April is Alcohol Awareness Month, which is a time to monitor how much you’re drinking and reflect or reevaluate your relationship with the substance and if you’re overindulging. According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 178,000 people die each year from excessive alcohol use.
The effects of alcohol misuse can be deadly, as it’s the fourth-leading cause of preventable death in the United States. If you find yourself drinking every day, you may want to take a step back to rethink how you’re prioritizing the substance in your life and try to cut back on drinking consistently. Here are some signs you should consider when evaluating your drinking.
You want a drink every day: While a glass of wine every day might seem harmless, you’re still consuming the substance often. You should try to cut back on how much wine you’re consuming.
You end up drinking more than you planned: You may drink more than you originally planned or for more hours. It’s important to track how often this happens in your life. But if it’s happening too often, it might be an early warning sign that you need to reduce your drinking.
You try to quell your sadness and anxiety with alcohol: If you find yourself trying to remedy your sadness and/or anxiety with alcohol to try to take the edge off, you most likely are relying too much on the substance and should try to find another outlet actively.
You’re not fulfilling your responsibilities: Perhaps after a night out drinking or alone at home, you drop the ball on your responsibilities because you’re either hungover or disoriented from the night before. When you’re sick from drinking, and it prevents you from keeping up with responsibilities at home, work, or school, it’s an issue to be taken seriously.
Your relationships become frayed: You should deeply consider reducing your drinking, especially if it affects your relationships with your family, friends, and work colleagues. When you find that drinking causes issues with your loved ones and you continue to drink, it’s important to work to change your habits to get your relationships on track.
If you or your loved ones are struggling with substance abuse, SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.