Sober Powered: The Neuroscience of Being Sober
Episodes
E47: Addiction Treatments From Snake Pits to Modern Medicine
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses addiction treatments throughout history. If you’re wondering what snake pits, lobotomies, LSD and gold injections have in common, th...
E46: Neuroplasticity Helps us Recover
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses neuroplasticity. She explains what neuroplasticity is, how this affects addiction and recovery, what the purpose of dopamine is, and p...
E45: Emotional Overwhelm
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses overwhelm. She has experienced powerful overwhelm a few times in her life, and after doing some research, feels like she has a better ...
E44: Kevin Bellack on Parenting Before and After Quitting Drinking
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill talks to Kevin who is an alcohol-free accountant, husband, and father. You may know him from his personal Instagram account, @TheSoberGinger, or...
E43: Drinking to Cope
16 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses drinking to cope. Many problem drinkers will drink to cope with stress, anxiety, depression, past trauma, or loneliness. When we try ...
E42: Is Relapse Part of Recovery?
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses relapse. She explains how common it is for people to relapse, some different perspectives on sobriety, and some things that increase t...
E41: Why Sober People Want So Much Sugar
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses sugar. When she stopped drinking, all of a sudden she had a desire for sweet stuff. There are some misconceptions around why this hap...
E40: Why Are We So Angry?
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses anger. There is a strong connection between anger, substance abuse, and relapse. You'll learn what happens in the body when we feel a...
E39: Getting Sober Improved my Body Image
19 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses body image. She struggled with disordered eating and body dysmorphia before she started drinking, which is why she started drinking so...
E38: What Causes Withdrawal Symptoms?
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses the central nervous system and alcohol withdrawal. She explains how alcohol affects the central nervous system, what bodily functions ...
E37: Alcohol and Infertility
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses hormones. She explains how alcohol affects insulin and how it affects our reproductive hormones. She discusses how hormones send mess...
E36: Your Sober Pal Tells us What AA is Like
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill talks to Laura from Your Sober Pal about AA. Laura will explain why she went to her first AA meeting, what to expect when you first start going ...
E35: Emotional Sobriety
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses emotional sobriety. She explains the idea of emotionally staying the same age you were when you started drinking, and how to work on b...
E34: Why Drinking Makes it Hard to Lose Weight
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses weight loss. Many of us have a goal to lose weight, and it can even be something we pursue for our entire lives without success. Ther...
E33: Why Do We Feel So Tired in Early Sobriety?
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses wine energy. Is it a real phenomenon or something that we just think is real because we’re buzzed? You'll learn what happens to alc...
E32: A Conversation with my Husband
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill's husband Drew visits the podcast as her first guest! This is an episode you really don't want to miss! They discuss how her last night of drin...
E31: If Alcohol is Toxic, Why Can We Drink it?
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses why humans are even able to drink ethanol in the first place. Ethanol is toxic, and we aren’t able to drink diluted versions of othe...
E30: Gray Area Drinkers and Positive Alcohol Expectancies
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses gray area drinkers. She explains the idea of the popular saying, “rock bottom is where you stop digging”, what misery threshold is...
E29: The Link Between Drinking as a Teen and Developing an Addiction
08 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses alcohol and the teen brain. She explains how bullying contributes to teen drinking and why teens tend to binge drink (hint: it has to ...
E28: Is it a Bad Habit or a Problem?
01 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses bad habits versus problems. It’s hard to accept that our drinking is a problem, so many of us will claim it’s a bad habit and just...
E27: Why We Can’t Just Drink on Special Occasions
25 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses the desire to just drink on special occasions. Sometimes, we will get sober, but our goal is to eventually just drink on special occas...
E26: Does the Brain Recover?
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses how the brain recovers after we stop drinking. There have been mixed conclusions on this topic over the years, so she presents the lat...
E25: Surviving Your Company Party Sober
11 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses staying sober while you socialize. This episode was originally created for the holidays, but these strategies apply any time. She's 13...
E24: How Addiction Develops
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses how addiction develops. She explains the different stages from trying your first sip of alcohol to being unable to stop drinking even ...
E23: What Your Blood Can Reveal About Your Liver Health
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses routine blood work. She explains what your yearly blood work can tell you about your liver health, what normal levels are, and what to...
E22: Why You Think Alcohol Helps Your Anxiety
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill explains why alcohol causes anxiety and what exactly is going on in the brain. You’ll learn how our brains adjust to alcohol in ways that lead...
E21: I'm One Year Sober!
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On Monday, November 9th Gill celebrated her one year soberversary. In this episode she goes into further detail about the end of her drinking, what l...
E20: Why is it So Hard to Moderate?
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses why some of us just can’t moderate. During her drinking, she was always plagued by the question of "why can’t I just be normal?" ...
E19: Alcohol Use Disorder and Other Mental Health Conditions
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill talks about alcohol use disorder and the comorbidity of other mental illnesses. Specifically, OCD, eating disorders, PTSD, depression, and anxiet...
E18: My Husband Still Drinks, Here's How We Make it Work
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill is married to a take it or leave it drinker, and in this episode she discusses how she handles her husband’s drinking. She will tell you the w...
E17: Alcohol and the Heart
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses how alcohol affects the heart. She explains how the heart works, what the different parts of the heart do, what blood pressure is, how...
E16: Signs I was a Problem Drinker (That I Ignored)
09 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill talks about the warning signs she ignored that clearly showed she shouldn’t be drinking. This episode was inspired by a very interesting conve...
E15: Stigma and Social Death
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses the stigma that exists for mental illness and alcoholism. She explains the history of treatment of the mentally ill from ancient times...
E14: Nature vs Nurture
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses nature versus nurture. We will explore if addiction depends on genetics, how we're raised, or both? She explains the impact both gene...
E13: SSRIs and Alcohol-Induced Aggression
18 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses the impact alcohol has on serotonin and our mental health. She explains what serotonin is, how it impacts the body, and what antidepres...
E12: Why We Blackout From Drinking Alcohol
11 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses blackouts. She explains how memories are formed, what puts you more at risk for blacking out, and some interesting studies on en bloc b...
E11: Why Alcohol Feels Good (Endorphins and Opioid Receptors)
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill talks about endorphins and opioid receptors. She explains the history of opioids as medication, how we discovered endorphins, and how endorphins ...
E10: Denial and Dry Drunk Syndrome
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses the different defense mechanisms a problem drinker or alcoholic will use to continue drinking. She will explain denial, rationalizatio...
E9: From Chronic Day Ones to Forever Sobriety
21 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill talks about Sober Power, how you earn it, and what it can do for you. She describes how it took her 5 years of worrying about her drinking to fi...
E8: What to Expect During Withdrawal
14 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discuss withdrawal. She explains the physical and psychological symptoms you can expect when you quit drinking, and why some people develop deli...
E7: Shame
07 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses shame. She explains how it keeps us stuck in a drink, hate yourself, drink loop and how it makes us more vulnerable for relapse. She ...
E6: How the Body Processes Alcohol
31 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses how we metabolize alcohol and how it causes damage to the body. She explains the enzymes and organs involved, how alcohol contributes ...
E5: Sugar Addiction
24 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses sugar addiction and why sober people want to eat all the sugar. She explains several studies done in rats, mice and humans that illust...
E3: Alcohol, Sleep, and Drinking Dreams
10 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses sleep cycles, how alcohol affects our quality and quantity of sleep, and why we have drinking dreams. She explains how alcohol suppres...
E2: Alcohol Cravings. Why does our brain tell us to drink?
03 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gill discusses the areas in the brain that light up when we crave alcohol. She talks about how we condition our brains to want alcohol, and how this ...
E1: Introduction and How Alcohol Causes Anxiety
25 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the first episode of the Sober Powered Podcast! Gill discusses why she began this project and why you don't need to hit society's version ...