The Impact of Alcohol on Life Potential

Lulily Lemon's airy fast drying tennis gear keeps you cool when the court gets hot Breathing out as you breathe in Wicking away distractions with every reach, every return Drying as fast as youuvolley. So even after match point, you'll feel like you want to do it all again Tennis gear in stores and online at lululeemon. com I'd really love to talk to you about when what's the moderate Merate drinking L moderation. moderation. Yeah. So Um This is a really interesting and important thing for people to be able to learn to do you can go from drinking a lot. to moderate drinking, or do you in your opinion, would you have to stop how did you start drinking again and what made you realise you could I think if you are If you have my kind of nature callall it an addictive nature Um or an alcoholic nature, whatever you want to call it. There's always, it's a slippery slope always will be I think the difference is resesponsibility and you know, all of the good work that you do.. I think you know, me going out and destroying myself for days on end is going is going get in the way of my business,'s going to get in the way of my career, It's going to get in the way of my marriage. It's going know,'s not a good example for my children. I think having kids makes quite a big difference. You know, My kids have never seen me drunk You know, and they never will, hopefully Um I had a lot less on I don't know lot of turbulence in my mind before. I was lazy as well. I didn't I didn't I didn't try I didn't push myself. I didn't have The aspirations I have now, I used to drink probably at my worst when I was bored You know, like between TV shows. I wouldn't G and meet my agent and think, right can we be doing? How can we make more money? How can we, you know better What with it? I would just hisissed. Yeah. I was pretty loose, you know, I was just spiraling kindind of all the time and you think it's fun But it's not. you know, and I think you know, have firstly what we spoke about earlier, you know, wanting to show up for Vogue, wanting to prove to Vogue that I wasn't some you know, drunk loser was important to me. then you know, I wasn't sober for long before starting a business and Then all of a sudden your plateatess kind of full and you're busy, so you don't even really feel like drinking much because you have a new addiction, in my case then And again, with that came. responsibility to not be out drinking and getting drunk, right? And then you have children and then it's all It all layers on top of, you know each other. I think if I was the kind of person that now went out and had a couple of pins of beer and P't stop thenen I wouldn't have the bit. You know, just I'd have the experience to just go What's the point in any of this? The fact is I can have the occasional drink Sometimes occasional drink leads to several drinks in a night, but you know, my relationship feels more normal now. Yes. you know, and I think I read dor. Anna Lemke's book called Dpamine Nation, which is just fantastic. if you've not read it. I haven't. so thank you. Oh, it's wonderful. And it's quite you know It's neurosciencecy, but it's also an easy read. Yeah and not But honestlyice for me, I mean, like you know, I'm obviously not a scientist. So for me it was a welcome read because I was so fascinated by it that I flipped through it in kind of no time and It's all about kind of spikes in dopamine and how Oxins and alcohol make you feel actually the result of what drinking actually does to your brain and you know, I think the more educated I've become about it, the less keen I am to be involved with it in that bigig scale anyway, this is alcohol, I mean, because Realistically, and I'm sure I'm not ringing any alarm bells here, it's really bad for you, you know and I'm very interested in my health So You know, in the same way that I'll have a fried chicken sandwich every so often. I might also have a beer every so often. you know's not it's not a very big deal to me. And if it did feel like a big deal, I would stop. So you know, I am conscious of it though, like very conscious of it. Yeah, you know, And would I wouldn't ever want to threaten where I've got to. and I don't mean that in a kind of success scale. I just mean So much good work has been achieved in the last few years. and I know that you know drinking could destroy that if I let it. I think just being aware of it has been helpful. I'm fascinated by this kind of idea of semi U like just being able to have a couple of drinks though. it's really interesting that. And what's really nice about it is it's not making me think Oh, you could do that. I think For the first few years of not drinking, I really missed it But it's been decades now and I don't miss it at all. I think it's become habit to not drink. For me I'm still discovering bits and bobs about it. I wouldn't be surpris if I ended up complete too total to be honest I don't see an issue with it, but it but I think it I think it quite easily could be. you know, I need still stints of extended periods of time off it. So I can't wait for January. I'll do three, four months without a single drrop, you know Pro have a few beers in the summer and then I'll go off again. it's I try not to think about it too much. It's not really in the forefront of my mind ever. I don't walk past a pub or a bar and go, I'd love a drink you know, which I'm I think I'm quite lucky, you know. in that regard, but Alcohols are truly destructive thing for me and I haven't forgotten that. Yes, you know what I mean? It's quite a good memory to have really. I think you know, it'sort I like if you've ever been really hurt by someone, you know, you might you might choose to move through it, but you don't forget it. Yes. Same thing with alcohol for me, you know I'm fully aware that if I allow myself Oh yeah, like, you know, I'm not going to drink Monday to Wednesday, but, you know Thursday to Sunday, I'm going Yeah. I'll be that's so dang See you later Yeah. I'm gongZo, you know so I just need to be conscious and careful around it, I suppose. But you know, I have to say that it doesn't feel like a currents issue You know,'m not I'm not walking around wondering if it's safe. I to be honest, I don't really think about it My partner would D do Health for this episode and I want to tell you why Fty six percent of Due Health members showed signs of hidden cardiovascular risk after doing their blood test forty six percent And you know what? they had absolutely no idea, no symptoms, no big dramatic warning. And look, I get why people put this stuff off because results can feel Really scary. You know, you think, what if I find out something I can't know But finding things early can change everything. and that's what's great about what Dr. Rongand has done with Doo Health. This app gives you something clear enough to question. Understand then act on It checks your blood three times a year including lots of things many of us have never even been tested for. And then it explains what your body is telling you clearly and calmly and then gives you a weekly plan with an in app coach So you know what to do next. More worry It's a way forward Go to do health. co slash begin again and use code begin again. look in early access pricing. Were you an alcoholic Well, I let's just check in a couple of things here because this is a complicated answer First of all, the term alcoholic. and that is a older term not used by the scientific community today So what we use now today is alcohol use disorder And if you're asking if I had alcohol use disorder in my life, absolutely Most people who binge drink Um, have alcohol use disorder. It ranges from mild, moderate Svere. You said binge drinks specifically. Not just binge drinking, but also daily drinking, all of those kind of things absolutely Do you want the exact definition of alcool use disorder The specific because I can't do them all, we'll do it through here. So Mild is to have two of these, to consider two of these. Merate is four and then more than that you have severe alcohol use disorder. Craving beverages containing alcohol Continuing to use these beverages even though you're drinking affects your relationship with your family, friends, and colleagues Drinking more than you intended or for longer than you intended Everyone's been there, right at some point? spepending lots of time obtaining and drinking these beverages or recovering from hangovers caused by drinking This is starting to just sound like life in London right now repeatedly trying to reduce how much you drink. every weekend Repeatedly failing to meet work or family obligations because you're drinking giving up important social work or recreational activities because of alcohol Using alcohol in physically hazardous situations Continuing to drink when you have a medical condition or mental disorder that gets worse when you drink Side note here, most mental disorders get worse when you drink Having a high tolerance for beverages containing alcohol. alcohol withdrawal symptoms or drinking to avoid alcohol withdra withithdraw symptoms definition now has changed from what was is the question, did I have what in society might call today a problem with alcohol? Well, no, I wasn't waking up in the morning, pouring whiskey on my conflicts. I was never during days and days and days on end. I was never what you might society might consider as an alcoholic. as an oil broker in London. I mean, IP week, I could be drinking from Monday morning at nine o'clock for the entire week and getting a few hours sleep and all the rest of that. and A is the change in definition, but to give people the context of where I was U I'm just a A typical party boy social person. I was always first in and I was always l out. and I got all of my energy from being the most outrageous wild unbelievably crazy person, right? And so I loved the party. I loved that. And alcohol in my twenties also led to drugs. you know, I did a lot of party drugs. when I was younger And so Despite having this relationship with alcohol and also it being part of my job as an oil broker There were some things. and I think, you know the things I didn't really realize, I didn't really link them to the alcohol consumption. I didn't realize that alcohol was causing these other things that I was trying to sort out And I would say when I did actually finally change my relationship with alcohol That's when you look back and you go, o wow I didn't realize that I was not that bad. that it was having that impact on me What were the things So u Let's look at it from the other perspective So it's hard in the moment to see what impact alcohol is having on you because of this sort of not just its brainwashing, but society's expectations and also the ignorance and things like that So what happens when you remove alcohol? Well, I mean, the lights go on You know, the sudden increase in energy, clarity, productivity IBS, a decade of seeing doctors Chinese health medicine, you've got IBS taking medication disappeared Psirasis, gone Depression, anxiety significantly reduced U so there were all of these things that I wasn't really attributing to this regular alcohol consumption. And even at the time, it was only two, maybe three times a week, drinking, probably binge drinking, sometimes heavily. So and that still today is pretty normal. That's what normal drinking behavior looks like And yet I had all of these benefits. And talk about the other benefits, right? Relationships significantly improved, happiness levels higher You know, just doubled my business in the first twelve months of changing my relationship with alcool So kids inststead of us looking at it like, problems is alcohol causing you? Let's have the conversation of What is alcohol robbing you of that you are not being And I have a little thought here. in this whole world is that actually The truth is is that Alcohol is A life not lived. And what I mean by that is for many, many, many people, they're consuming alcohol because they are numbing out the feelings of their life They're numbing out the toxic relationship that they haven't really sorted out They're numbing out their shitty job with their boss that they hate They're numbing out the poor health or all of these feelings, thoughts, difficult situations You know what? I'm just gonna to switch off by having a drink But the truth is, That's a life not lived Who are you being If you remove that and you start improving those relationships, if you start Finding that job that you feel is most amazing. if you start making these positive changes in your life. And so I want to change the conversation to be Let's go to war Go to war on lives not lived. Our whole focus here and what I'm trying to do in the world is to help people really address because like I said If I take somebody who's regularly drinking alcohol and they arere like, well, my life's great. know I'm fine. Absolutely great. And I can think of one particular individual veryery well known. No more hints, a very well known entrepreneur, hugely successful in the UK. And he came on the program and he said to me after program he said R I have built Multiple businesses been hugely successful. all I've wanted, all of that wonderful stuff. And yet, coming through this program, you have made me realize that I have spent the last decade operating on eighty percent I don't know what that's cost me, but it's millions. No He wasn't even a big drinker. He's just like, you know, there's lots of networking events, There's this, there's, oh well let's have dinner, let's have that. There have a couple of drinks here. And he had a twenty percent Performance uplift What does that do to the bottom line You know, the cost to the UK economy estimated at fifty two billion a year and the vast majority of that is from loss of earnings All of those sick days, all of that So I think This is where the big shift that we are trying to continually pioneer is instead of following the rhetoric of If you have a problem You need to go over here and you're a problematic drinker and everyone else is okay Let's actually look at the gray area of drinking Ultimately, any amount of alcohol is toxic for you Any amount of alcohol is toxic for the brain, toxic for the body and What happens if you choose to change your relationship with it? Whatere are all the things you're missing out on