If you're wondering what happens when you stop drinking alcohol, you've probably already read a list somewhere.

Better sleep, glowing skin, more energy, weight falls off, life is wonderful.

Some of that is true. Some of it is true for some people. And some of it takes a lot longer than the lists suggest.

I've been supporting women to reduce and stop drinking for nearly 20 years, first in national treatment services and now through Women Who Don't Drink. So this is the honest version: what changes, roughly when, and what can take a bit of work.

Because if you know what's coming, you're far less likely to give up in week three thinking "this isn't working for me".

Let's take it in three parts: physical changes, emotional changes and lifestyle changes.

Prefer to watch rather than read?

I've also talked through what happens when you stop drinking alcohol in this video:

Watch: What Happens When You Stop Drinking Alcohol?

About the author

Written by Stephanie Chivers, Founder of Wo...

Think alcohol isn't causing you problems?

Here's what I'd actually say to that, and why one week off might just change your mind.

This is one of the most interesting questions I get asked, and the honest answer is: it depends.

It depends on how much you're actually drinking, what role alcohol plays in your life, and perhaps most importantly, how you feel when you don't drink.

I'm Stephanie Chivers, founder of Women Who Don't Drink. I've spent years supporting women to change their relationship with alcohol, and I've seen first-hand how easy it is for drinking to become part of everyday life without ever feeling like you have a "problem".

You don't have to identify as an alcoholic. You don't have to have hit rock bottom. And you don't need a dramatic story before you're allowed to question whether alcohol is working for you anymore.

Let's Start With the Numbers

The UK Chief Medical Officers' alcohol guidelines recommend drinking within the guideline of no more than 14 units of al...

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: this is the question I get asked more than any other, and it's almost always whispered, in a DM, at the end of a call, after someone's already told me three other things first, like they're working up the courage.

"I'm not that bad though. Not like, rock bottom bad."

If that sentence has ever run through your head at 11pm with a glass in your hand, I want you to hear this clearly: you do not need to lose everything before you're allowed to change something.

It can be as simple as, alcohol isn’t working for you anymore.

Where this idea even comes from

We've been fed one story about drinking problems for decades. It's the film version, the empty bottles under the stairs, the lost job, the intervention, the dramatic "I'll never touch it again." It's Hollywood, and it's AA folklore, and it's the version your GP's leaflet probably shows too.

That story is true for some people. It is not the only story.

Most of the women I work with are nothing like th...

Let's talk about social anxiety and how to socialise without alcohol.

I'm not a big fan of labels, but you know what I mean by social anxiety, so I'll use the term. In all my years doing this work and living it myself I've seen that many women really struggle with socialising when they stop drinking, whether that's giving up alcohol completely, stepping back from partying, or just taking a break.

Mostly, this isn't because something is wrong with them. It's because they've simply never socialised any other way.

Why Socialising Without Alcohol Feels So Hard

As a society, we use alcohol as a social lubricant almost without thinking about it. It's there at every celebration, every catch-up, every work event. We drink, we socialise, the two have become so tightly linked that most people never even notice it's happening.

It usually isn't until you stop drinking that you realise just how automatic that connection was.

If you're changing your relationship with alcohol, whether you're...

Why the Warmer Weather Can Be a Drinking Trigger

Sunshine can be a powerful trigger to drink more alcohol,  but it doesn't have to be. Understand the habit, the advertising, and what actually helps this summer.

A bit premature maybe, but I can almost smell the summer. After what feels like a very long winter, there's a real bounce in the air if you're anything like me, you're noticing it in your step too.

But I know that for a lot of women, sunshine brings something else alongside the good mood. A pull towards alcohol. A sense that a cold glass of something is just part of the picture.

And here's the irony: alcohol dehydrates you. It is literally one of the worst things you can put in your body when it's warm. It affects your skin, your sleep, your energy, none of which are helped by adding heat to the mix. The best thing you can reach for when the sun is out is water, or a genuinely refreshing soft drink or alcohol-free alternative.

And yet. The pull is real. So let's talk about ...

If you drink to take the edge off anxiety, you are not alone. Millions of women do exactly the same thing. Wine at the end of a stressful day. A drink to calm the nerves before a social event. A glass to quiet the thoughts before bed.

It makes sense. In the short term, alcohol genuinely does reduce anxiety. The problem is what happens next.

Because alcohol doesn't solve anxiety. Over time, it creates it, amplifies it, and makes it significantly harder to address the underlying causes.

Here's why, starting with the science.

What Alcohol Actually Does to Your Brain

To understand the alcohol-anxiety connection, you need to understand two key neurotransmitters: GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and glutamate.

GABA is your brain's main calming chemical. Glutamate is its main excitatory chemical, it activates neurons and is essential for memory and cognition.

Alcohol works primarily by stimulating GABA and blocking glutamate. Professor David Nutt, one of the world's leading experts in...

If you’re wondering why it feels so hard to stop drinking, even when you genuinely want to, the answer isn’t weakness or lack of willpower. Alcohol affects the brain’s reward system, emotional regulation, stress response and habits in powerful ways. When drinking becomes tied to relaxation, relief, or identity, stopping can feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar. Real change happens when you understand these mechanisms and build the right kind of alcohol support around you.

You wake up determined.

This time you mean it.

You’re going to take a break. Cut down. Stop for good.

And yet, a few days, sometimes even hours later, you find yourself pouring a drink and wondering:

Why is it so hard to stop drinking when I really want to?

If that question feels familiar, you are not alone. And more importantly, there are reasons for it.

Not excuses. Reasons.

Understanding them changes everything.

Alcohol Changes the Brain’s Reward System

Alcohol stimulates dopamine the neurotransmitter inv...

Everyone is talking about the Matt Willis Documentary, Fighting Addiction.

I think it’s fab when people share their stuff so openly.  It provokes thought and discussion for many.

This morning I have already had some great discussions about different topics that have come up from the documentary.

There are a few key points I would like to address.

Triggers 

People, places, times, feelings, events that cause you to drink.  Anyone who has had a problem with drugs and alcohol will know exactly what I mean.  We all have triggers, learning about our triggers, mitigating the risk is part of the work.  We can’t know all of our triggers from the beginning, we know some; quite often we learn about them as we go on and this is ok.

Now where this gets important is when you’re drinking, or drug use has a significant impact on your life.  Things like your using is life threatening, the amount you use, the combination of using could cause overdose or serious illness. Maybe your behaviour is dan...

Its that time of year again.

Christmas can be a real test for those of us that have given up something or are struggling to gain control. Or maybe you’re someone that struggles to regulate your intake of anything.

Depending on what your poison is will depend on how difficult this festive season might be.

Alcohol is probably the top one, it’s pretty much everywhere anyway, but something happens at Christmas that seems to make alcohol multiply like I have never seen before or is it just me!!

Food and sugar is another hard one, the whole thing is about food. What is it that happens to an office on the run up to Christmas it seem to turn into a junk food feeding ground, pastries, cakes, chocolate you name it its available in the bucket load.

So what can you do if you are alcohol free, attempting moderation or even just want to be healthy. 

Here are my 10 tips for surviving the festive season.

1. Remember there are no rules you don’t have to fit in with everyone else. So this might s...

On confidence

Stephanie has invited me to do a piece about confidence. Am I confident enough I wonder? Go on then!

Confidence, I have recently learned, comes from one’s self esteem and feeling of self-worth. This is developed in (about) the 4^th year of life when we experience how significant we are to our parents, or care givers. To be dear to someone, to have closeness and connection. Eventually, through adolescence and then when we become adults, we learn that we can create this very connection with ourselves, and become self-aware, to believe in ourselves, to support ourselves, stand on our own two feet.

Of course, we all know the notion of “having one’s confidence knocked”. That is when we momentarily doubt our self-worth. Mostly because of a situation or circumstance where we, erroneously, compare ourselves to others. We forget our own significance within.

The good news is that confidence (self-esteem, self-worth) can be learned and can be expanded upon, and the brain circuits...