How to spot your triggers
If you want to reduce or stop your drinking, understanding the ‘triggers’ that make you think about alcohol can help you stay in control.
Have you ever looked back on a situation where you drank alcohol when you didn’t plan to, or drank more than you intended, and wondered why it happened?
It could be down to your ‘triggers’ – feelings or circumstances that can set off unwanted behaviour and cause you not to stick to your intentions.
The UK Chief Medical Officers low risk drinking guidelines recommend, that if you’re going to drink, it’s safest for both men and women to drink no more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days with several drink-free days, and no bingeing.
UK Low risk drinking guidelines
Triggers are different for everyone – and being affected by them is human nature. We’re all subject to a range of thoughts and emotions that can influence the choices we make,1 and any of these can affect your drinking behaviour.2
Getting to know what yours are, and how to work round them can be a great way to stick to your plans and achieve your goals.
Your emotions and the way you feel can act as internal triggers. These can include things like feeling:3
Drinking alcohol affects the balance of chemicals in your brain4 – it can change the way you feel, in a positive or negative way. Anticipation of these effects can be a trigger for drinking for some people,5 while some others drink to try to cope with negative feelings.6
But even if drinking temporarily gives you positive feelings, or curbs negative ones, it won’t help in the long-run because alcohol is a depressant.7,8
If you feel a strong, often uncontrollable, desire to drink alcohol and you prioritise drinking above important things in your life like family or work, you may be dependent on alcohol.9 This type of drinking is very harmful to your health and you will need medical support as soon as possible to safely cut down and stop drinking.
Find out more about alcohol dependence
There’s also the complexity of everything around you - like your physical environment, the culture of the place you live and your interactions with the people in your life. These can act as ‘external triggers’ towards a desire to drink. You might notice:
Examples of external triggers based on habits and routines include:
Add in these factors and it’s clear we live in a world where we’re constantly subject to a whole range of triggers that can knock plans off course.
Read on for advice on how to stay in control. And don’t be too hard on yourself if you have a slip – we have advice on how you can get back on track.
Being aware of your triggers is the first step towards being able to control them.12 You could try making a list of your triggers so you know what to look out for.
Having several drink-free days each week is a good way to cut the amount you drink.13 Read our guide to get started with drink-free days.
Get started with drink-free days
Once you have an understanding of the triggers that can prompt you to feel like drinking alcohol, there are things you can do to stay in control and avoid drinking when you don’t want to.14
Once you know what your triggers are, avoiding them can be a straightforward way of keeping temptation at bay.15 For example:
Changing your normal activities can be challenging at first – many people usually find it’s helpful to let other people know what they’re doing, and why.16 You can also find peer support online - from social media to podcasts, as well as organisations that offer advice.
Avoiding your triggers can be a particularly effective first step if you are just getting started with reducing your drinking. Other tactics for dealing with your triggers will be easier to stick to once you’ve managed to build up some good habits.
Finding different types of rewards or distractions - other than drinking alcohol - can help when you are faced with things that normally trigger you.17 This technique is known by psychiatrists as ‘response substitution’.
Apart from alcohol, what else do you find comforting? It could be a treat or an activity that helps to take your mind off things.
If you’re buying less alcohol, keeping track of how much money you are saving can be a good motivator. It can be a good way of cutting your day-to-day expenses, and you might find you have enough left over to put some of the money towards an alternative treat.
Choosing something you really enjoy will help you build new habits – research has found that having an expectation that something will be enjoyable makes it much more likely that it will be enjoyable.18
The repetition of switching a negative habit for one with either a neutral or positive outcome will build up over time and can make a huge difference to your lifestyle, health, and happiness.19
And that’s just by changing one habit.
Once you’ve tackled the first, you can use your momentum to move onto the next habit you’d like to change, and then the next. Building up incremental changes can lead to some pretty incredible results, so keep at it.
Once you have become more comfortable with understanding your triggers and have plans in place to deal with them, if you do decide to drink less, sticking to the UK low risk drinking guidelines will reduce your risks from alcohol. Some people find stopping drinking completely is the best choice for them.
If you’re trying to limit your consumption, try to delay the time you start drinking, and set yourself a time or spending limit. You could also slow your drinking by alternating any alcoholic drinks with water.
After a while, drinking less will lower your tolerance to alcohol – meaning you don’t need to drink as much for the same effect, and reducing your risks from alcohol dependence.
You could try switching to a low alcohol, or alcohol-free alternative - there are more options than ever for beer, wine and spirits. Although these often still contain some alcohol, they can form part of a sustainable approach to cutting down on alcohol in the longer-term.20
Want to make sure you’re staying within the UK low risk drinking guidelines? Using an app can be an effective way to stay motivated.21
The free MyDrinkaware app is an easy way to track the units and calories in any alcoholic drink, and measure it side-by-side with your sleep quality – so you can see the benefits straight away.
You can use MyDrinkaware to set manageable, realistic goals, plan and celebrate drink-free days and track your progress over time.
If you are concerned that you or someone you care about has a drinking problem there is help available.
A good first step is to complete the Drinkaware Drinking Check, a confidential self-assessment. It takes just a few minutes to complete and can help to see if the amount you drink could be putting your health at serious risk, or if you might be dependent on alcohol. It’s confidential – being completely honest will give you the most accurate result.
If you want to talk to someone, try these support services:
Or, if you want to get help, wherever you live in the UK, there are services that can offer both support and treatment for adults with alcohol-related problems. There are three main ways you can get help:
Want to make sure you’re staying within the alcohol unit guidelines?
Download the MyDrinkaware appWant to know more?
Arming yourself with strategies and tips can help you or a loved one take small steps towards big results.
[3] Armeli, S.; Sullivan, T.P.; and Tennen, H. (2015). Drinking to cope motivation as a prospective predictor of negative affect. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 76(4):578–584, 2015. PMID: 26098033
Last Reviewed: 5th July 2023
Next Review due: 5th July 2026