Good Lifestyle

You have probably read a lot about the curious sober movement on social media in recent months. On Instagram alone, there are nearly 64,000 messages with the hashtag#Sobercures and nearly 216,000 other labeled#Sobermovement. On the surface, the meaning of the term "sober curious" is not difficult to glean; He suggests that we are interested inWhat life would look like without alcohol. But what exactly is the curious sober movement? And how is sober curious different fromadmit that you are an alcoholic Who wants to recover? We talked to experts from recovery and dependency to discover.

What does "Sober curious" mean?

"Sober curries describes a recent cultural phenomenon in which people are surveyed why they need to drink, whatdrinking alcohol really for them, if it is worth it, and if they could accomplish more without that, "said self-described recover alcoholicsEvan Hainesco-founder ofRecovery Center of the house Alo.

In addition to the health concerns that go with drinking, "there is also a kind of spiritual dimension too," he adds. "Many of us are starting to question what life is. We do not feel satisfied, and some of us are wondering if alcohol could actually prevent us from achieving a state of self-realization. "

Thecurious sober movement is a departure of how we traditionally target drink. It indicates that alcoholism is a spectrum and that the stereotype of an old man unemployed drinking beer from a paper bag on a park bench is not a unique description.

What is the difference between someone who is sober curious and an alcoholic recovered?

"Sober curries is really what it sounds like," saysEmily Lynn Paulson, author ofHighlight real: find honesty and recovery beyond filtered life, which has been sober since 2017. "As opposed to people who identify themselves as alcoholics or problem drinkers, sober curious people are generally defined like those who always have the opportunity to choose. Identify as sobre curious means that you recognize you That alcohol is probably "T serve you, and you want to know more about it. "

I am myself in the last category. Like most of my friends, I drink more than theAmount approved by the FDA of an alcoholic beverage per day for women. But I do not meet the National Institute of HealthOfficial criteria for alcohol use disorder, which includesDo not stop after two drinks, crunchy of alcohol or have symptoms reserving with samples when you do not consume it, commit yourself in a "risky" behavior while being intoxicated or alcohol erode other parts of your life .

Nevertheless, curious, I went to aAA meeting In July, and while I thought people were heroes to fight and overcome their outbuildings, I do not want to really interested me. I listened, friendly, to a sober seven-year-old man talking about how alcohol landed in prison three times. In comparison, my low point with alcohol came when I was too musical to make a hot yoga class. It made me feel like a little fraud.

Even if I was not an "alcoholic", I became interested in assessing the impact that alcohol had on me. I started readingNaked Spirit throughAnnie Grace, who promises to help you "stop drinking"Rather than" stop drinking ". The difference? Instead of seeing alcohol as a substance you want, but you can not have, the book aims to help you eradicate your desire to drink at all revealing the effect that alcohol really has on you.

Why are women more in the movement than men?

Alcohol abuse in women In particular, has been abruptly upside down years. A 2020 study of theNational Institute of Health Discovered that if the death rate involving alcohol consumption increased by 35% among men from 1999 to 2017, the figures increased by 85% shocking for women in the same period. Meanwhile, the association between wine and maternity has also increased.

"You would see cards in stores saying that the wine is" Mom juice ", Sophie, aU.K. mom who is two years old, previously saidBetter life. "Then you would look at shows likeGoodwoman Where the main character, who is a first lawyer with a family, always has a glass of wine in his hand. So, it just said that it seems that moms need wine to spend the day. "

On the contrary. A 2019 study published in theCanadian Medical Association JournalNoted that quitting or moderating alcohol was associated with better mental health and overall quality of life, especially in women.

How can you become sober curious?

Become a curious sober can be different for different people. For me, it meant not simply drink outstanding and be more aware of how it made me feel. Drinking wine with friends when I was in a good mood gave me a nice tingling feel. Having a drink when I was pointed out, it's a little easier not to think about things. Drinking on an empty stomach was a catastrophe, because it made it harder to predict the effect he had had and gave me an anxiety based on the debilitating hangover the next day. Drink when I was depressed, I just made me more depressed; It was shocking to see how fast I could pass positive thoughts to insidious negatives after a few giping.

And then, there were the physical effects. One day, I had a beer before my yoga class. I could not believe how much it was harder to pass through the training, how big my body is, and how much weaker than a beer made my muscles. I realized that it was especially how alcohol made me feel: weak, tired, helpless and small. He did not feel anymore, as authorSarah Hépola Put it in his best-selling memoryBlackout: remember the things I drank to forget, like the "fuel of the adventure". On the contrary, it felt like a cage that keeps me trapped. The concept of being "alcohol-free"Now we feel like the opposite: a liberation of something that held me.

"I think" Sober curious "has become a word of buzzy, because it involves an opening to something fresh, again and potentially exciting - quite the opposite of the other terms that we usually use for alcohol as "Abandon" "give up" or "restrict", which usually come with a negative connotation, "saysRyn Gargulinski, a certified professional recovery trainer atRynski Coaching Club, which has been sober for more than 20 years.

Of course, everyone would not come to the same conclusions as I have, but it's the great thing about the curious sober movement. It's not about how much you drink or even why you do it; It's about assessing the effect it has on your body, your mind and your life.