4 Reasons Why Alcohol Is So Difficult To Stop

Well , think again . There are hidden forces at play that make stopping drinking far harder than you even realise . In this video , I'm uncovering four reasons why alcohol can be so difficult to quit , and the last one will leave you speechless .

Stay tuned , because what you're about to learn might completely change your perspective on alcohol and make it easy for you to stop drinking . So a very quick introduction my name is Leon Sylvester , I'm the founder of SoberClearcom , and we use a totally new method to help business owners and professionals get control of their drinking within as little as 48 hours .

I myself had a drinking problem for close to a decade and for the past six years I have not touched a drop and , most importantly , I've had no desire . So the first reason is because alcohol directly stimulates the brain's reward systems . So throughout our species evolution , there were certain things in our environment that we needed to survive and reproduce .

As such , we evolved to derive pleasure from them . This was mother's , nature's way of ensuring that we would seek them out consistently . The two most famous examples of these so-called reinforcers are sex and food , especially sweet , high calorie food . Why sex is a reinforcer is pretty obvious .

Without it , we would all go extinct in one generation , and without food , we'd be dead in a few weeks . Now other reinforcers are social in nature , most notably money and social status . What these reinforcers have in common is that , a they are pleasurable and and B having them makes us seek them out even more .

Scientists today know that , on a neural level , all these reinforcers operate through the same circuit , the brain's so-called mesolimbic system , and the main neurotransmitter that controls the mesolimbic system is dopamine . Now , what alcohol , along with all other drugs of abuse , in common is that they directly stimulate this mesolimbic system by releasing dopamine .

By definition , this makes them rewarding and compels users to seek them out more and more . Drinkers typically like to fool themselves by claiming that they enjoy the taste , the smell , the texture or what have you , but the truth is is that alcohol is nasty through and through .

The main reason that they drink , at least at the start , is the stimulation of the mesolimbic system and associated reward . In studies with rats , for example , scientists drill holes in their skulls and insert electrodes that stimulate their reward system . The rats can then activate the electrodes by pressing a lever .

After they've been trained on this , the rats will press the lever an astonishing number of times in order to deliver an electrical stimulation to their reward system . Now , technology hasn't reached a point yet where we can directly stimulate our reward centers without drilling holes in our skull .

I can assure you that when that gadget becomes available , its creator will probably become the richest person in history . Until that time , we'll have to settle for second best , namely substances like alcohol , which deliver a massive supercharged boost to our reward centre .

Now , natural rewards like sexual social status can't compete with drugs like alcohol , for two main reasons . Firstly , boost requires almost no work . It's as easy as opening a bottle and pouring a drink . Secondly , the reward is instant and there is no limit to the number of rewards .

Compare this supercharged reward to the time and energy that you need to invest into getting a partner , for example . And after you get a partner , there is a physiological limit to the number of times that you can have sex , but with booze , sky is the limit . You can drink yourself to your heart's content .

So what we tend to see in chronic heavy drinkers is a numbing out of their reward system . Because it's being constantly abused , it eventually shuts down , and when this happens , the natural reinforcements that previously gave them pleasure do absolutely nothing for them .

It's not a coincidence that those suffering with alcohol use disorder are often completely socially isolated and undernourished . They simply lose the pleasure that the rest of us take for granted from things as fundamental as social interactions and sometimes even food .

All this , mind you , while alcohol brands continue to market their product as a social lubricant that will make you enjoy life to the fullest . So , number two Over time , you drink to avoid the negative effects of withdrawal . So it would be bad enough if alcohol just hijacked our reward system , but this is only part of the story .

We just saw how , over time , it destroys our ability to derive pleasure from natural reinforcements , but it does the exact same for artificial reinforcers , starting with alcohol itself . See , the reward system of heavy drinkers is completely fried through and through , and no matter how much alcohol they consume , they don't get any reward out of it .

They may still want it , but they no longer like it . The question is why do we keep on drinking at that point ? Why do we go on long after it's stopped giving us pleasure and the only thing we feel towards it is hate ? Scientists generally agree that in the early stages of alcohol abuse we drink for these rewarding effects , the so-called positive reinforcement .

But with time , as our reward circuits become desensitized , negative emotions start to dominate . The drinker only keeps on drinking to avoid the nastiness of any withdrawal . At this point , neural systems associated with negative feelings , such as the amygdala , become more and more prominent . This process is called negative reinforcement .

The anxiety , restlessness , the blues , sleeplessness , irritability drinking more is the only way to relieve them . On a molecular level , a lot of this unpleasant stuff happens because alcohol messes up with the function of a neurotransmitter called glutamate . This is the major excitory neurotransmitter in our nervous system .

In other words , it's the main messenger chemical that our brain cells use to signal to other cells that it's time to get busy and start firing . See , alcohol inhibits the normal functioning of the glutamate system , leading to a general slowing down of the nervous system .

Things like sleepiness , a general slowing down , an inability to work , reduced reaction times these are all linked to an inhibited glutamate system . Now the problem in chronic drinkers is that the glutamate system eventually tries to compensate for its constant inhibition by alcohol . The nervous system eventually ups its natural base activity of glutamate .

What this means is that drinkers eventually end up in a steady state of chronic glutamate overactivation . They are constantly on the edge , constantly irritable , constantly anxious and nervous , and drinking is the only way to temporarily suppress the overactive glutamate system and restore some sanity . Now glutamate is only part of the puzzle .

Alcohol is actually unique in just how many different neurotransmitters and neural networks it messes up with time , and the sad thing is is to go on . Drinking is the drinker's only way to cover up all of these new adaptations and make the pain go away , at least until the next drink .

To repeat , this happens long after the reward system has been fried and they have stopped getting any pleasure out of booze . It's almost like the life of a slave . Now three it is socially acceptable and ubiquitous .

See , in most countries of the world , alcohol is the only legal recreational drug , up until recently that is , as cannabis is now becoming increasingly legalised . Now , why this is so is pretty puzzling , given that alcohol is easily one of the most toxic and socially destructive recreational drugs .

Be that as it may , governments around the world have spared it from criminalisation . This sets it apart from other drugs in a number of ways when it comes to addictiveness . For starters , there's the obvious factors of availability , lack of legal repercussions , relatively low cost and purity of manufacture .

You get a sudden craving for booze , say , three weeks into your sobriety , and relapse is as easy as walking over to your local grocery store . It doesn't matter if you've moved to a different location or even a different part of the world and you don't know anybody in town .

There is simply no escaping alcohol's 24-7 availability and , unlike other drugs , this will be a relatively affordable high-grade drug where the label tells you pretty much exactly what you're ingesting .

So not only is it easy to score alcohol , unless you live in a cave , it's basically impossible for you not to be reminded of it On television , magazines , the movies , even songs . We are constantly bombarded by a systematic glorification campaign in the media and popular culture . But it gets much worse .

Alcohol is basically the only drug in the world where you are almost forced to take it at times . Just go to a party and count the number of times people have asked you to have a drink . Even your employer sometimes expects you to drink . If you've been to work events like end of year parties , you'll know what I'm talking about .

Then you have rituals and ceremonies , like weddings , where not drinking is actively frowned upon . People will not just want you to drink , but they'll look at you with suspicion . If you refuse to like , there's something wrong with you and you're spoiling the party . There is simply no other recreational drug that will present you with these challenges .

Even with cannabis , which is now legal in many states , you'll almost never be actively pressured into smoking it , much less disparaged for avoiding it . See , alcohol is well and truly in a league of its own here and now . This leads us to our fourth and final reason on today's list . It's one of the most pernicious and underappreciated ones of all .

In a nutshell , it's this by the time you've become addicted to alcohol , you've also become a lesser version of your former self . Here I'm referring to your cognitive capacity . Alcohol has literally eaten away at your ability to think and come up with solutions to problems , including your problem drinking . So let's unpack this a bit further Now .

Something we've covered in other videos is how toxic alcohol is to your brain . It will literally kill off countless brain cells , so by the time of their death , a heavy drinker's brain can weigh an average of an ounce less .

Though no part of the brain is spared , some are hit particularly hard , and one of these is the so-called frontal lobe , the front part of our brain just behind our forehead . This is home to our so-called executive function .

When scientists refer to executive function , they mean a collection of cognitive faculties that allow us to plan , control and monitor our behavior in order to attain specific goals . Now , some of the faculties that make up executive function include self-awareness , working memory , emotional and motivational regulation and problem solving .

When we talk about response inhibition , we're referring to the ability to suppress or stop an automatic response in order to execute a different , more appropriate response . I'll give you an example of a neuropsychological test that healthcare professionals will frequently use to assess a person's executive function .

This is the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test , which is basically a series of cards with different symbols on them . One card can have two triangles in red colour , another one star in green colour . You hand the person the cards and then prompt them to sort according to a specific criteria , say colour . So the person has to stack the cards in terms of colour only .

Then , after a while , you change the criteria to say number of symbols on the card . And this is where people with compromised executive function tend to get stuck . Even though the previous rule is no longer correct and they are constantly getting feedback by the experimenter to this effect , they cling to this older , outdated rule .

In other words , they struggle to incorporate updated information from their environment in order to modify their existing course of action . They're basically stuck . Is this starting to ring a bell for any of you Now ?

Alcohol intoxication will severely impair anybody's executive function , but for heavy , chronic drinkers , the impairments are chronic and constant , regardless of whether they are drunk or not . Give a group of heavy drinkers any test that measures executive function , like the Wisconsin card sorting test , and they will perform worse than a matched group of controls .

And scientists now understand that these deficits are causally linked to more drinking .

In other words , not only does the drinking cause deficits in executive function , but these deficits then make it all the more difficult to stop drinking , all the more likely that someone will drink themselves to ruin , and when you consider what executive function entails , it could really be no other

way . For starters , impaired executive function means that you'll find it more challenging to set goals and take the appropriate actions , not just the goal of quitting booze , any goal that would require sobriety . You are also less likely to successfully integrate feedback from your environment regarding your drinking and adapt that to the changing conditions .

You'll find it more difficult to control your impulses and inhibit automatic reactions . Everything will become a bit of a pattern . You'll be stuck in a rut , just like in the card sorting task . And it's not just that . Stopping drinking itself will become more difficult . More or less all aspects of your life will be negatively affected .

Leaving the bottle as the only bitter escape , it becomes a never-ending vicious cycle . The more you drink , the more your executive function suffers , making it even more difficult for you to stop drinking . Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking Podcast by Sober Clear .

If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly , then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom .