The time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve can be busy and stressful with a month-long collection of family gatherings and social obligations. It’s the time that people like to “eat, drink, and be merry”, but that’s not exactly a healthy approach to take during the holidays – especially if you take it too literally.
Regardless of what time of the year it is, you need to remember that your physical and mental health is inextricably linked. Eating excessively or binge drinking can be a serious barrier to maintaining optimal health, both physical and mental.
If any of the following symptoms are interfering with your holiday, it is likely that you are too stressed out. You can manage the overwhelming stress by cutting back on your binge drinking / smoking / drug use, or if severe, seeing a physician. Here are some symptoms to look out for:
There are several ways you can limit your exposure to situations where you know you might engage in binge drinking or excessive drug use, such as:
The path to changing your relationship with alcohol and drugs is not always a linear one but it’s certainly rewarding. By checking in on your behavior regarding a substance (like alcohol) or a potentially damaging habit (like gambling), you can transform the role it plays in your life.
That’s what our CheckUp & Choices program aims to help you do. This is a clinically-proven online program that can help you become more mindful of your alcohol and/or substance use patterns. In several trials funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), our program subscribers demonstrated a 50% decrease in alcohol-related problems on average.
The comprehensive CheckUp allows you to take a critical look at your drinking / drug usage and determine whether it’s something that needs to be reevaluated. If you decide that it’s time to moderate or quit altogether, the Choices Program will give you the cognitive and motivational tools to achieve that goal. For those of you who want to take a look into the program before committing to anything, check out this free 10-question quiz.