4 tips to drink less

You are taking a nice break, so whether or not to drink is not 'im frage'. But this month is almost coming to an end and therefore your alcohol break. And then you might want to do it differently, where 'reduce' and 'moderate' are the magic words. You will succeed by avoiding the following people and situations.

The repeating IkPasser knows that in the past we already shared many tips about reducing or moderating alcohol. A bird's-eye view:

• Drink from a glass, not a bottle.
• Put your glass away after each sip, so you don't take another sip too quickly.
• Alternate each glass of alcohol with a non-alcoholic alternative.
• Make sure your stomach is filled with food before you start drinking.
• Don't stock up on alcohol.
• Make agreements with yourself and even better: involve someone you trust. For example: 'Tonight I want to drink 2 beers. Then I switch to 0.0. And you keep me here too Bart'.

Well, that was the practical side of cutting down. Now it's not just the tips above that can help you moderate alcohol. The following 4 tips have to do with situations and even people/groups that you should avoid if you want to drink less.

Heavy drinkers.

People also copy each other in terms of drinking behaviour. During an investigation'social behavior and alcohol consumption', which Martine Groefsema carried out with her colleagues from Radbout University in Nijmegen, she discovered that people subconsciously adapt their drinking behavior to that of others. And the social psychologist Sander Bot from Nijmegen also concluded that we are enormously influenced by each other's drinking behaviour. He came to this conclusion when he observed groups of students in a specially equipped 'bar lab'. The fastest drinker turned out to set the pace.

Men's company.

The fastest drinker sets the pace and the more gentlemen there are in a group, the more people drink. Also by the ladies. American research among more than 3600 female students showed that 71 percent thought that men prefer women who take large amounts of alcohol. Wrongly, say the researchers: men prefer moderate drinkers. So ladies, sipping a nice non-alcoholic alternative is no problem for the gentlemen…

Loud music.

The tent is full, the smoke machine is working overtime and the music is blasting from the speakers. Good for the atmosphere and also for the alcohol consumption. Because the further the volume knobs are turned up in a café, the more drinks are converted. French social psychologist Nicolas Guéguen discovered this when he conducted research in two bars for three Saturday evenings.

Drinking Songs.

'Raise your glass' by P!nk, 'Drank & Drugs' by Lil Kleine & Ronnie Flex, 'Hangover' by Toa Cruz and almost any carnival song, is infused with lyrics about alcohol. Lyrics about drinking encourage the listener to drink. Researchers at Radboud University Nijmegen state this on the basis of a pilot study in which they had bar staff play such songs at set times. The psychologists are still cautious; the research has yet to be replicated (more research needs to be done).

Source: psychologymagazine.nl. Original article written by Anne Pek.