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One. Of my biggest struggles and early

0:57

sobriety was falling asleep and even now

0:59

years in some rooms my brain is

1:02

just too active and to anxious to

1:04

rest. This used to cause a lot

1:06

of stress for me but now I

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take to Nasi before bed and it

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2:10

You've probably heard the acronym HALT. Hungry,

2:13

angry, lonely, tired. These are

2:15

all triggers for relapse because

2:17

they influence our ability to

2:19

think things through and wait.

2:21

These feelings make us impulsive,

2:25

overwhelmed and more likely to

2:27

go for instant gratification choices

2:29

like drinking, even when

2:31

we know we want to be sober. In

2:33

this episode, I'm explaining why these first

2:36

conditions are so triggering. So, let's

2:38

dig in. Welcome

3:00

back to the Sober Powered Podcast.

3:03

I'm your host Jill and today

3:05

we are talking about HALT and

3:07

why these four conditions are so

3:10

triggering for us. So,

3:12

the first one is hungry. Hunger

3:14

puts stress on the body, but

3:16

early sobriety makes you hungrier too.

3:18

And this isn't just sugar cravings.

3:21

You may just be extra hungry

3:23

when you quit drinking. A

3:26

2011 study published in Addiction Biology

3:28

looked at ghrelin levels, or

3:30

hunger hormone, in people

3:32

getting treatment for addiction over a 12

3:35

week period. Half of

3:37

the group stayed sober and the other

3:39

half didn't. And when they compared the

3:41

two groups, they found that baseline ghrelin

3:43

levels were higher in the group that

3:46

drank. Baseline levels mean how

3:48

hungry you are on average and

3:50

this predicted who ended up drinking

3:52

during the study. Ghrelin levels for

3:54

the drinking group dropped throughout the

3:56

study, and ghrelin levels increased for

3:58

the sober group. for the

4:00

first three months and then started

4:03

dropping in the last month. so

4:05

we may have an initial increase

4:07

in hunger when we first get

4:09

sober, hunger put stress on the

4:11

body and were used to dealing

4:14

with stress with a drink. Hunger

4:16

also makes us cranky, which were

4:18

also used to dealing with with

4:20

a drink. When you're hungry, you're

4:22

supposed to eat to survive, so

4:25

the brain wants to motivate you

4:27

to do this. So the brain

4:29

starts releasing. Doleful mean to motivate

4:31

you to seek out food to

4:33

search for it. and what else

4:35

does? doesn't mean motivate us to

4:38

seek out alcohol. And usually we

4:40

would choose a drink over a

4:42

snack anyway. So it's easy to

4:44

confuse hunger for alcohol cravings. and

4:46

if you want to learn more.

4:48

I explained how hunger influences are

4:50

drinking in Episode One Ninety Two.

4:53

The. Next part of Halt is

4:55

angry and this is my favorite.

4:57

Obviously anger is a very overwhelming

4:59

a motion and it gives us

5:02

a great excuses to drink because

5:04

it's other people's faults and not

5:06

ours. If only they weren't such

5:09

a jerk, or if only our

5:11

job didn't suck so much then

5:13

we wouldn't have to drink. Not

5:16

our fault at all. I two

5:18

thousand and seven study found that

5:20

people who relapse had higher levels

5:22

of. Anger and poor

5:25

anger expression. And. Hi

5:27

Anger predicted the last sober days

5:29

people that have high levels of

5:31

anger felt like they were being

5:33

treated unfairly and they experienced a

5:35

lot of frustration which led to

5:37

more drinking. It's really important to

5:39

manage feelings like anger when you

5:42

quit drinking or is going to

5:44

increase your likelihood of relapse if

5:46

this is you. Then joined the

5:48

next round of my anger management

5:50

program the summer. We have a

5:52

lot of fun in their are

5:54

people that are prone to anger.

5:56

will typically have a low tolerance

5:59

for frustration So then

6:01

they use impulsive behaviors to try

6:03

to regulate their emotions because

6:05

they struggle with things that take more

6:07

time, like any coping strategy that's actually

6:10

good for us. And

6:12

a 2019 study found that wall

6:15

punching was strongly associated with a

6:17

feeling of relief afterwards, and that

6:19

this relief is the most common

6:22

reason people give for punching walls.

6:25

Punching also gives us a feeling of

6:27

relief, and this is because our emotions

6:30

are too big and we don't have

6:32

the tools to understand them or

6:34

cope with them. So an emotion

6:36

becomes too big when we stuff

6:39

it, avoid it, and let it

6:41

build up. And also

6:43

really important, just because wall

6:45

punching and drinking gives you

6:47

relief doesn't mean that it's

6:49

an effective solution. Studies

6:51

have actually found that punching walls or

6:53

pillows makes you even more angry. And

6:56

same with drinking. The anger goes away

6:58

briefly, but then it comes back really

7:00

strong at the end of the night.

7:02

It's a temporary relief of

7:04

frustration and overwhelm, but it's

7:07

not real relief. Real

7:09

relief comes from solving our problems

7:11

and knowing how to reframe and

7:14

take care of ourselves. When

7:16

I really truly accepted I

7:18

can't drink anymore, the only

7:20

urges to drink that I

7:22

ever had in sobriety were

7:24

from intense anger. There's

7:26

a really uncomfortable triggering thought

7:29

that's behind anger, and this

7:31

is what causes the urge to drink

7:33

or escape. So for me,

7:36

it's something like, I'm stupid, I'm

7:38

worthless, I'll never be good enough,

7:41

nobody likes me. And

7:43

learning to identify these triggering thoughts

7:45

is the first step to managing

7:48

them. Make sure

7:50

to check out episodes 186

7:52

and 199 for more on

7:55

anger and frustration tolerance. The

7:57

third part of HALT is Loneliness

8:01

is an emotional

8:03

state where we perceive a

8:05

deficiency in either the

8:07

quality or the quantity of our

8:10

relationships. And this is a real

8:12

problem. Loneliness in young

8:14

adults ages 18 to 29 has increased linearly between 1976

8:16

and 2019. So

8:23

every year we're getting lonelier and

8:26

lonelier. And nearly 80%

8:28

of Gen Z reported feeling lonely

8:30

in a 2021 survey by Cigna.

8:34

So here are some results from

8:36

Cigna's State of Loneliness study in 2021.

8:40

People of color are more likely to

8:42

be lonely and score at least 10

8:45

points higher than the total adult population.

8:48

People with lower incomes are also

8:50

lonelier. About

8:52

63% of people that earn less

8:54

than 50K are lonely, which

8:56

is 10 points higher than people

8:58

that earn above 50K. Young

9:01

adults are twice as likely to be

9:04

lonely as older adults. 79%

9:06

of adults 18 to 24 report feeling lonely compared to 41% of

9:08

adults 66 and up. 32%

9:18

of people that are 18 to 34

9:20

say that they always feel left out

9:22

compared to 16% of

9:25

people 55 and up. There

9:27

was not a big difference in

9:29

loneliness between men and women. However,

9:31

mothers are more likely to be

9:33

lonely than fathers. 69%

9:36

of moms say they feel lonely compared

9:39

to 62% of dads. This

9:42

is especially true for single

9:44

parents. 77%

9:46

of single parents say that they're lonely. 65%

9:50

of parents say that they're lonely. And

9:53

55% of non-parents say that

9:56

they're lonely. Adults that

9:58

feel lonely are less likely to be lonely. to

10:00

talk about their feelings and get support

10:02

from others. Only 34% of lonely adults

10:04

say that

10:06

they talk to their family or partner about

10:08

how they feel compared to

10:10

68% of non-lonely people.

10:13

And this may also be

10:15

part of the loneliness that

10:17

they're feeling. There's a correlation

10:19

between being lonely and having

10:21

fair or poor physical or

10:23

mental health. Adults that

10:26

have physical health issues are 50%

10:28

more likely to be lonely. And

10:30

adults with mental health issues are

10:33

more than twice as likely to

10:35

be lonely. Of all the

10:37

adults out there, one in four are

10:40

classified as having fair or poor mental

10:42

health. And of those, 85% of them

10:45

are lonely.

10:47

Three times as many lonely people

10:50

struggle with substance use disorder

10:52

compared to non-lonely people. And

10:54

twice as many lonely people

10:57

struggle with sleep disorders compared to

10:59

non-lonely people. Loneliness as an

11:01

adult has an impact on

11:03

our drinking because we can use

11:05

alcohol to instantly feel connected

11:07

to people that we don't

11:09

know well or we

11:12

can use alcohol when we're alone to

11:14

escape the loneliness. But

11:16

if you've ever partied by

11:18

yourself, then you may know

11:20

that when you get super

11:22

drunk, the loneliness comes on

11:25

really intensely. And this is

11:27

why so many drunk people

11:29

end up in sober Facebook

11:31

groups posting because they feel

11:33

desperate for connection. This is

11:35

also why we drunk text,

11:37

drunk post, and send people

11:39

selfies. We are so painfully

11:41

lonely in our drink state

11:43

that we are reaching out

11:45

for connection in all the ways that

11:47

we can. Loneliness may be

11:50

because you don't actually have

11:52

strong connections or support, but

11:54

sometimes we feel lonely because

11:56

of our perception. Struggling with

11:58

mental health, disruptive thinking, like

12:00

all or nothing thinking, and our

12:02

perception of our own life all

12:05

influence whether or not we feel

12:07

lonely. If you're struggling with loneliness

12:09

and it makes you want to

12:11

drink, then try to find connection.

12:13

Then maybe start out with an

12:16

online sober community or an in-person

12:18

AA meeting. Every time you think

12:20

that drinking will help your loneliness,

12:22

try to remember how desperate we

12:25

get for connection at the end of

12:27

the night. That's not a good feeling

12:30

and it's really really sad. I wasn't

12:33

super lonely when I started

12:35

drinking, but getting drunk by

12:37

myself made me feel how

12:39

alone I really was. I

12:42

was isolating myself with my drinking

12:44

and that made me even lonelier. So

12:47

instead you should join our

12:50

bird-watching group in my community.

12:52

You could take a writing

12:54

class, take a bread-making class,

12:56

or join a community for

12:58

whatever hobby you're into and

13:00

try to give people a

13:02

chance before making assumptions. There

13:04

are so many different ways

13:06

to get connected, so try

13:08

something today. The last component

13:10

of HALT is TIRED. So

13:12

brain fog is a lay

13:14

term that we use to

13:16

describe cognitive difficulties and

13:19

I want to specify that because I

13:21

don't think that we make the connection

13:24

between foggy thinking and our

13:26

brain not being able to

13:28

work well. One of the

13:30

main causes is chronic inflammation

13:32

of the brain, which by

13:34

the way alcohol causes. Inflammation

13:36

of the brain slows down

13:38

our perception, processing speed, learning,

13:42

ability to store information and memory,

13:44

and our decision-making. And if that's

13:46

not bad enough, brain fog

13:49

will often come with extreme

13:51

fatigue and feeling overwhelmed.

13:53

So you feel awful, you can't think clearly,

13:56

and you're less capable of

13:58

using your brain and memory. making

14:00

a good decision. This makes it so much

14:02

easier to drink again. I had exhaustion

14:05

when I quit drinking but not brain

14:07

fog. But I've had the vid twice

14:09

and I got really bad brain fog

14:11

both times so it gave me a

14:13

real appreciation for what some people struggle

14:16

with when they try to quit drinking.

14:18

But just know that the brain fog

14:20

is going to pass. If

14:22

you drink to relieve it you've now

14:24

started back at the beginning and now

14:26

you have to go through the whole

14:28

thing again. So it will pass if

14:30

you let yourself go through it. Another

14:32

major issue in early sobriety that so

14:34

many people complain about is fatigue

14:37

and exhaustion. A lot

14:39

of us drink after work to get

14:41

more energy or we drink on the

14:43

weekend to have energy to clean. It

14:46

can be hard and demotivating

14:48

to feel exhausted all the

14:50

time and this can continue

14:52

on and off for months

14:54

as your brain heals. So

14:56

alcohol does actually provide the

14:58

brain with energy. When the

15:00

liver processes alcohol it eventually

15:02

converts it into acetate which

15:04

is not toxic. Most

15:06

of the acetate is then

15:09

released back in circulation and enters

15:11

the brain very quickly. So chronic

15:14

heavy drinkers have elevated acetate

15:16

levels for 24 to 48 hours after their

15:19

last drink. So if you drink often

15:22

then you have a lot of acetate

15:24

in your brain. So what

15:26

happens is acetate can be utilized

15:28

as an energy source instead of

15:30

glucose and heavy drinking will actually

15:33

decrease the brain's use of glucose

15:35

for fuel. A 2013 study

15:39

published in the Journal of

15:41

Clinical Investigation found that heavy

15:43

drinkers had more than double the levels

15:45

of acetate in their brains as light

15:48

drinkers 48 hours after

15:50

their last drink. And heavy

15:52

drinking for the study was

15:55

eight drinks a week or more

15:57

and the light drinkers had a

15:59

maximum two drinks a week. So

16:02

imagine how much acetate we had

16:04

in our brains. Eight

16:06

drinks could be consumed in one

16:08

day for a serious drinker.

16:11

And this loops back around.

16:13

High levels of acetate cause

16:15

inflammation in the brain, which

16:17

then fuels brain fog when

16:19

you try to stop. And

16:22

even worse, when you try to stop,

16:24

your brain has adapted to run on

16:27

acetate for fuel. So you're

16:29

now depriving it of a major energy

16:31

source. And this is why you feel

16:33

exhausted when you first quit drinking. And

16:36

it takes time for your brain to

16:38

relearn how to utilize glucose for fuel

16:40

again. Plus, we beat the

16:42

crap out of our bodies when

16:44

we're drinking. Your body needs to

16:46

heal. So you're also tired just

16:48

from that. So based on what

16:50

I've seen in the Living a

16:52

Sober Powered Life community, people will

16:54

generally stop complaining about fatigue when

16:56

they're around two months sober. Doesn't

16:59

mean it's gone forever. It just

17:01

means the worst has passed.

17:03

So I have episodes about

17:05

physical, cognitive and emotional improvements

17:07

in sobriety. But there

17:09

are a lot of physical improvements in

17:12

the first 30 days, cognitive improvements

17:14

in 60 days and

17:16

emotional improvements in 90 days. This

17:19

doesn't mean that you're cured after

17:21

90 days. It just means

17:23

that a lot of healing has happened at

17:25

that point. You can learn more about brain

17:28

fog and fatigue in Episode 157. And learn

17:30

five ways to boost your

17:33

energy in Episode 175.

17:35

So I'll list all these in

17:38

the show needs for you. And if you

17:40

enjoyed this episode, I'd really appreciate if

17:42

you could share with someone and help

17:45

me spread the word so that we

17:47

can get this information in front of

17:49

more people who really need to know

17:51

it so they can quit drinking and

17:53

stop blaming themselves for it. And

17:56

thank you for listening and I'll talk to you in

17:58

the next one. Oh,

18:09

hey, it's

18:14

Erin. And

18:22

I'm Mikayla, and we're the hosts of the

18:24

Two Sober Girls podcast, and we are on

18:26

a mission to spill the wild truth about

18:28

sobriety. Get the Rosé All

18:30

Day cliché. Sobriety is

18:32

flipping amazing. Absolutely. It's not just

18:34

about quitting the drink. It's a

18:36

gift you give yourself and your

18:38

loved ones. So what are you

18:40

waiting for? Break up with that

18:43

old toxic relationship with alcohol and let

18:45

us show you the possibilities. And

18:48

here's the thing. Everything your

18:50

precious heart desires becomes way easier

18:52

without the influence of alcohol. We're

18:54

not just two sober girls. We're

18:56

also wellness coaches. We're here to

18:58

show you how to optimize health,

19:00

lifestyle, and beauty. Feel sexy and

19:03

alive as F. So stay

19:05

tuned because we're rolling out new episodes every

19:07

Monday wherever you get your podcasts and trust

19:09

us. They have your name written all over

19:11

them. We can't wait to share the magic

19:14

of sobriety and wellness with you. Subscribe

19:16

to Two Sober Girls podcast today and

19:18

come follow us on Instagram for behind-the-scenes

19:20

action and send us a DM. We

19:22

can't wait to meet you.