Journey to the Sunnyside | Mindful Drinking & Alcohol Health

Drinking less at home comes with a different set of challenges. There is no bartender, no natural stopping point, and no one else setting the pace. The bottle is close, the pours are bigger, and the routine can take over before you have really decided what you want. In this episode, I share eight simple swaps that make home drinking less automatic.

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Creators and Guests

Host
Mike Hardenbrook
#1 best-selling author of "No Willpower Required," neuroscience enthusiast, and habit change expert.

What is Journey to the Sunnyside | Mindful Drinking & Alcohol Health?

Exploring the science of drinking less, from alcohol cravings and habit change to moderation, naltrexone, and building a healthier relationship with alcohol. Whether you're sober curious, cutting back, or thinking about quitting, this podcast meets you where you are.

Journey to the Sunnyside is a top 1% podcast reaching over 500,000 listeners every week. Through expert interviews, neuroscience research, and real stories, we cover what actually works — mindful drinking, behavior change, medication-assisted approaches, harm reduction, and more.

Hosted by Mike Hardenbrook, #1 best-selling author and neuroscience enthusiast. Brought to you by Sunnyside, the leading program for changing your relationship with alcohol. Start your free trial at sunnyside.co.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in our episodes do not necessarily represent those of Sunnyside. If you're concerned about your drinking, please consult a medical professional. This podcast is not medical advice.

Speaker 1:

Hey everybody. Welcome back to another one of these ten minute Mondays. Today I want to talk about one specific drink and that is the weeknight drink. The one that shows up at home. This drink is different than any other drink when you go out because this one is less about choice.

Speaker 1:

It's about a sequence. Usually, it is the same time, same room, and usually the same order, which is actually good news because you don't have to outwillpower this sequence. You just have to change one step inside of that sequence. And there's real science behind this. There's a woman called Wendy Wood.

Speaker 1:

She's a researcher out of USC. She has spent decades studying habits And her research found that 43% of what people do every single day is repeated in the same context, often while their minds are somewhere else. Same place, same time, same sequence, and same behavior. So today, I want to give you eight swaps that you can try at home to break that sequence. Alright.

Speaker 1:

Number one is swap the first drink for food. This is one of those ones that sounds too basic for it to actually work, but I can tell you it has worked incredibly well for me. If that first drink happens when you first walk in the door or maybe when you're cooking, try eating something first, and even better if it's something that you really enjoy. Things like hunger and fatigue or just plain old habit actually feel like cravings. So food creates a pause and actually changes the state that you're deciding from.

Speaker 1:

So half the time, maybe you're not really craving a drink. You're just craving something, and food can hit the spot. Number two is swap the show and drink bundle for one or the other first. One of the biggest home drinking habits is getting on the couch in front of a screen with a drink. And that combination can get sneaky because your attention is all on the show.

Speaker 1:

You're enjoying yourself. You're taking sips, and you're not really supervising the quantity at a time. The episode maybe ends and it's on autoplay to the next episode. And guess what? That glass can kinda keep pace with it.

Speaker 1:

Give the drink its own runtime instead of borrowing from the shows. Have it with dinner before you sit down to watch anything. Make it a one episode limit with your drinks. No refills with the autoplay. And even if the show goes four episodes, the drink shouldn't go along with it, set a limit there, or unbundle them.

Speaker 1:

Number three is swap finishing the bottle for recorking it. There's a piece of logic that really only shows up at night when it comes to wine, and that is if the bottle's open, it should probably get finished. It might go bad, or there's not enough there for another sitting, And then suddenly that pour number three isn't a decision anymore. You're tidying up or you're getting rid of what's left. Except when you recork that wine, it's gonna keep and it is away and no longer an excuse.

Speaker 1:

So pour what you planned, then recork it and put it away. Tomorrow or the next day or next week's glass is still gonna be there, and that version of you gets to vote whether it happens at all. Number four, swap the free pour for a measured one. This is a sneaky one at home. A glass of wine poured freehand might be a big glass that can be more like two drinks.

Speaker 1:

A pour of whiskey might be a double or a triple. You can definitely overdo it and not even realize it thinking that you had stuck to your plan. So instead, measure the pour, maybe use a smaller glass, same drink, but you're actually using honest math here. Five, swap the stocked fridge for a single. This is one that I use.

Speaker 1:

Buy one beer or a tallboy, not the six pack. Buy one bottle, not a case of wine. Don't have an entire handle of liquor in the house. Buy something small. Yes, of course, that's gonna cost more per drink, but that's the point.

Speaker 1:

You're adding space between you physically and another drink. You want to make the supply match the plan, and the plan mostly will enforce itself in that regard. Number six, swap. I'm bored with this is what decompressing actually feels like. This one's a thinking swap, it might be more important than the rest because a lot of the time that 6PM pour isn't about wanting a drink.

Speaker 1:

It's about feeling like the evening's flat and you need to add something to it. It might be a little lift, a little buzz, a signal that the evening has started. So when the quiet night is just that, your brain starts thinking it's boring. But that quiet is what decompressing actually feels like. It's supposed to be uneventful.

Speaker 1:

And that's always the point, isn't it? We just haven't felt that unassisted version in a little while. So don't rush to fix the evening if you think maybe I'm bored. You're not bored. You're decompressing and you're out of practice at it.

Speaker 1:

Number seven is swap the refill for a ten minute delay. Now I want you to notice that this one isn't about no more. Instead, it's just not yet. Wait ten minutes and then you can decide. A lot of refills at home aren't really decided.

Speaker 1:

They're queued up as soon as the glass is empty or the show is over and your brain has already moved on to that next drink. Ten minutes is just enough for that momentum to kind of lose steam. And if you still want it after ten minutes, at least now you gave it some mindfulness and more choice. Number eight, swap the nightcap for brushing your teeth early. This one sounds kind of ridiculous, and it works absurdly well.

Speaker 1:

When you hit a stopping point, go brush your teeth. Brushing your teeth creates a really clean stopping cue in your mind. We're done consuming things for the night, and nothing, and I mean nothing, tastes worse than wine after toothpaste, which is now working for you instead of against you. Okay. There you have it.

Speaker 1:

There are eight swaps for you to try this week. Here's the thing. You know your own self. You know your sequence. Is it I walk in the house, I throw my keys down, I go to the kitchen, I open the fridge, and I pour?

Speaker 1:

Whatever it is, go pick one of these or more of them and run it for seven days. Just one step in your sequence to try and interrupt it. Because that 6PM drink at home really wasn't usually about wanting a drink. It's about a sequence that you already have running by itself. So change one step and go in, and that habit now has to rethink and renegotiate with itself to keep going.

Speaker 1:

Okay. Thanks for hanging out with me this week. Send me an email, mike@sunnyside.co. I'd love to hear from you. And until next time, cheers to your mindful drinking journey.