A segment of a June 12, 2025 YouTube interview between Ben Greenfield and James Swanwick discussing alcohol’s harms and practical approaches to reduce consumption. Swanwick cites a global prevalence figure for alcohol use disorder and recommends alcohol-free alternatives; Greenfield summarizes alcohol’s neurochemical effect via GABA. The pair also note that daily gratitude practice can meaningfully reduce drug cravings.
Chapters
There are 400 million people in the world who are considered to have an alcohol use disorder. I always say that alcohol can be death by a thousand cuts over a few days, weeks, months, even a year or so. We don't really notice that cumulative effect. Instead of saying, don't do something, we say, do this. And in this case it's, I easily only drink soda water, ice with a piece of lime. Tonight I'm going to drink alcohol. Free alternatives. And if we just say that to ourselves, then the study of neuroscience and human psychology and the way that the brain works, the RAs, those funny bundle of nerves in our brain, locks on to that and goes, okay, I'll do that for you. So what is the enjoyment that you derive from having that drink? Maybe a drink and a half the four times a week. Like, what do you feel? What do you feel are the benefits of that?
Number one, alcohol causes a release of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gaba, the binding of GABA to those receptor sites, and you get kind of this relaxed, socially lubricating type of effect. So a little bit of relaxation, a.
Daily gratitude practice, can reduce cravings for any drug by as much as 30%, which is fascinating. Living a life of appreciation instead of expectation. Those things combined really drives human behavior in a very positive manner.
Yeah, the dopaminergic stimuli from something as simple as a gratitude practice has always been shocking to me.
