All Episodes
Sober Powered: The Neuroscience of Being Sober — 367 episodes
E333: Understanding the Problem Isn’t the Same as Changing It
High Dopamine, Low Effort Behaviors and Making Sobriety Feel Less Hard (Replay)
E332: “Am I Bad Enough?”
E331: Wanting to Quit Isn’t the Same as Being Willing to Quit
E330: How to Stop Dabbling and Start Doing the Work
How Many Attempts Does it Take to Quit Drinking for Good (Replay)
E329: What Dabbling Looked Like For Me
E328: Why Dabbling Keeps You Stuck in the Drinking Cycle
Self-Care is NOT Temporarily Turning Off Your Brain (Replay)
E327: The “Maybe It’ll Be Different This Time” Fantasy
E326: Why Alcohol Looks Better in Your Memory Than It Was In Reality
E325: When the courage to quit shows up, don’t assume it will still be there tomorrow
Running on Autopilot Mode (Replay)
E324: Going to a Drinking Party 6 Years Sober: 5 Things I Noticed
E323: Long Term Sobriety: One Tool to Use & One Trap to Look Out For
E322: Middle Sobriety: One Tool to Use & One Trap to Look Out For
E321: Early Sobriety: One Tool to Use & One Trap to Look Out For
E320: No Rock Bottom? Try This Instead
E319: Why “Not Right Now” Keeps You Stuck and “Forever” Sets You Free
The Geographical Cure: If Only X Would Change, Then I Wouldn’t Have to Drink So Much
ADHD and Alcohol Use Disorder: Understanding the Link (Replay)
E318: Why Your Commitment to Sobriety Keeps Disappearing
E317: One Reason Some People Stay Sober and Others Don’t
E316: The Hidden Pattern Behind Productivity, Procrastination, and People Pleasing
E315: The “I’ll Deal With It Later” Trap
E314: Why Emotions Turn Into “I’m Stuck,” “This Will Never Change,” or “I Can’t Handle This”
E313: The Nervous System in Sobriety: Why You Feel Wired, Exhausted, or Overwhelmed, and How Regulation Returns
E312: Ambivalence in Early and Long Term Sobriety
Cravings Increase After Quitting Drinking and Peak Around 60 Days Sober and 6 Months Sober (Replay)
E311: Sugar Cravings in Sobriety: When Comfort Becomes a Crutch
E310: Emotional Sobriety: Why Quitting Drinking Isn’t Enough
E309: Early Sobriety Fatigue: What’s Actually Happening in Your Brain
E308: Does Dry January Actually Change People’s Drinking Habits? What the Research Says
How the Brain Recovers After Quitting Drinking From 1 Day to 7 Years (Replay)
The Witching Hour Without Booze: What’s Happening in the Brain Between 5–9 PM
Health Benefits of Dry January: What to Expect
How to do Dry January Differently This Year With Casey Davidson and Suzanne Warye
EE307: 4 Biggest Challenges People Struggle With During Dry January & How to Deal
E306: The Sobriety Audit: What Changed This Year (And What Didn’t)
6 Ways to Protect Your Energy During the Holidays
E305: Why the Holidays Create Tons of Stress & One Helpful Tool to Stay Regulated
E304: Family Dynamics, the Relapse Mindset, and 7 Drinking Permission Slips We Create to Ease the Tension
E303: “I Should Be Further Along By Now”
Non-Alcoholic Drinks: The Pros and Cons (Rebroadcast)
E302: Feeling Like a Normal Person Again After 8-10 Months
E301: The Self-Worth Ceiling: How Low Self-Esteem Fuels Self-Sabotage
E300: How Problem Drinking Develops and Escalates
E299: Social Drinking: Drinking to Fit In
E298: Coping Drinking: Drinking to Feel Less
E297: Enhancement Drinking: Drinking to Feel More
E296: The Science of Why We Drink: An Overview of Drinking Motives
I Learned to Swim in My 30's!
E295: The Feeling of Lost Time From All the Years We Spent Drinking
E294: Why Stress and Emotions Feel Intolerable Without Alcohol
Why Shame Blocks Change
E293: Tolerance and the Disappearing Buzz
E292: Why One Drink is Never Enough
E291: Why You May Still Crave Alcohol Long Term, and Why No Cravings Doesn’t Mean You’re “Cured”
Thinking About Drinking Constantly, Then Thinking About Sobriety Constantly
E290: How to Quit Drinking Without Hitting Rock Bottom
The Most Important Thinking Shift I Made in Sobriety
E289: Emotional Tunnel Vision: When Little Problems are a Big Deal
E288: How to “Sit With It” Without Avoiding, Suppressing, Ruminating, or Escaping
E287: Are You “Strong Enough” or Just Stubborn? (Self-Control & Willpower)
5 Year Podversary Q&A (E286 Part 2)
E286: How This Podcast Changed My Life (Happy 5 Years to Sober Powered)
E285: How Exercise Helps Your Brain and Body Heal From Alcohol (and How to Get Started)
E284: Reward Substitution: Healthy vs. Harmful Replacements for Alcohol
E283: Alcohol Shortens Your Perception of Time (Instant Gratification)
E282: Minimizing, Rationalizing, and the Myth of “I Wasn’t That Bad”
E281: Why Your Brain Makes Drinking Look Better Than It Was
E280: Romanticizing Alcohol: What’s Going on in Your Brain
E279: The Pendulum Effect of Healing
E278: Intrusive Thoughts About Drinking When You’re Already Sober & 3 Ways to Deal
E277: Being Willing to Start is the Hardest Part (“The Work”)
E276: A Burst of Mental Clarity at 60 Days Sober (Cognitive Healing)
E275: 3 Ways Alcohol Damages the Heart and How to Have Good Heart Health in Sobriety
E274: High Dopamine, Low Effort Behaviors and Making Sobriety Feel Less Hard
E273: How the Sober Brain Breaks Down Alcohol Associations (But They’ll Build Back Up if You Drink Again)
E272: 6 Habits That Make My Life Better
E271: Alcohol, Career Stress, and the Lie of “I Function Just Fine”
E270: Cravings Increase After Quitting Drinking and Peak Around 60 Days Sober and 6 Months Sober
E269: Running on Autopilot Mode
Making Friends After Getting Sober (Mini Coaching Call)
E268: Is Moderate Drinking Healthier? Here’s Why So Many Studies Say Yes
E267: Resources vs Support: Are You Setting Yourself Up for Success?
E266: Can You Drink After Taking a Break?
E265: Rewiring Your Reward System After Getting Sober
E264: Here’s Why You Have Mood Swings After Quitting Drinking
E263: Sugar Cravings After Quitting Drinking
Alcohol and Cancer Risk (Surgeon General Warning Explained)
E262: 31 Tips to Quit Drinking in Dry January
E261: The Psychology of New Year's Resolutions (Willpower and Goal Setting)
E260: 5 Holiday Mental Health Challenges
E259: 10 Things You Might Be Doing to Sabotage Your Sobriety During the Holidays
E258: The Science of Peer Pressure to Drink and 7 Strategies to Resist
E257: Sober Socializing: Why Alcohol Doesn’t Help
E256: Dealing With Your Dysfunctional Family Without Drinking
E255: 6 Strategies For Staying Sober Through the Holidays (and Some Holidays Drinking Statistics)
I'm 5 Years Sober: Here's How I Reached Acceptance
EE254: Why You Can’t Make Good Decisions About Your Drinking (or Anything Else)
E253: 5 Common Mistakes in Early Sobriety and How to Avoid Them
E252: How Many Attempts Does it Take to Quit Drinking for Good
E251: Here’s Why You’re Emotions Are So Intense
E250: What Does it Mean to “Be Ready” to Get Sober
E249: Alcohol and Cortisol: Extra Stress and Extra Cravings
E248: You Can’t Be Comfortable AND Stay Sober
E247: Sober Sleep is the Best Sleep, But Not Right Away
E246: Alcohol and Dementia
E245: Want to Stay Sober? You Need to Be Consistent
E244: Boredom in Sobriety
E243: Emotional Eating After Getting Sober
E242: The Science of Making Good Habits in Long Term Sobriety
E241: 6 Theories of Alcohol Cravings
E240: Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) After Quitting Drinking: 8 Tips to Cope
E0: How Alcohol Affects Your Body: Here's What the Science Says
E239: How the Brain Heals After Quitting Drinking
E238: Why Moderation Doesn’t Work
E237: Why We Forget How Bad It Was
E236: Why Alcohol Feels Good and Then Feels Really Bad
E235: Dopamine and Loss of Control
E234: The Scary Side of How Alcohol Affects the Body
E233: How Alcohol Affects the Body: A Deep Dive
E232: The 3am Wake Up of Shame: Alcohol and Anxiety
E231: Everything You Need to Know About Alcohol Withdrawal
E230: 11 Tips to Quit Drinking in Dry July
E229: 5 Mindset Shifts to Help You Stay Sober (That Aren’t Stupid)
E228: Why Alcohol Automatically Captures and Holds Your Attention
E227: You Need a Goal (200 lb Deadlift Achieved!)
E226: Using Alcohol to Escape Your Life
E225: 5 Strategies for Dealing with Relapses and Getting Back on Track
E224: Alcohol Makes Your Brain Stop Working
E223: 6 Common Triggers for Drinking and How to Avoid Them
E222: 6 Neurotransmitters That Get Messed Up By Alcohol
E221: 5 Ways to Redefine Fun Without Alcohol
E220: The Hippocampus and Alcohol: Blackouts, Memory Deficits, and Learned Associations
E219: 7 Healthy Lifestyle Changes to Support Your Sobriety
E218: In the Moment Craving vs Constant Craving
E217: Warm Weather: 3 Reasons We Think Alcohol is Required
E216: 4 Types of Impulsivity: Which One Are You?
E215: 5 Different Ways of Thinking About Sobriety
E214: Self-Medicating with Alcohol
E213: Self-Care is NOT Temporarily Turning Off Your Brain (Getting "Me Time")
E212: Why Some People Get Sober and Others Don’t (Resilience and Epigenetics)
E211: The Anticipation of the Drink
E210: Good News, Your Brain Heals A LOT After 90 Days Sober… Unless You Relapse
E209: How Porn Addiction Affects the Brain
EE208: Stress, Depression and Our Eating Habits
E207: 15 Milestones to Look Forward to in Sobriety (Sober Timeline)
E206: HALT: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired
E205: Kindling in Alcohol Withdrawal
E204: Can Anyone Get Addicted to Alcohol?
E203: Why You Still Want Alcohol Even When You Hate It (It’s Dopamine!)
E202: WTF is “The Work”?
E201: Your Dysregulated Stress Response
E200: My Greatest Shame
E199: Frustration Tolerance
E198: 5 Ways Anger Management Changed My Life
My Favorite Things I Learned in February and How to Apply Them to Your Life
E197: Making the DECISION to Quit Drinking
Do You Want to be Sober or Do You Want to Drink Without the Consequences? (Replay)
E196: How the Brain Recovers After Quitting Drinking
E195: When Does Sobriety Get Better?
E194: 5 Stupid Coping Skills That Work
E193: Feeling More Emotional and Anxious? How’s Your Sleep?
My Favorite Things I Learned in January and How to Apply Them to Your Life
E192: Do You Need a Drink or Are You Just Hungry? (Alcohol & Ghrelin)
E191: Going Back and Forth Makes Your Cravings Stronger
E190: Non-Alcoholic Drinks: The Pros and Cons
E189: How the Brain Regulates Emotions & Impulses (Rumination & Retaliation)
E188: Wellness Over Weight Loss
How Many More Years Do You Want to Spend Thinking "It's Not That Bad?" (Gray Area Drinking)
E187: How Multiple Cycles of Withdrawal Impacts the Recovery of Your Brain
E186: Anger Management
How Nutrition Can Support Your Sobriety with Dr. Brooke Scheller
E185: Unexpected Things That Happen in Early Sobriety
E184: Benefits of Dry January: What the Research Says
Your Guide to Dry January with Casey Davidson, Suzanne Warye, Erinn O'Neill and Michaela Horvathova
My First Sober Christmas
E183: To Drink or Not to Drink? How Your Brain Decides
"But Everyone Drinks Like Me"... No They Don't
E182: Why You Drink Habitually Without Thinking
Losing Friends When You Quit Drinking
E181: Why You Keep Drinking and Expecting it to be Different
"Why Aren't You Drinking?"
E180: Why Your Drinking Gets Worse Over Time, Not Better
Navigating Holiday Parties Sober
E179: Sober Holiday Tips with Paul Churchill, Casey Davidson, and Veronica Valli
E178: Why You Lose Your Motivation to Quit Drinking
E177: 4 Years Sober: Why Did This Happen to Me?
E176: We Have to Grieve Alcohol (It’s Ok to Miss it)
E175: Tired After Quitting Drinking? Here’s How to Boost Your Energy Levels
E174: Why Routine is Important in Sobriety
E173: What To Do With Your Days After a Slip
E172: Guide to Your First Week Sober
E171: Sober October Tips with Casey Davidson, Suzanne Warye and Amanda E. White
E170: Here’s Why the First Year of Sobriety is So Hard (It’s Dopamine)
E169: Alcohol and Gut Health
E168: Is Drinking the Only Way to Meet People? (Dating, Socializing and FOMO)
E167: What to Expect With Your Anxiety When You Quit Drinking
E166: Cravings and Staying Stuck in Your Old Life with Angela Pugh
E165: I Quit Sugar for 30 Days
E164: How Taking Breaks from Drinking Helped Me Quit For Good
E163: Can We Learn to Moderate Our Drinking?
E162: What to Expect Cognitively in Early Sobriety
E161: What to Expect Emotionally in Early Sobriety
E160: Reflecting on the Early Days of Our Sobriety with Eric Zimmer, Laura Cathcart Robbins and Paul Churchill
E159: What to Expect Physically When You Quit Drinking
E158: Dry July: 7 Things You Need to Know to Get Started
Q2: How to Answer “Why Aren’t You Drinking?”
E157: Fatigue and Brain Fog in Early Sobriety
E156: 55 Tips to Quit Drinking
How Dopamine Impacts Your Level of Motivation
E155: My Career Journey (Teaching, Biotech and Working for Myself)
E154: Keep Coming Back. Relapse is Not the End
Q1: Do Drinking Dreams Ever Go Away?
E153: Surviving the Summer Sober: 5 Challenges You Might Face
E152: Anxiety and Depression Increases Your Risk of Negative Consequences from Your Drinking
E151: Why Your Attempts to Quit Drinking Aren't Working
[Bonus] When You Can't Take Stress Off Your Plate
E150: 15 Moderation Strategies I Tried to Gain Control of My Drinking
E149: How Alcohol Affects the Nervous System
E148: 5 Skills That Keep Me Sober
[Bonus] If You Numb the Bad, Then You Numb the Good Too
E147: Staying Sober Through Intense Emotional Pain
E146: Is Alcohol Addiction a Disease?
E145: ADHD and Alcohol Use Disorder: Understanding the Link
E144: Why We Self-Sabotage with Alcohol
E143: How to Stay Accountable in Your Sobriety
E142: The Pressure of Needing to Hold it All Together with Laura Cathcart Robbins
EE141: It’s Not Your Fault, But it is Your Responsibility with Laura McKowen
EE140: When You Quit Drinking But Don’t Feel Better with Dr. Brooke Scheller, DCN, CNS
E139: 5 Reasons Why You Can’t Stay Sober
E138: 5 Ways Problem Drinkers Think Differently
E136: Why We Think We're Weak-Willed Losers
E135: Lack of Consequences with Casey Davidson
EE134: Coping with Boredom in Sobriety
E133: 4 Podcasters Share the Journey from Questioning Our Drinking to Quitting Drinking for Good
E132: How to Quit Drinking and Get Past the First Week
E130: Transfer Addiction: Swapping 1 Problem for Another
E129: Why it’s Critical to Work on Your Perspective
E128: Why Cravings are So Powerful
E127: Why You Obsess About Your Drinking
E126: Sober Nutrition: Extreme Hunger and Cravings
E125: Why You Can’t Stop Drinking Once You Start
E124: How Long Does it Take to Fully Recover? (3 Years Sober)
E123: Recognizing You Need to Quit Drinking with Dr. Matt Glowiak, PhD, LCPC, CAADC, NCC
E122: How Exercise Can Help Your Recovery
E121: What if it Never Gets “Bad Enough” to Quit for Good with Eric Zimmer
E120: How Does Chronic Stress Affect the Brain?
E119: Why We Can’t Cope With Anything
E118: Your Guide to Sober Sex With Dr. Nazanin Moali
EE117: Why Sobriety Eventually Just Clicks
E116: Drinking Envy and Wishing You Could Be “Normal”
E115: Why You Aren’t Ready to Quit Drinking and How to Get Ready
E114: Why We Believe Alcohol Helps and How to Break These Beliefs
E113: Introducing Sober Powered Media
E112: Drinking More Coffee in Sobriety? Here’s Why
E111: Drinking Alone Drastically Increases Your Risk of Getting Addicted
E110: 5 Reasons People Relapse and What To Do About It
E109: New Study: People Under 40 Shouldn’t Drink Alcohol
E108: Alcohol and Dynorphin
E107: 10 Things No One Tells You About Quitting Drinking
E106: Why You Feel Overwhelmed (The Amygdala Hijack)
E105: Do We Just Need More Willpower?
E104: Why Alcohol Doesn’t Help You Cope with Dr. Ashish Bhatt, MD, MRO
E103: Why We Use Alcohol to Enhance Our Experiences
E102: Alcohol and Your Dysregulated Nervous System With Beth Bowen, LMSW
E101: Does Alcohol Really Unlock Creativity?
E100: Dr. Lembke Returns to Discuss Radical Honesty and Self-Awareness
E99: Why We Can Never Drink Again (Neuroplasticity and Permanent Changes)
E98: Emotion Intensity and How to Start Self-Regulating
E97: Why We Keep Believing it’ll be Different this Time
E96: Does Craving Sugar Increase Your Risk of Relapse?
E95: Surprise, Moderate Drinking Isn’t Good for Your Heart (New Study)
E94: Drinking to Cope or Numb Out Doesn't Help, Here's How to Really Cope
E93: Alcohol-Related Deaths Increased By 25% in 2020
E92: Why Don’t We Realize Our Drinking is a Problem?
E91: Do You Want to be Sober or Do You Want to Drink Without the Consequences?
E90: New Study Finds Just One Drink Shrinks Your Brain, or Does it?
E89: How Dopamine Strengthens Our Cravings and Weakens Our Willpower
E88: Sibling Studies: Why One Develops a Problem and the Other Doesn't
E87: Why Shame Increases Loss of Control Over Alcohol and How to Manage Shame
E86: Why Helping Others Helps You Stay Sober
E85: Biased Alcohol Studies vs Reality
E84: Does Alcohol Really Taste Good and Feel Pleasurable?
E83: What to Expect Emotionally in the First 90 Days
E82: So You Quit Drinking, Now is When the Work Starts with Amanda E. White, LPC
E81: Why We Drink: Social Drinkers vs Problem Drinkers
E80: Benefits of a Dry Month
E79: Why We Romanticize Alcohol
E77: Are Non-Alcoholic Drinks Okay to Drink?
E76: Learning the Truth About Your Drinking with Dr. Anna Lembke, Author of Dopamine Nation
E75: How Sleep Improves from Actively Drinking to Long Term Sobriety
E74: Resilience Impacts How Much You Drink
E73: The Obsession May Eventually Even Out (I’m 2 Years Sober)
E72: Trauma Makes it Even More Difficult to Handle Our Emotions
E71: Trauma May Make Drugs and Alcohol Feel More Pleasurable
E70: How the Brain Balances Reward and Consequences
E69: Alcohol Shrinks the Brain... But What Does That Mean?
E68: How Heavy Drinking Changes the Way We Make Decisions
E67: How Alcohol Impacts Cortisol and Causes Cravings
E66: What Increases Our Risk of Relapse
E65: What Happens to the Body When You Binge Drink
E64: Anxiety and Alcohol (Part 2)
E63: Why Alcohol Causes Depression and Suicidal Thoughts
E62: Dopamine: Everything You Need to Know
E61: How Alcohol Memories are Triggered in Sobriety
E60: How Alcohol Affects Our Cognitive Abilities
E59: What to Expect When You Stop Drinking
E58: How Does Alcohol Cause Cancer?
E57: How Alcohol Affects Our Looks
E56: High Functioning Alcoholics and Denial
E55: How to Power Through When You Want to Give Up
E54: Neuroplasticity and Using Alcohol to Escape or Numb Out
E53: The Top 5 Things I've Learned in 1 Year of Researching Addiction
E52: Everything You Need to Know About Cirrhosis and More
E51: Why We Crave Alcohol and What to do About it
E50: [Special] Advice From 7 of My Sober Friends
E49: 5 Consequences of Not Having Boundaries
E48: Is Addiction Genetic or a Learned Behavior?
E47: Addiction Treatments From Snake Pits to Modern Medicine
E46: Neuroplasticity Helps us Recover
E45: Emotional Overwhelm
E44: Kevin Bellack on Parenting Before and After Quitting Drinking
EE43: Drinking to Cope
E42: Is Relapse Part of Recovery?
E41: Why Sober People Want So Much Sugar
E40: Why Are We So Angry?
E39: Getting Sober Improved my Body Image
E38: What Causes Withdrawal Symptoms?
E37: Alcohol and Infertility
EE36: Your Sober Pal Tells us What AA is Like
E35: Emotional Sobriety
E34: Why Drinking Makes it Hard to Lose Weight
E33: Why Do We Feel So Tired in Early Sobriety?
E32: A Conversation with my Husband
EE31: If Alcohol is Toxic, Why Can We Drink it?
E30: Gray Area Drinkers and Positive Alcohol Expectancies
E29: The Link Between Drinking as a Teen and Developing an Addiction
E28: Is it a Bad Habit or a Problem?
EE27: Why We Can’t Just Drink on Special Occasions
E26: Does the Brain Recover?
E25: Surviving Your Company Party Sober
E24: How Addiction Develops
E23: What Your Blood Can Reveal About Your Liver Health
E22: Why You Think Alcohol Helps Your Anxiety
E21: I'm One Year Sober!
EE20: Why is it So Hard to Moderate?
E19: Alcohol Use Disorder and Other Mental Health Conditions
E18: My Husband Still Drinks, Here's How We Make it Work
E17: Alcohol and the Heart
E16: Signs I was a Problem Drinker (That I Ignored)
E15: Stigma and Social Death
E14: Nature vs Nurture
E13: SSRIs and Alcohol-Induced Aggression
E12: Why We Blackout From Drinking Alcohol
EE11: Why Alcohol Feels Good (Endorphins and Opioid Receptors)
E10: Denial and Dry Drunk Syndrome
E9: From Chronic Day Ones to Forever Sobriety
EE8: What to Expect During Withdrawal
E7: Shame
E6: How the Body Processes Alcohol
E5: Sugar Addiction
E3: Alcohol, Sleep, and Drinking Dreams
E2: Alcohol Cravings. Why does our brain tell us to drink?
E1: Introduction and How Alcohol Causes Anxiety