This is Annie Grace and you're listening to this naked mind podcast where without judgment,

pain or rules, we explore the role of alcohol in our lives and culture.

Hi friends, it's Annie Grace and I am the author of this naked mind and I am answering your questions.

And today we have a question from a user she uses the name healthy or he I don't actually know,

but healthy asks, here's a question from you Annie Grace, how long did it take for the miserable

cravings to go away? I know intellectually that it could be a couple of years. At three to four months

of alcohol-free living, I'm having a new wave of strong cravings crashing down on me almost always

associated with stress. You mentioned that for you, it was also difficult. Somehow I need to hear

from folks who had difficult times but pushed through it. I've had a very difficult week and right now

all I want is large glass of wine, aah, go away, alcohol voice. So I think that there's a few

different aspects of cravings. There's obviously the physical craving, which at three to four months

off alcohol, it's almost certainly not a physical craving and then there's the mental and emotional

craving. And in terms of a physical craving, I mean that can, it takes from what I've understood

and I'm definitely not a doctor, but the research I've done, it says it takes up to 10 days,

unsome instances for alcohol to fully leave your body. And so you could absolutely have physical

cravings during those times. And physical cravings, you know, would be clearly very physical. So

I experience personally anxiety and just kind of restlessness and sleeplessness and stuff like that.

But they do go away over time. I think that the craving, they can be much more difficult,

obviously, is the psychological and emotional craving. And there's all sorts of things that go

into a psychological and emotional craving. And most often a craving happens in of that nature that's

triggered by something that you've associated for a long time with alcohol and with the benefits

of drinking. So healthy says that it's almost always induced by stress. And we've talked about this

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