How Alcohol Impacts Cortisol and Causes Cravings (E67)

Listen on your favourite podcasting app: Apple Spotify Other Apps

Gill discusses stress, cortisol and cravings. She explain how our stress response system works, and how alcohol changes this response and our hormones. You’ll learn how alcohol impacts our cortisol levels, how this impacts our cravings for alcohol, and what this means for people trying to stay sober. At the end of this episode you'll see how this topic connects to a lot of other things we’ve discussed on this podcast. This is an episode you don't want to miss!

Episodes to listen to next

E40: Why Are We So Angry?
E51: Why We Crave Alcohol and What to Do About It

---

Sources

1. Badrick E, Bobak M, Britton A, Kirschbaum C, Marmot M, Kumari M. The relationship between alcohol consumption and cortisol secretion in an aging cohort. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008;93(3):750-757. doi:10.1210/jc.2007-0737

2. T, Buddy. How the Body’s Stress Hormone Increases During Drinking and Withdrawal. Verywell Mind. 2021. 

3. Adinoff B, et al. Increased Salivary Cortisol Concentrations During Chronic Alcohol Intoxication in a Naturalistic Clinical Sample of Men. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. 2003;27(9):1420-1427. 

4. Paula L. Ruttle, Elizabeth A. Shirtcliff, Lisa A. Serbin, Dahlia Ben-Dat Fisher, Dale M. Stack, Alex E. Schwartzman. Disentangling psychobiological mechanisms underlying internalizing and externalizing behaviors in youth: Longitudinal and concurrent associations with cortisol. Hormones and Behavior, 2011; 59 (1): 123

5. Sinha, R, Fox, HC, Hong, KI. Effects of adrenal sensitivity, stress- and cue-induced craving, and anxiety on subsequent alcohol relapse and treatment outcomes. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2011;68(9):942–952.

6. Blaine SK, Nautiyal N, Hart R, Guarnaccia JB, Sinha R. Craving, cortisol and behavioral alcohol motivation responses to stress and alcohol cue contexts and discrete cues in binge and non-binge drinkers. Addict Biol. 2019;24(5):1096-1108. doi:10.1111/adb.12665

7. McCaul, M. Anxiety, Anxiety Sensitivity, and Perceived Stress as Predictors of Recent Drinking, Alcohol Craving, and Social Stress Response in Heavy Drinkers. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 41:4. 2017

Cite this episode

Tietz, G. Episode 67: How Alcohol Impacts Cortisol and Causes Cravings. Sober Powered. 2021.

Weekly Sober Tips

Enter your email to begin receiving weekly sober tips and info from me!

First name

Email address

What are you interested in hearing about?

Sober Group Coaching

Anger Management Groups

Emotional Eating Groups

Let's Go!

Thank you for subscribing!