Can You Be a Moderator?
Are you a moderate drinker? If you are, that's great! I'm not. Well, I was. And then I wasn't. And then I TRIED to be…and now I'm not. Here are a few thoughts on MODERATION. ⬇️
What it is, mental exhaustion + losing the choice
What it is
First, let's get clear on what moderate drinking actually is. The CDC defines drinking in moderation as 1 drink or less a day for women, and 2 drinks or less a day for men. And these aren't the “normal-sized” drinks we pour - they're little itty bitty 5 oz glasses of wine (or 12 oz of beer + 1.5 oz of hard liquor). And these are averages. If a person decides to save up their 7 or 14 drinks for 1 or 2 days, that's called binge drinking and that's a whole other email.
Mental exhaustion
People who truly drink in moderation don't worry about how much they're drinking. People who do worry sometimes set up rules around their drinking, like:
no hard alcohol
only when out with other people
having a glass of water between drinks
no drinking Monday through Wednesday
These rules can work for some, but for others they're EXHAUSTING. Especially when they're continuously broken. The time spent making up rules, trying to follow them, figuring out what to do when you break them, and all that thinking about drinking takes a lot of energy.
Losing the choice
Alcohol changes brain chemistry and decreases activity in the prefrontal cortex - which controls decision-making. So after a drink or two, you can throw that whole moderation idea out the window.
The point of all is to get you thinking. Ask yourself questions about your drinking. Are you truly moderating? Do you need to? Do you want to? Ask these questions with curiosity, not judgment, and take action (or not) based on your answers. Here is a STELLAR essay Holly Whitaker wrote about moderation and here is Andrew Huberman's episode on alcohol.
