Sober living, typically, refers to a situation in which an individual lives in a structured and drug-free environment while maintaining their ongoing sobriety and addiction recovery journey.
However, in more and more cases, the term ‘sober living’ refers just to the practise of avoiding substance consumption and living a life without drugs such as alcohol and other substances.
This article will go over some of the key features of sober living, including how it can be achieved and how the growing trend of sober living may be influencing culture and other factors within the UK.
Why is sober living becoming more popular?
For all genders, men and women, sober living is becoming more and more of a popular trend – but why is this the case?
In many situations, sober living may be a result of addiction treatment and an individual’s commitment to withholding the teaching of these treatment programmes into the long-term, but there are many reasons why an individual may choose to avoid substances.
For example:
- Bad past experiences
- Family history of substance abuse
- Struggling with substance abuse themselves
- Allergic reactions
- Medical conditions which may interact with substances
- Prescribed medication which may interact with substances
- Personal choice
How to achieve sober living
Without living in a sober living environment, of which there are many factors influencing its success (1), there are other ways to achieve sobriety.
One the most highly recommended and effective techniques for this, for example, is an individual’s participation in drug rehabilitation.
This is the most highly recommended way to achieve sobriety due to the structure and around the clock approach to care that residential rehab centres are able to provide to individuals.
Similar to the traditional sober living environments, residential rehab requires an individual to reside in one place (often a dedicated rehab centre) while they undergo different therapies and treatments to overcome their addiction.
The key stages of residential rehab are outlined in further detail across the following three subheadings.
1. Detoxification
This is the first stage of rehabilitation, whether an individual partakes in this during residential rehab, or during outpatient treatment (outside of a dedicated centre), and involves an individual’s physical recovery.
This is a physical process; the individual must withdraw from the substance that they have been addicted to – a process which can be challenging if the substance that the individual is addicted to is physically addictive i.e., becomes a part of their everyday bodily functions.
However, a detox is absolutely essential should an individual wish to progress to the next stages of care. Learn how long an alcohol home detox takes to do it safely.
2. Therapy/treatment
Once an individual has undertaken a detox session and has physically prepared themselves for further treatment, they are then encouraged to partake in addiction therapy and other treatments to focus on the mental health aspects of rehabilitation and the prospect of future sober living.
This is the stage in which an individual may see the most variation if comparing to the journey of others as therapy can take many different forms and variations depending on an individual’s unique needs and requirements of care.
In more and more rehab centres, rehabilitation is beginning to incorporate more holistic therapies, focussed on bringing individual’s hobbies such as art and music into their recovery journey and continuing this long into their sober living journey.
3. Aftercare
As a final stage of working through rehabilitation and toward sober living, an individual is always encouraged to follow their course of addiction treatment programmes with aftercare – the term referring to any further treatment an individual receives as a part of their ongoing sober living journey.
During this stage, an individual has many options depending on their needs of care. For example, some individuals may feel more confident and comfortable than others in terms of getting back into their everyday lifestyle after leaving rehabilitation.
In some cases, individuals may have weekly (or regular) meetings with an aftercare officer to ensure their ongoing progress, whereas others may prefer to continue their ongoing rehabilitation journey more independently, working through different aftercare programmes that support their sobriety in the long-term.
How does sober living influence an individual’s lifestyle?
So how does achieving sobriety actually impact an individual? As with substance abuse in general and the process of rehabilitation, every individual will have a different experience of sober living.
Whether this is in a sober living environment, or just the choice that an individual has made, there are many changes that may occur in an individual’s life after they have committed to sober living.
The following subheadings outline some of these key changes that may take place in an individual’s life as a part of sober living.
1. Social life and new connections
Duringn an individual’s progression through rehabilitation or the process of achieving sober living in the UK, there are many opportunities for an individual to meet new people, many of which may have many similar struggles and/or experiences to learn from.
For example, attending group therapy (either in residential rehab, or on an outpatient basis) is a great way to meet likeminded people who may be in the same situation – new to sober living and in need of new connections to support their ongoing recovery and sobriety journey.
2. Time for new activities
Instead of addictive behaviours and those included in substance-taking situations, individuals are likely to have more time in their day-to-day life to engage in enriching and new activities.
In some cases, individuals may choose to pick up an old habit that they may have previously fallen out of touch with due to their substance consumption, but they may also choose to pick up an entirely new habit as a way to fill this newfound time in their lives.
This is a positive both in terms of mental and physical health and can include a variety of different activities: creative, physical, social, or otherwise.
3. Improved general health and wellbeing
Addiction and substance use in general is known to have serious and long-term health impacts if it is left untreated or progresses over a long period of time.
For example, alcohol is one of the most dangerous substances available in the modern world, with serious consequences such as alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) which can cause serious and long-term harm to an individual in many ways (2).
By removing these substances from an individual’s life and achieving sober living, an individual is far more likely to see positive changes in their health in both the short term and the long term.
Impacts of sober living in the UK – are there any downsides?
So how does this impact the UK overall? There are many effects, some of which are positive and some of which are negative and all of which are dependent on whose perspective one is looking at.
For example, sober living can boost an individual’s health meaning that they have a lower risk of requiring serious medical attention – a positive for the individual and a negative for private health companies providing this care.
On the other hand, sober living means that less people are consuming substances such as alcohol when they go out or attend social events – again beneficial for an individual’s health and long-term wellbeing but potentially damaging to pubs, bars, and alcohol sales statistics, for example.
In all cases of sober living, medical professionals should be contacted to get the best advice and support for you or the situation of someone that you know.