Tips for drinking less

Even small changes to how you drink, what you drink and when you drink can help you cut down on your alcohol consumption:

When drinking at home, don't finish the bottle but keep some for another day or using the remainder in a recipe for dinner the following day.
Plan other activities- taking up new hobbies instead of using the pub as a focus for social life.
Switch to smaller measures- from pints to bottles or glasses of beer, use a spirit measure at home, using a smaller glass at home, particularly for wine.
Switch between non alcoholic and alcoholic drinks- avoid getting into rounds, you may find yourself drinking at someone else's pace and it will be harder to keep track of your own alcohol consumption.
Avoid salty snacks when drinking alcoholic drinks.
Have a budget and stick to it- only taking enough money for what you plan to buy and don't accept drinks from others.
Plan what time you intend to go home or stop drinking. Have a taxi ordered if this helps.
Make non-alcoholic drinks your first choice at home, offer guests tea or coffee when they call. Decide that you will only offer drinks after a certain time of the day or with a meal.
Decide that you will not drink before a certain time of the day or on certain days of the week.
If there's alcohol at home in the house you're more likely to drink. Stop stocking up on alcohol at home.
Having a few days a week when you stick to soft drinks.
Never drink alone.

What to do about boredom

Try to think of a list of activities that might hold your attention. Use the following questions to help produce this list:

What types of things have you enjoyed learning in the past? (e.g. sports, crafts, languages).
What types of trips have you enjoyed in the past? (e.g. to the seaside, to the mountains, to the countryside).
What types of things do you think you could enjoy if you had no worries about failing? (e.g. painting, dancing)
What have you enjoyed doing alone? (e.g. long walks, fishing, playing a musical instrument, art, reading, cinema).
What have you enjoyed doing with others? (e.g. team sports, hill walking, special interest groups)
What have you enjoyed doing that costs no money? ( e.g. volunteering, going to the library, reading, playing with your children)
What have you enjoyed doing that costs very little? (e.g. visiting museums and parks, picnics.
What activities have you enjoyed at different times? (e.g. in the morning, on your day off work, in the spring, in the autumn).

Write down two ways of avoiding boredom to try:

1. _______________________________________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________________________________

How to stick to your plans

First of all complete a plan for changing your drinking. You must look over your plan every day especially if you find yourself in a tempting situation.

Think of an activity that you do several times every day (e.g. drinking a cup of coffee).
Whenever you carry out that activity (e.g. drinking coffee), very quickly go over the plan in your mind. Think about your drinking plan, reasons for cutting down, dangerous situations and ways of coping with them. Also think of your plans for meeting other people and beginning interesting activities.
If you have someone helping you, talk about your plan and progress every day at first and then several times a week as you have success sticking to it.
If your plan is clearly in your mind, then it will help you to change. If it is only on paper it will have no effect at all.
Remember that every time you are tempted to drink too much and are able to resist… you are breaking your habit.

Stay calm and remind yourself:

Why you don't want the drink
Of the consequences of losing control
Of the benefits you have gained so far
Of how you will feel after
You are in control and can choose to say 'yes' or 'no'.

Then:

Find something to immerse yourself in.
Find a friend or one of your support network.
Have something to eat, go for a walk.
Do something else

Whenever you feel very uncomfortable, distressed or miserable, keep telling yourself it will pass. If you crave a drink, pretend that the craving is like a sore throat that you have to put up with until it goes away.

If you have a helper, tell that person honestly how much you had to drink each day and when you have been successful or have drunk too much.

Finally, it is likely that you will have some bad days on which you drink too much. When that happens, DON'T GIVE IN.

Remember that people who HAVE learned to drink at low-risk levels had many bad days before they were finally successful. It will get easier in time.

If you are going through a period of alcohol free living and have a drink when you would have preferred not to…don't view this as a failure- it is in fact an important part of learning about times when you may be vulnerable.

Don't get angry with yourself, you have choices- finish the drink and walk away or put the unfinished drink down and leave it.

Even if you do drink too much, tomorrow is a new day and you can look back at what you've learned and get back on track.

Keep focusing ahead to the future.

You have done well to get this far, keep it up!

Guidelines for helpers

It is sometimes easier to read information and work out a plan for changing habits with the help of somebody else. Two heads are sometimes better than one. That is why we encourage people who are trying to make a lifestyle change to ask somebody else to support them. If you are willing to help in this way then you might find it useful to bear in mind the following points:

Changing habits is a difficult task but you can help in two ways. First, you can help with plan for changing your drinking. Second you can provide support and encouragement.
The main aims of the plan are to find good reasons for drinking less and also to develop other activities instead of drinking.
Try not to criticise the person you are helping, even if you get annoyed and frustrated with his or her behaviour. Remember that changing habits is never easy. There are bound to be good weeks and bad weeks. Your encouragement, support of low risk drinking or abstinence and creative ideas are needed.

*Also look at the existing tips for drinking less information on drugs.ie