Are you wondering if it is time to take a break from alcohol? You might be feeling the wrestle in your body of "should I or shouldn't I?"
Many women quietly wonder if taking a break from alcohol is even necessary—or worth it—especially when drinking feels normal, social, and harmless.
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This post will help you recognize the subtle, often ignored signs — like low energy, mood shifts, poor sleep — that are often brushed aside (but may actually be your body gently asking you to slow down, reset, and give it a break).
This post is all about signs to take a break from alcohol.
Take a Break From Alcohol — 10 Signs
For women, drinking alcohol is different. Now, I am not just saying that as "it's just a phase mom". But, truly, women experience the effects of alcohol differently.
Alcohol affects a women's hormonal balance and rhythm, plus our circadian sleep cycle (which is closely related to our hormones).
So, yes. If you are drinking alcohol often, have an irregular sleep cycle (and feel terrible), then maybe we ought to take a break from alcohol.
Notice it is a break, not quitting completely! Because we all know how much we love a good glass of wine on those special nights. There's a time and place for it, we just are learning the balance!
Here are the urgent signs women ignore:
1. You are constantly fatigued
Some people (myself included) have gone through daily life miserably exhausted. They often wonder, "I am getting 8 or more hours of sleep, why am I so tired?"
It is the alcohol!
Even over the holidays I was drinking more than usual and found myself constantly fatigued! You know why? The body was stuck in recovery mode.
Alcohol disrupts sleep, keeps stress hormones high, and manipulates your hormonal balance. Taking a break from alcohol can allow your nervous system to actually heal and help restore sleep and balanced hormones.
2. You lack of motivation
Are your goals starting to feel less exciting? Are everyday tasks starting to feel heavy and burdensome? Or you may even just feel like you are moving through the motions everyday...
Sound familiar?
Alcohol loves to flood our brain with dopamine, right? For instant enjoyment. However, that depletes our natural reserves of dopamine. Therefore, daily tasks start to feel muted.
Dopamine is essential for motivation and feeling excitement. When alcohol runs the reservoir dry, what's left? Well, everyday tasks feel heavy and burdensome, goals feel like "ehh", etc.
If this is starting to describe you, then maybe it is time to take a break from alcohol. Use these tricks to start that process, and within in few days you could be feeling 10000x better!
3. You feel off in the morning
It seems like sometimes we forget what mornings could feel and look like. We wake up already annoyed and disconnected, just moving through the motions.
But, do you ever wake up groggy, or worse, anxious? Waking up anxious is a huge sign that alcohol is running rampant in your blood stream!
Use this wake up routine to relieve yourself of that morning anxiety.
If you are not waking up feeling fully rested, restored, and ready for the day then it might be time to pump the breaks on drinking!
4. You have an extremely hard time waking up
Now, we all have those days of getting out of bed where you just don't want to. Obviously, that could be a few different things. But, one of culprits can be alcohol.
Again, alcohol disrupts our sleep. Though, it does feel like we were whisked away into dream land the night before as we fell asleep so peacefully. But, what you don't feel at night you feel in the morning.
Have you been there? Where no amount of coffee can seem to fix this issue of waking up?
You can use these early morning routine ideas to supplement a drink at night. (Having something to look forward to in the morning makes this healing process 1000x easier).
5. You feel overtly frustrated & even angry at unimportant things
If small annoyances are starting to become a bigger and bigger deal, your hormones and drinking could be to blame!
It's an interesting cycle where alcohol throws dopamine, serotonin, and cortisol out of balance. Which, for women, throw estrogen and progesterone out of balance.
Do we know what happens when our hormones go out of balance? Emotion instability, potentially making you feel more reactive, irritable, and short tempered.
Taking a break from alcohol can allow your systems to reset and balance.
6. You feel guilty either way, drinking or not
A huge sign to take a break is having guilt on both sides. Guilt on both sides can mean your habits and values no longer align.
You feel guilty going out and drinking (because you know you probably should take a break). But, then you also feel guilty saying no to friends and family (because you truly do want to spend time with them).
What a predicament this is!
Honestly, this exact situation is the issue I find myself in regularly since I don't want to quit drinking, but my way of drinking is not the cultural way of drinking... So here is what I do:
A great tool is this guide on how to pace yourself drinking for those evening you want to go out (but have a bit more control).
Now, if this is you (feeling guilty) then it can be time for a break. Take time for yourself, envelope yourself into something new and creative for a few weeks until you can gain more clarity.
You might just find you'll come out the other side transformed!
7. You are craving routine...
Are you feeling like you would rather rest and have a good night sleep than to drink? Maybe you are not feeling excited about going out drinking, but you feel stuck because it's just "what you do".
If you find yourself craving routine, seeing the writing on the wall that "there is more out there", and you are not finding it at the bottom of your glass... Might be time to take a break!
Soak yourself in a routine, find your balance with the natural rhythms of the world, connect deeper to what is already living, and find true wealth in your health.
I see it in you, you are thirsty for it!
8. You need a reason not to drink
I might go as far to say that if you need a reason not to drink, then it really is your time to take a break from alcohol!
But, I get it. We get into these cycles or habits of drinking more often than not. Sometimes it feels like a spinning whirlpool and once you get caught in it it's hard to get out.
Try out these alternatives to drinking that can satisfy your cravings and offer a new a fun drink (you might just obsess over).
Don't be too hard on yourself, though, take your time with the process and be gentle.
9. You not only crave a drink, but you crave dessert!
Alcohol actually manipulates our gut's microbiome (which is another way it affects women's hormones) buuuut it also feeds the sugar loving bacteria.
So, if you find yourself craving drinks and sugary treats, your gut's microbiome could be out of balance. Annnnnnd, could be time to take a step back with drinking.
Instead, have whole foods and iced lemon water (sugar free, of course!).
10. You have a hard time focusing
Truly, drinking alcohol can seriously affect our cognitive abilities. Have you noticed that?
The thing is, our mental clarity gets worse the more we drink. It makes us more fatigued, cloudy, drowsy, etc.
Which, I know you know, it affects our work, creativity, relationships, etc. This is my biggest tell-tale sign that I ought to take a break from alcohol.
I hope these helped you understand where you stand with drinking, and to find a better balance with it! Check out our journal prompts to help you figure out of you want to quit drinking or simply just drink less!