Sober Powered: The Neuroscience of Being Sober

You can know alcohol is hurting you. You can want to quit. You can be exhausted by the consequences. And then still drink. In this episode, we’re talking about ambivalence: what it actually is in the brain, why negative consequences don’t always make us change, and how drinking shifts decision-making from intentional to automatic. I’ll also discuss how ambivalence can creep back in long after you’ve made the decision and result in the slow drift back to drinking.

What to listen to next:

E269: Autopilot mode

Work with me:


Community & Meetings: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership


Sober coaching https://www.soberpowered.com/sober-coaching

Course


Pickled. Why Moderation is Impossible https://www.soberpowered.com/pickled

Weekly email:


You’ll hear from me on Fridays https://www.soberpowered.com/email

Support the show:


If you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support all the research and effort that goes into this podcast https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpowered


Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsors

Sources are posted on my website

Disclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You probably expect that the more sober time you have, the less you crave alcohol. That’s true for some people, but others experience an effect called incubation of craving. This is where cravings build up over time and peak around 60 days, then again around 6 months sober. In this episode, I’ll explain the research on incubation of craving, what you might experience, why this happens, and what you can do to stay sober.

Work with me:


Community & Meetings: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership


Sober coaching https://www.soberpowered.com/sober-coaching

Course


Pickled. Why Moderation is Impossible https://www.soberpowered.com/pickled

Weekly email:


You’ll hear from me on Fridays https://www.soberpowered.com/email

Support the show:


If you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support all the research and effort that goes into this podcast https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpowered


Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsors

Sources are posted on my website

Disclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sugar cravings in early sobriety make sense. What many of us don’t expect is still needing something sweet months or even years later. In this episode, we’re going to unpack why that happens, what sugar is really doing for your nervous system, and why this phase has less to do with food and more to do with healing.

Work with me:


Community & Meetings: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership


Sober coaching https://www.soberpowered.com/sober-coaching

Course


Pickled. Why Moderation is Impossible https://www.soberpowered.com/pickled

Weekly email:


You’ll hear from me on Fridays https://www.soberpowered.com/email

Support the show:


If you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support all the research and effort that goes into this podcast https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpowered


Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsors

Sources are posted on my website

Disclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When I quit drinking, I didn’t realize how emotionally immature I was, or how much alcohol had been doing for me behind the scenes. In this episode, I talk about why removing alcohol can make emotions feel (more) unbearable at first, how years of emotional avoidance catch up to us in sobriety, and why this phase puts people at risk for relapse. We’ll also talk about what emotional sobriety actually means, and why learning to tolerate discomfort is what makes sobriety sustainable.

Work with me:


Community & Meetings: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership


Sober coaching https://www.soberpowered.com/sober-coaching

Course


Pickled. Why Moderation is Impossible https://www.soberpowered.com/pickled

Weekly email:


You’ll hear from me on Fridays https://www.soberpowered.com/email

Support the show:


If you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support all the research and effort that goes into this podcast https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpowered


Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsors

Sources are posted on my website

Disclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re sober but still exhausted, foggy, or struggling to think clearly, it’s not random. Early sobriety fatigue has very real causes, from changes in brain energy utilization to sleep disruption and structural recovery. In this episode, I explain what the research actually shows about how the brain heals after alcohol, why recovery happens in layers, and what that means for how you feel right now. Understanding this can change how you experience early sobriety.

Work with me:


Community & Meetings: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership


Sober coaching https://www.soberpowered.com/sober-coaching

Course


Pickled. Why Moderation is Impossible https://www.soberpowered.com/pickled

Weekly email:


You’ll hear from me on Fridays https://www.soberpowered.com/email

Support the show:


If you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support all the research and effort that goes into this podcast https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpowered


Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsors

Sources are posted on my website

Disclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices