On Minimizing the Damage from Alcohol

Alcohol harms our health. But that’s everyone’s private business, and it’s not for me to judge. Personally, I drink wine in reasonable amounts, I like pairing it with different dishes, and I enjoy it. Still, to soften the blow the toxins land on the body and to keep my productivity intact, I’ve put together a set of rules and steps for myself — and here they are:

During the evening:

— Drink only in a good mood. Never to drown sorrow or under heavy stress.

— Drink only in good company. With people I don’t really know, just a symbolic glass.

— Drink plenty of water. “When in doubt, drink water.” Better to choose water high in minerals, or add electrolytes.

— Drink only quality stuff. “Life is too short to drink bad wine,” — Ernest Hemingway.

— Never mix different kinds of alcohol: the drink straight, no cocktails.

— Don’t go from stronger to weaker drinks.

— No alcohol with added sugar — dry wine, and better still, “zero dosage.” Very rarely I’ll allow cognac or whisky, in minimal amounts.

— Don’t overeat, since alcohol sharpens the appetite.

— Add some beauty — a nicely set table, dishes that please the eye and wake up the receptors.

— Move a lot — pace around the room if it’s an evening at home, or dance if it’s a party.

End the evening right:

— Know when to leave.

— Get to bed before midnight — a key factor for keeping the body’s rhythm steady; I tracked this through my fitness ring.

— If you can, take a walk in the fresh air before sleep. I often walk home from a restaurant or after a meeting.

— Stop drinking a few hours before bed; ideally, start the dinner with wine early (around five or six in the evening).

— Do everything for good sleep: a cool room, a comfortable bed, CBD oil or other things that have worked for you.

Before sleep:

— Take NAC (N-acetylcysteine) — it helps neutralize the toxins.

— Drink water with electrolytes to avoid dehydration, but without fanaticism, so you don’t wake up at night for the bathroom.

In the morning:

— On an empty stomach, take a sorbent.

— Use “Corylip” suppositories to help the body detox.

— Take a warm shower to widen the vessels and kick off recovery.

— Light exercise — stretching, slow squats to get the blood moving.

— A wonderful breakfast — bone broth.

— Have warm tea with breakfast, or a rosehip infusion — a source of vitamin C.

— Never drink the next morning to take the edge off! That only cements the dependency and deepens the toxic load.

— After breakfast, take a B-complex and one more dose of NAC.

— A walk after breakfast to restore your tone and get the inner systems back to normal.

— If a headache still shows up closer to four or five in the afternoon, a cup of coffee and a brisk walk help.

Professional fixes:

— Detox IV drips: glutathione, sterofundin, magnesia, vitamin C, reamberin. Only with a specialist’s approval.

— Peptides for liver recovery (applied externally).

General principles:

— Don’t drink if important negotiations are coming, or if you need to make serious decisions.

— Don’t drink on an empty stomach. As a last resort — a spoonful of coconut or butter.

— Don’t use alcohol as a cure for insomnia.

— Don’t drink every day. From what I’ve seen, my sleep and heart-rate-variability (HRV) numbers are noticeably better without alcohol.

— Exercise regularly — at least three times a week. Devote one of those days to an intense workout (I play tennis). Sports while under the influence (even slightly) are off the table. And physical activity while hungover is highly undesirable.

It helps to understand the nature of the dependency — chemical or psychological. The chemical kind is the most dangerous: it comes from the ethanol itself, when it no longer matters what you drink as long as the unpleasant feeling goes away. It can lead to binges and wreck your health. The psychological kind is just as insidious — it’s built on rituals, habits and pleasant associations, like “a delicious glass of wine after a hard day.” In the end it can slide into everyday alcoholism, where a person drinks a little, but often.

Any drinking harms our body and the neural network of the brain. Accepting that fact and consciously looking for ways to minimize the damage is a mindful, grown-up decision. It’s worth tracking your well-being, your energy, your ambition and your productivity on a regular basis. At the first visible or psychological effects — take breaks and stretches of total sobriety until you’ve fully recovered. These days even resveratrol (the powerful antioxidant found in red wine) can be taken as a supplement.

Here’s to a mindful approach to drinking — or to giving it up entirely! 😎