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.

I'm here today answering redis questions. Today I have a question from Maria. She says,

hi, Annie, I'm so excited about the possibilities in this course, the video course, that has

for me in my lifestyle. I'm a little into week two, which has taken me over four weeks,

but you said it was great to go at my own pace. That's what I've been doing. I haven't yet changed

my drinking habits. I'm allowing myself to drink the same because it of course, it's okay to

until I feel ready to. I worry that I might not have it much longer. So far, I noticed that you

talk about giving away your courage when you're out presenting at work or for parties, but my habits

are drinking alone almost every evening until I either pass out or so that I can go to sleep

more quickly. It just stops the chattering in my brain. Will this be covered? Because I know that

my ability to knock back drinks every night means I miss the point of no return and I end up

regretting things. Why have I built up such a tolerance? And how can I get out of this cycle of

drinking alone? So this is a great question. I think that idea of turning off the chatter in our

brains, I mean, alcohol is effective at a few things and that's one of the things it's effective at.

You literally, alcohol makes your neurons like fire slower. So it increases gob in your brain,

which makes your brain processing slower and increases glutamate and these things end up making

your thoughts slower. You also receive information from your senses at a slower rate. So if you're

drinking to turn off the chattering in your brain, alcohol can do that. The problem is that it also

increases other things like stress hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol. So for the very short

moment, it's going to decrease the chattering in your brain, but then it's going to be replaced with

as your body purges the alcohol stress and anxiety. And these things are going to be introduced in

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