Strategies for decreasing drinking

Strategies for decreasing drinking	Recommendations
Set a goal	Set a goal for how many drinks you have in a single day or the amount of money you want to spend on alcohol in a day or week.
Track drinks per day	This can be done with online tools, a journal, an app, or a calendar. Some people like to track the money they spend or the calories in the alcohol they drink.
Build on the success of prior change	Think about how you have successfully made other changes in your life.
Do not drink on some days	Limit the days of the week you drink.
Have a plan when offered alcohol	Identify a nonalcoholic beverage you will have instead of alcohol, and prepare to say "no thanks" if others encourage drinking, if your goal is not to drink.
Make alcohol less available	Do not have alcohol in your home; do not go places with easy access to alcohol.
Make a list of things to enjoy that do not involve alcohol	Keep the list in a place where it will remind you to do something else when you feel like having a drink.
Find people who have made changes who can support you	This may be through organized peer support (eg, Alcoholics Anonymous or SMART Recovery) for patients who have experienced problems due to drinking or informally through friends.
Online resources can also be helpful	"Rethinking Drinking," an interactive website and a booklet, can be ordered for free to provide added support and strategies for changing drinking. A smartphone app, "Drink Less," was shown to improve outcomes in a large United Kingdom trial.
Decrease the level of alcohol in your blood when you drink	Space drinks out over time. Have a beverage that does not contain alcohol before or in between drinks with alcohol. Eat before drinking to slow the absorption of alcohol. Decrease the amount of alcohol in each drink (eg, use a half shot or try beer with lower alcohol content).

SMART: self-management and recovery training.

References:

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Rethinking drinking: Alcohol and your health. National Institutes of Health, Publication no. 23-AA-3770, US Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 2024.
Options for people who are thinking about their drinking. Kaiser Permanente Washington. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/sites/default/files/Options-People-Thinking-About-Drinking.pdf (Accessed on March 28, 2025).
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Helping patients who drink too much: A clinician's guide. National Institutes of Health, Publication no. 07–3769, US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC 2005.

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Strategies for decreasing drinking