How many times have you skipped the gym because you’re hungover, or had a rubbish workout because you’ve had a rubbish nights sleep thanks to drinking?
It happens to me all the time. I have occasions where I go weeks without drinking, in those times my exercise routine is always brilliant. Never missing a workout, feeling fantastic.
Alcohol Explained by William Porter is a great read if you’re planning a Dry January. Alcohol Explained is the definitive guide to getting a grip on the bottle!
Published by Amazon and available in both paperback (£7.99) and Kindle (£4.99) editions, the book explains the scientific basis for alcohol addiction in simple and easy to understand language. It provides exciting new guidance on how to stop drinking by giving you a complete understanding of how alcohol works – and how its grip can be reversed.
Some of the many facts revealed by the book, or in supplementary chapters on the accompanying website www.alcoholexplained.com, include:
1 Just one glass of wine or pint of beer can profoundly affect your quality of sleep so if you drink every day, you can build up a chronic sleep deficit. Most people who drink regularly never stop for long enough to recover normal sleep.
2 Alcohol is an anaesthetic and a depressant. Rather than relaxing you, alcohol makes your brain release stimulants to counter its depressant effects. These stimulants leave you more anxious than before – and in need of a drink. Dependency is caused by the drink – not the drinker.
3 Blackouts do not just happen after a heavy drinking session – they can become a result of more moderate regular drinking over time. And when this kind of memory problem starts happening – you become more prone to it.
4 Physical intoxication does not dissipate as fast as the very temporary relaxing ‘hit’ of a drink – meaning that you have to keep drinking to chase the feeling but, in so doing, you become increasingly drunk. Over years of drinking, it takes more alcohol to create the relaxation in the first place – meaning you have to drink more and more to get the same effect.
5 Alcoholism is not a genetic condition. Anyone can become addicted to alcohol – it just takes a few years of drinking and if you drink heavily or irresponsibly regularly enough then the process will happen quicker.
