Cravings, Decoded - Part 1 of 7
Part 1: What Causes Alcohol Cravings ← you’re here
Part 2: The Craving Escalation Cycle
Part 3: When Mental Cravings Feel Physical
Part 4: Double-Barrel Alcohol Cravings
Part 5: Hidden Triggers That Mimic Alcohol Cravings
Part 6: How to Weaken Alcohol Cravings Over Time
Part 7: Practical Tools for Managing Alcohol Cravings
One minute we can be getting on with the day. Then the thought of a drink turns up and suddenly it has our full attention.
It can feel random, especially when we weren’t planning to drink. But most cravings have a beginning. Something happened, we felt something or we entered a familiar part of the day, and our brain brought up the old answer.
That answer can arrive so quickly that we only notice the urge. We miss what set it off.
A craving is more than wanting the taste
When many of us said, “I want a drink,” we weren’t only thinking about the liquid. We wanted the change we expected from it.
We might have wanted relief, a break from our thoughts, a buzz, confidence or the feeling that the working day was finally over. After enough repetition, the situation and the expected change become connected.
So stress can bring up alcohol. Friday evening can bring it up. Cooking dinner, getting paid, feeling lonely or seeing a certain person could do the same.
That’s why a craving often starts with what we still believe alcohol will give us.
Feelings can bring up the old answer
Stress and anxiety are obvious examples, but they aren’t the only ones. Boredom, loneliness, anger and disappointment can all bring up a drinking thought. Positive feelings can do it too.
We finish something difficult, hear good news or feel relieved, and alcohol appears as the reward.
Feeling stressed or excited doesn’t make the drink inevitable. It’s just been followed by alcohol so many times that the connection can feel immediate.
Places and people can do it
We can walk into a familiar room and think about drinking before anyone offers us one.
A bar, restaurant, airport, hotel room or someone else’s house could carry years of alcohol memories. A song or smell could bring back the same feeling.
The cue might be small, but our brain can fill in the rest of the scene very quickly. We don’t have to avoid every place forever, but it helps to know which ones still bring the whole drinking picture back.
Routines can become cues
Other cravings are tied to what normally happens next.
We close the laptop. We start cooking. The clock reaches a certain time. We sit in the chair where we used to have the first drink.
Nothing dramatic has happened. The routine has simply reached the point where alcohol used to be included. And because the same sequence has happened hundreds of times, our mind gets there before we’ve really thought about it.
Our body can send a confusing signal
Hunger, exhaustion, poor sleep and dehydration can leave us irritable, shaky, foggy or restless. If alcohol used to be our quickest answer to feeling off, the thought of drinking could appear even when food, water or rest is what we actually need.
Heavy drinkers also need to notice what happens as alcohol wears off. Anxiety, sweating, shaking, nausea, a racing heart or feeling very agitated could be part of the alcohol cycle rather than an ordinary craving.
The drinking and withdrawal cycle explains why another drink can seem to fix a feeling that alcohol helped create.
That doesn’t mean alcohol is what we need. Another drink could simply be easing something alcohol helped create.
Look at the few minutes before it started
Asking “Why do I want a drink?” can feel too big when the urge is already there. A better place to start is the last few minutes.
What just happened? What were we thinking about? Where were we? How did we feel physically? What did that first drink seem able to fix?
We’re not trying to build a perfect list of triggers. We’re looking for the ones that keep showing up in our own drinking.
Once we can see what came first, the craving stops looking quite so mysterious. It becomes a familiar response with a starting point.
The next article looks at how a craving builds after that first cue appears.
— Brent
Next up: The Craving Escalation Cycle