A YouTube video by Amber Hollingsworth (master addiction counselor) explaining the likely benefits and one main drawback of doing "Sober October" or any 30-day alcohol/drug-free period. Benefits described include improved sleep (restorative REM), better mood and anxiety, clearer skin, increased morning energy and willpower, and a dopamine reset that restores enjoyment in everyday activities — typically noticeable after ~1–1.5 weeks. The main drawback discussed is the risk of rebounding to equal or greater substance use quickly after the 30 days, plus a medical withdrawal warning for people physically dependent on alcohol. The host also promotes a free 30-day jump-start email/video program to support early sobriety and invites viewers to subscribe.
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There are lots of benefits and at least one drawback to doing sober October. For those of you who are new here, my name is Amber Hollingsworth. I am a master addiction counselor and on this YouTube channel we help you stay five steps ahead of addiction by helping you understand the science and psychology of addiction from every perspective. Alright, now let's get into our topic. I want to give you a heads up on exactly what you can expect, including the benefits and possible drawbacks for during and after the month. I think a great idea, no matter where you're at in the spectrum, the only time I think it might not be the greatest idea is if you are so like dependent on a substance, like for example, dependent on alcohol, that you're going to go into major serious medical complications from withdrawal, then you might want to talk to your doctor before you just cold turkey it. Other than that, it is going to be a great break for you no matter if you're a light drinker or a heavier drinker. Because no matter where you fall in that spectrum, I think what you're going to find is after about a week or 10 days or so, you're going start to feel a lot better, your skin is going to feel better, you're going to feel better, more energized in the morning because you're actually going to be getting good restful sleep, including that super necessary REM sleep, that stage four sleep. You see, the thing is, when we fall asleep and we've been drinking, we don't get good restorative sleep, which is the REM sleep, which is where your fuel tank refills for the next day. So a lot of times we don't even realize it, but we're starting out each day with a half empty tank. And that tank is where your willpower lives, your energy, your motivation, your drive. Not only are you going to notice that you're sleeping better, that your skin feels better, but you're going to notice that you're in a better mood. Most people really have no idea how much alcohol and other substances are affecting their mood and their anxiety. The reason why most people don't necessarily make this connection is of course our mood shifts when we're on a substance. We expect that, right? But we don't realize how much of a rebound effect we're getting on the few days after we've been using a substance. Because our brain is actually still trying to level out or balance whatever substance that we've been putting into our body. We're more irritable, antsy, jittery, keyed up. But after you get past that first initial part, you're going to feel a little bit better every single day. Now, for those of you who don't think you have a drinking problem, like I said, I think that this is going to be good for you because once you realize how much better you feel without it, you may decide that you don't want to drink anymore or that you want to drink a lot less because you are going to see a big difference. And for those of you who feel like that you maybe possibly have a drinking problem, this is a wonderful opportunity to get a feel for what it's like to be on the other side of the fence. Now, I know maybe you get some days sober here and there, but, but if you don't ever get past a couple of weeks sober, then you're probably not getting all of the good benefits of sobriety because it takes that long for our brains to level back out from whatever substance we've been using. If you're a pretty reg substance user and you think about sobriety, you probably think, well, that doesn't sound fun, it sounds boring. And some of you may think it sounds absolutely miserable. But I want you to take into consideration that if you're never getting past a couple of weeks sober, probably what you're experiencing is that rebound effect or possibly even withdrawal effect from the substance use. So what you're feeling in those first few weeks isn't what sobriety feels like. It's what it feels like when your brain is rebalancing, which isn't a good representation of what sobriety feels like. You'll have a lot more excitement, energy and motivation than you ever have before. You may not realize it, but alcohol is impeding your ability to find joy and happiness from other things. So when you take it out, you reset that dopamine system along with some other neurochemicals that are associated. And it may be hard to believe, but you will begin to find joy and interest and enthusiasm in little bitty everyday activities. Now, I know I mentioned that there is at least one possible drawback to doing the sober October thing or really just any 30 day alcohol or drug free period of time. That drawback is if you are a fairly heavy drinker or user or whatever it is that you're trying to stop. Once you go back to that substance after the 30 days, you're probably going to rebound back to using just as much as you were before, if not more pretty quickly. You see a lot of people, they do the 30 days they feel so much better. And then let's say we get to November and they're like, all right, I can have a drink again. And they think, but I'm not going to go back to drinking the way I was before. But what we don't realize is that as we're building tolerance, we're creating like a new set point in our brain for the substance. And so it doesn't take very long, usually a few days to maybe a week, before we're right back to using exactly as much as we're using before. Think of it like a diet. If you've been on a diet for 30 days and then you let go of that diet and you go back, how long is it going to be before you're eating exactly the way you were before the diet? Pretty quickly, right? So that is a drawback that I want you to be aware of. But even if that happens, you still had 30 days to experience what it's like on the other side of that fence. What is it really like to be sober? Not what's it like to be sober, you know, half the days of the week, but what's it like to really be sober, to really reset your brain? I think you're going to find it is a world of difference, much more than you might even think. If for whatever reason you do the 30 days, you feel great, you get to November or whenever it is, and then you fall back into the substance use, you're going to have a great way to compare. And now you can make a better, more informed decision about what you want to do moving forward. For those of you who are thinking about getting sober and staying staying sober, I have free 30 day jump start program that you can sign up for. And it's just a little short, like three to five minute video message that comes to you in your inbox each day to help you stay motivated, overcome roadblocks, and get that first 30 days of sobriety in. I'm going to put a link in the description below in case you're interested in it. And if you want to learn more about how to overcome an addiction for yourself or for a loved one, then consider subscribing to this channel because that's what we do here.
