Now I’m not saying everyone should crash their bike, suffer a life changing brain injury – but if that’s what it takes for me to do some soul searching, to question every lifestyle habit & choice I make, then yeah, everyone should suffer such a traumatic & debilitating period!

0% Alcohol, 100% Life.

I talk a lot about the benefits of no alcohol to friends, family & colleagues. However I find it hard to put into words really, because I’d describe the benefits as ‘holistic’ & ‘indirect’ – woolly words, that as a practical minded engineer, I hate!

Sure, you could list saving money as a direct benefit. But not to be arrogant, I have bikes & hobbies, so that money gets spent elsewhere pretty damn quick! Its more ‘life’ & how I feel, benefits. It really is hard to describe just how good it makes you feel. Alcohol, like sugar, or anything other brain altering substance, sends you through cycles; peaks & troughs of feeling great when doing it, then absolutely awful the day after. Think of it as AC vs DC. I’m just on a consistent level, which doesn’t fluctuate as a by product of a substance.

I lost a lot of weight during the initial phase of my brain injury; unconscious for 5 days, then loss of appetite by way of medication – however it hasn’t been regained. I feel light weight & lean too. I don’t put weight on by way of bad nutritional choices. I don’t fluctuate, I don’t experience cravings – just a boring, routine diet highly fibrous, nutritious whole foods.

I think its just an all round combination of better diet, able to exercise more & better sleep that enables me to consistently make the same, better choices. That’s the reason why I gave up alcohol.

I’m just at this baseline level, I’m never at a low point where I feel held back by tiredness, brain fog, weight issues etc. I wake up every day feeling able to do exactly what I set out to, to build on this baseline & gradually increase my all-round quality of my life.

Once you allow yourself to do one thing, one negative thing, it can quickly snowball into several. This ‘habit stacking’ works the other way too, in a positive way If I got a good sleep last night, I’ll feel more encouraged & empowered to make better choices the next day to ensure I get another great sleep. I don’t go through periods of 1 day of super hyper productivity, the next undoing all that good work. I live at this constant level of just steps in the right direction each day, never steps backwards. Its consistency & sustainable; the key to any successful development.

Recovery

I’ve made no secret about the importance of sleep this year. Its been one of the main agitators in my brain haemorrhage recovery period – to the point where if I don’t get enough sleep, I will cancel plans & decline invitations the following day. A lot of people argue alcohol helps the sleep, I’d argue the complete opposite. Let me show you my data;

Consistently higher amounts of REM & SWS sleep phases. Lower RHR – it was already low 40’s, its now under 40 more often. This is probably my favourite reason why I gave up alcohol!

My daily nutritional choices are better. My resting heart rate is lower. My body goes into & stays in a relaxed state, meaning I get better quality sleep each night. My mind isn’t thinking about negatives, therefore its more able to focus on positives each day. All of this provides a solid foundation on which I can improve myself, constantly each day.

My life has changed for the better this year. It’s really weird to say that in a year where I’ve barely travelled, haven’t raced & been quiet on the adventure front – yet I feel enlightened, I feel better about myself in every way. Perhaps it was that nasty bang to the head, making me realise things – or perhaps giving up alcohol is the enabler to achieving a better quality of life.

Up to this point I’d given it up indefinitely. Now that I’ve written this, I’m committing myself to giving it up for good.