I am a week in to my “opposite December” where I am taking a 180 degree path away from what most of us do in December – slowing down, more merrymaking, etc. I decided to take an opposite tack, to only drink twice during the month (during a team happy hour on the 17th that closes down my work year and on New Year’s Eve) and to hit the throttle on work, projects, and exercise while most are slowing down.
A week in to no alcohol has opened my eyes to the many
benefits of abstention. My reason to
dial back on the alcohol is related to my health and weight and I’m noticing a
significant difference already. My sleep
is profoundly better. I am sleeping
through the night (a sign of getting the deep slow-wave sleep that is
foundational to consolidating memories) and I am having my old vivid dreams
again. My memory is better, I feel a
greater sense of attentional control, I have greater mental acuity, and I have more energy. I definitely feel a gastrointestinal
difference – I don’t get bloated after meals and my stool is normal versus
loose (I know that’s gross). Alcohol hijacks
your liver, so you temporarily have trouble metabolizing other nutrients. I drink Rumple Minze, which has a high sugar
content, making the problem worse. So
reducing or abstaining from alcohol has many metabolic and health benefits – my
blood work, though good, will probably improve and the weight will probably
come off easier (I am not overweight, I just need to get back down to my
fighting weight). My skin looks better
and my eyes are wider and whiter.
I have a major post doc deliverable due by the end of the
month and I have made more progress toward that in the past week than in the
past several months. My attention is
focused on those things that really matter; it’s easier to do when I am accelerating
while the world slows down. I have
cooked two meals from scratch in the past week, which I’m endeavoring to make a
daily habit. Keep in mind that dopamine
(the stress blocker) is not released as the result of an action, it’s released
during the process of action (think exercising). Doing the thing, moving forward in the right
direction is the dopamine producer, so making positive steps forward helps to
battle cortisol and epinephrine, the stress produced enemies of the body and
brain.
