Drinking Less and Sleeping More
I decided to do Dry January, because like a lot of people, I started drinking more often at home during the pandemic. I started to feel like it had become a habit, a coping mechanism for the boredom of another day at home, and the repetition that is hard for me. I usually have wanderlust, I love starting something new, and living through a pandemic offers limited opportunities to experience the new adventures that bring me so much joy.
I would find myself “treating” myself to a glass of wine while making dinner, and maybe another after dinner….and so on. I started having more trouble sleeping, and I could feel myself feeling blue, or as Holly Golightly would say, “the mean reds”. Although I know that wine isn’t really a great strategy for dealing with boredom, grief, stress and loss, it’s just so easy. Humans, all of us, are habit driven, so once I got in the habit of a trigger (cooking dinner) and a behavior that follows (glass of wine), it just kept on going each night.
So anyway, I decided to do Dry January as a “reset” on my bad pandemic habits. Sometimes it’s easier to just abstain than to moderate, at least for me. Have you thought about what’s easier for you? You can take this quiz to find out if you are more of a moderator or an abstainer. For me, the lines get blurry right away when I try to moderate something, but abstaining just takes all the thinking out of it. It’s just a no.
There is a Facebook group (for everything) for Peloton users who aren’t drinking, either ever or temporarily. I joined it in January, and followed along with tips, success stories, and requests for advice. Facebook, for all its flaws, offers groups for everything, and I love the way I can connect with people all over the world who are doing or interested in the same thing as me. It’s one of the beautiful contributions of Facebook. The people in this group were motivating as well, as they shared their stories - it made me realize that I am not alone in considering when, how and why I drink.
I also started trying to replace my wine habit with a new habit - a research-based habit changing trick. So my habit replacement became either a sparkling water or a Sunwink sparkling herbal “tonic” (it’s really just tea with sparkling water, but felt fancy). And then after dinner, a big cup of mint tea or golden milk, followed by a mint tea with CBD powder before bed. I focused on how much I enjoy these drinks, and how much more productive I could be in the evenings (sometimes an evening workout, if I didn’t get to it during the day - it was possible now!).
But then we snuck away to Telluride for a road trip to ski and enjoy the snow, and since it was one of the rare pandemic vacations, I decided to pause Dry January while we were there. But I restarted again when I got home, and since then, I’ve been thinking more about how alcohol impacts my life.
One of the most significant impacts that I didn’t anticipate was my sleep quality. I sleep so well on the days that I workout and finish my day with mint tea with CBD powder instead of wine. It’s this deep, delicious sleep. I’m not willing to give it up, so I’m reconsidering when and why I want to drink in the future. Although I am often more successful as an abstainer, I enjoy wine and cocktails. I’d like to keep them in my life, sometimes. But I’d also like to keep my evenings of tea, so I’m looking to find a balance.