What is Grey Area drinking?
Grey area drinking is a term used to describe a pattern of drinking that falls between moderate and heavy drinking. It refers to a level of alcohol consumption that is not physical dependence but that is having a negative impact on your health and well-being. In this post, we'll explore what grey area drinking is, how it can affect you, and what you can do about it.
How Can Grey Area Drinking Affect You?
Grey area drinking can have a range of negative effects on your physical and mental health. Over time, it can lead to a range of health problems, including liver disease, high blood pressure, and certain types of cancer. It can also impair your cognitive function, affect your memory and concentration, you may suffer blackouts. even after a couple of drinks. Grey area drinking can also have a negative impact on your relationships, work, and overall well-being. It can lead to problems with your family and friends, affect your job performance, and impact your mental health, regular suffering with bouts of anxiety, depression, anger or a combination of all three.
A little bit of personal disclosure.
I was a grey-area drinker. I started drinking like many of us during my teenage years, using alcohol as a confidence booster and inhibition remover. Alcohol was a staple in my fridge as well as my shopping trolley. It was as automatic to me to pour a glass of wine whilst preparing dinner as it was to lay the table. I noticed as the years passed that my sleep was becoming poor, waking at 3am for at least 2 hours. My mood became erratic, my anxiety levels increased and I generally just felt quite ‘off. `I like to describe it as wading through treacle. Life just felt quite hard. I explored so many areas of my life, diet, fitness, and latterly perimenopause symptoms, trying anything I could to explain my symptoms. I would regularly do dry January, and have Monday-Wednesday alcohol-free. I was pretty grumpy on these days and generally spent my time waiting for the days I ‘could’ justify having a drink. One thing I’m absolutely sure about is, if I wasn’t drinking alcohol, I was thinking about it, planning and organising my life around it. If someone had suggested I went on a night out and didn’t drink, I’d have thought they were completely odd!
So what changed?
I lost my brother to alcoholism more than a decade ago and my first attempt at being sober was fuelled by anger and grief. It lasted quite some time and I started to feel better than I had in years. It helped me to process my grief but inevitably, I began drinking again. Quickly my previous patterns returned. I decided to quit again and this time with some more information. That lead me to work with a sober coach. The difference for me was unbelievable. I learned so much about not only alcohol but myself. I actually discovered that I could cope much more easily with anything life threw at me, and achieve so much more daily than when I was drinking alcohol!
What is sober coaching?
A sober coach is a trained professional who can assist you with your relationship with alcohol. Helping you to understand how and why your alcohol consumption has become unhealthy and specifically for you. How you can navigate getting your alcohol intake to a safe limit where it is not impacting your life. They will help you identify cravings, and societal stigmas surrounding alcohol and also how to fill the void that removing alcohol can bring in the early stages.
Alcohol and shame
One of the first points that I discuss with clients is shame related. So many clients will explain that they aren’t an ‘alcoholic’ in the first instance. Alcohol is the only drug that has its own description of its users! Alcohol is an addictive substance, as is Caffeine, nicotine, sugar, mobile phones etc and yet we wouldn’t even consider feeling ashamed about using caffeine in the morning. Society has decided, there is a line and when you have lost enough of your life to this drug, you may then inherit the title of an alcoholic.
Once we removed the shame from ourselves and place it firmly where it belongs i.e on the alcohol, we can begin to work on why it is that we have used this substance in a harmful way.
One size fits all approach
Throughout working with vast amounts of clients who were grey area drinkers, many of whom have arrived in the clinic for other reasons, such as Anxiety or Depression I have noticed that there is never a ‘one approach for all'. Many clients have no clue why they are using alcohol and take time to explore why it could be. Some quit immediately and don’t return to using alcohol. Others will occasionally use alcohol again. What is similar between them is that they feel very differently about alcohol after the coaching. The feelings of powerlessness over the substance dramatically change and the shame sits firmly with the alcohol itself rather than the user.
If you’re unsure as to whether you have a physical dependence on alcohol, you should visit your GP in the first instance. Alternatively, you can arrange a free initial consultation with me to discuss this.
What can I do if sober coaching isn’t for me?
If you feel that coaching is not right for you yet. Try just getting curious about alcohol. There are a wealth of podcasts, quit lit (literature for quitting alcohol) and clubs that you could join where you’ll meet many like-minded people. This can be a fantastic starting point for your journey and will help you to begin the mindset shift.
Clubs and literature to join
The Sober club run by Janey Lee Grace is a membership-based club for sober curious people with a wealth of information and resources. Full disclosure, I am one of Janey's sober coaches in addition to my own clinic.
Alcohol explained by William Porter is a no-nonsense practical and layman's terms book on alcohol and its effects. from cravings to why we want more. Why we are warm/hot when we are drinking and so much more. It's one of my go-to books to recommend to clients I'm working with.
Warm regards,
Charlotte
