Sober Powered

Apr 19 2024 359

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I promise you, you're not a weak-willed loser with no self-control. There are a lot of reasons why we can't control the way we drink- trauma, lack of coping skills, stress, anger, anxiety. Plus, as you'll learn in my podcast, alcohol takes advantage of our vulnerabilities to hook us, then it changes our brains to keep us stuck and reliant on alcohol. It's not about willpower. In the Sober Powered Podcast, I use science, psychology, and compassion to help you understand why you use self-destructive coping skills like alcohol, what happens in the brain to make drinking spiral out of control and prevent us from drinking in moderation, and how to develop the coping skills and emotional sobriety you need to quit drinking and stay sober. About me: I quit drinking on November 9, 2019. I have a master's in biology and I'm a certified anger management specialist and crisis intervention specialist. Not sure where to start? My most popular episodes are 99, 150, 170, 177, 180, 186, 191, 194, 196, 197 and 202.

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E210: Good News, Your Brain Heals A LOT After 90 Days Sober… Unless You Relapse

Apr 19 2024 18 mins

Significant brain healing can happen within the first few months of being sober. Finally some good news for us, right? In this episode you’ll learn more about how alcohol damages the brain to make it harder to stay sober and how the brains of people who are able to stay sober differ from those who go on to relapse. It’s not just deciding that you’re done with drinking and tha

E209: How Porn Addiction Affects the Brain

Apr 16 2024 33 mins

Behavioral addictions are stigmatized because they feel like more of a choice because there’s no substance changing your brain. However, process addictions or behavioral addictions like porn do actually change the brain in similar ways. In this episode I’ll explain why porn is so addicting, brain changes from porn, and how porn influences us to objectify women and see them as s

E208: Stress, Depression and Our Eating Habits

Apr 12 2024 17 mins

We do the same thing with our diet that we do with our drinking- our eating habits aren’t great, but they’re not bad either so it feels manageable. Our food quality impacts our mental health and stress levels though. I’ve been struggling with fatigue and depression, so it got me interested in the link. In this episode I’m explaining the importance of breakfast and a high qu

E207: 15 Milestones to Look Forward to in Sobriety (Sober Timeline)

Apr 09 2024 18 mins

There are lots of great things that happen when you quit drinking, but we can get distracted by wanting everything to be easy and perfect. In this episode I’m sharing 15 things you can look forward to from day 2 to years of sobriety. Wherever you’re at in your journey, this episode will remind you of some of the best things about being sober. What to listen to next: E17: alcoho

E206: HALT: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired

Apr 05 2024 17 mins

You’ve probably heard of the acronym HALT, hungry, angry, lonely, tired. These are all triggers for relapse because they influence our ability to think things through and wait. These feelings make us impulsive, overwhelmed, and more likely to go for an instant gratification choice like drinking, even when we know we want to stay sober. In this episode I’m explaining why these 4

E205: Kindling in Alcohol Withdrawal

Apr 02 2024 19 mins

For some of us, each time we go through withdrawal, the next withdrawal is worse. This is called kindling and in this episode I’m explaining what kindling is and how it happens. You’ll learn why we get withdrawal symptoms when we quit drinking, what delirium tremens is, and how kindling makes it harder to get sober. I’ll also discuss what counts as a cycle of withdrawal and w

E204: Can Anyone Get Addicted to Alcohol?

Mar 29 2024 22 mins

Is everyone on the slow path towards addiction? Are all moderate drinkers a little bit addicted? We know alcohol is an addictive substance that gets us hooked and then changes our brains to keep us hooked, but why does this process even start? In this episode I’ll explain 15 risk factors that can lead us to become addicted to alcohol. You’ll learn about emotional factors, genet

E203: Why You Still Want Alcohol Even When You Hate It (It’s Dopamine!)

Mar 26 2024 16 mins

Drinking stops being fun and enjoyable, but we continue to do it anyway. Why is this? We know it makes us miserable and we want to stop, but by 4pm or after a few days or weeks of sober time we talk ourselves back into it. In this episode you’ll learn about the adaptations that happen in the brain as we drink heavily and how this leads to compulsive drinking despite the consequen

E202: WTF is “The Work”?

Mar 22 2024 19 mins

I talk about doing “the work” a lot on this podcast, so let’s talk about what that work is. In this episode I’ll explain what the work is, roadblocks to doing the work, how you can get started and detours to be aware of on the journey. You’ll learn about victim mentality, blaming others, and if we have to do “the work” forever. What to listen to next: E189: rumination

E201: Your Dysregulated Stress Response

Mar 19 2024 17 mins

This episode is everything you need to know about cortisol, stress and alcohol. I’ll explain how our stress system adapts to both chronic stress and chronic heavy drinking, how multiple cycles of withdrawal impacts this adaptation, how this causes more cravings, and what this means for our ability to cope with life. We think alcohol helps take the edge off and reduce our stress l