A man that’s been alcohol-free for almost two years has outlined the benefits of being sober and what has changed since he put the pint glass down.

We say man, but he is a qualified doctor who is best known for his time on reality TV show Love Island.

Dr Alex George was on season four of the show, and years after obtaining his medicine degree, he switched to become a GP, and is now the official UK Youth Mental Health Ambassador within the Department for Education.

However, the TV personality is now almost two years sober, and took to social media to laud the benefits he has gained from the lifestyle choice.

Dr Alex highlighted numerous benefits that come from being sober (Getty Stock Photo)

Over the weekend, he posted a TikTok video mid-morning walk as he spoke about how nice it is to wake up without a hangover, captioning the video: “Hangover free Saturday, no better feeling.”

Dr Alex was with his dog as he began to say: “I’ve been sober now nearly two years and I still maintain that there is literally no greater joy than getting up on a Saturday morning without hangover on a day like this,” he said in in the sunlight.

But what benefits are there to giving up alcohol, exactly?

Meeting like-minded people

The health professional explained that running into ‘like-minded people’, especially on his Saturday morning walks, has benefitted him in his day-to-day life.

“Chatting for 20 minutes to someone who is walking their dogs and nattering away, it’s just such a nice feeling,” he explained.

Obviously not something for everyone but even if you stick your headphones in and walk around, it’s nice to see other people on the same wavelength as you.

Waking up without a hangover

It’s the big one, and what the video is based on, as Dr Alex might be on to something here.

Staying sober on the Friday night gives you a fresh start as the weekend begins, as he said: “Waking up with no hangover, not feeling anxious, not feeling like oh my gosh what happened last night or God I’m going to be be rough all day today,

“It’s the simple things in life,” he concluded.

A sense of calmness

More geared towards the pressures to live life in a certain way, he highlights: “We glorify, in our society, (an) adrenaline lifestyle.

“But feeling peace and calmness is so underrated and sometimes because we’re not used to peace and calmness, when you stop drinking initially or have a change in your lifestyle, you feel like ‘Oh my God I’m missing something!'”

But you’re not, is his point, as long as you’re happy. Which moves us on to his final point.

Dr Alex claims that he’s been a lot happier since he put the pints down (TikTok/dralexgeorge)

Living in the present

“Just be present baby,” Dr Alex says.

“Enjoy the present, everything you need is out here.”

It is a lot easier to do on a sunny day, but he is right in a sense, as he has kickstarted his day with a positive activity, explaining that he’s going to gym afterwards, eat good food then watch Harry Potter.

Call it what you want, but that sounds a lot better than rotting in bed all day.

A psychiatrist that ran a show which outlined the dangers of excessive drinking revealed what happened to a young man who underwent a brain scan after a few drinks.

Daniel Amen, MD is an American health and mental health specialist, that shares his views on certain topics to his millions of social media followers.

One of this most popular and talked-about topics is that to do with alcohol, as the medical expert is a firm believer in staying sober, revealing what signs to look out for that could indicate that you have a drinking problem.

Despite speaking about other issues such as potential signs of ADHD, his videos on drinking garner the most attention.

Drinking affects one area of your brain more than others (Getty Stock Photo)

Known as @docamen on social media platforms, the doctor answered the question of why he doesn’t drink, explaining in a video: “I really like my brain and I don’t like being out of control, plus I’ve seen thousands of scans of drinkers and they’re not healthy.”

Adding that he wanted to keep his ‘brain intact’ so he could ‘live a long time’, he referred back to an Emmy-award winning TV show that he did called The Truth About Drinking.

However, he revealed what happened to a teenager when he went through a brain scan while under the influence of alcohol, resulting in a shocking outcome.

The doc said: “We took a young kid who was drinking a lot, got him sober and then got him drunk, and we scanned him drunk and his frontal lobes went away.

“Why do you care? The front part of your brain [that controls] things like focus, forethought, judgement, impulse control, organisation, planning, empathy – you want all those things,” he concluded.

It goes without saying that other parts of the human brain are affected too, but your frontal lobes are key in decision making and your own self-control.

Other areas in the brain, such as the cerebral cortex, central nervous system and hippocampus are severely affected by drinking too, as well as several others.

He said that a brain scan revealed that his frontal lobes ‘went away’ (TikTok/docamen)

According to the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS), your frontal lobes are key to everyday function.

As part of a fact sheet explaining how alcohol affects the brain, they said: “The brain’s frontal lobes are important for planning, forming ideas, making decisions, and using self-control.

“When alcohol affects the frontal lobes of the brain, a person may find it hard to control his or her emotions and urges.”

They also added that people may act without thinking or become violent, while drinking over a long period of time in your life can cause permanent damage to the frontal lobes.

As we get a little older, the preparations before a night of drinking seem that bit more serious.

Pre-drinks go from a few bottles in your uni flat to just glasses in the kitchen and the tube of pringles before heading out is now a big fat meal to ‘line the stomach’.

We all know that drinking on an empty stomach will get you smashed much more quickly, even if it’s not not necessarily healthy, but to really hammer home the impact, a woman did an experiment to show the shocking difference between drinking on a full stomach compared to an empty one.

Loryn Powell is a content creator in the US making various comedy and alcohol related clips.

Things quickly took a turn. (lorynpowell/Instagram)

And back in 2022, she used a breathalyser to test her blood alcohol content (BAC) over a few hours after drinking.

Drinking on a full stomach

On the first day, Powell ate three slices of pizza before ‘immediately’ taking four shots of vodka. After half an hour, she recorded a 0.046 percent BAC and this went back down to 0.44 percent by the hour mark.

“Already hit my peak and I’m coming back down,” said an amazed Powell.

And by an hour and a half, it was down to 0.036 percent, then 0.024 percent by two hours and just 0.015 percent by three hours.

After four hours, Powell had gotten back down to a 0 percent BAC. Not bad at all.

Drinking on an empty stomach

On this day, Powell didn’t eat all day before downing the four shots of vodka.

Similarly, within 30 minutes her BAC was at a percentage of 0.046.

But that’s where the similarities ended because by an hour, it had shot up to 0.084 percent – nearly double of the day on a full stomach at this point.

“I feel very different than I did 24 hours ago,” she said.

And by an hour and a half, it was still going up, to 0.089 percent. At two hours, it had only gone down to 0.088 percent, hitting 0.0075 percent by three hours and 0.056 percent by four.

So, while it took four hours to get to zero on a full stomach, it took a whole eight hours on an empty stomach.

“Lesson is: always eat the pizza,” Powell advised.

Please drink responsibly. If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support.

Warning: This article contains discussion of alcoholism which some readers may find distressing.

For a lot of us, booze is a fun thing – it’s at the centre of our social plans, a reward after dealing with that colleague all day at the office, a way to celebrate your team finally winning a match.

But it often also proves itself to be a not-so-great thing. Plenty of people choose to go sober for many reasons, including looking after both their physical and mental health.

For those with drinking problems, it can be pretty tough to get by. And it can also be difficult for those who have a partner struggling with alcohol. So, if you’ve ever been suspicious that your other half might have a problem, psychologist Dr Becky Spelman shared 10 signs to look out for.

Maybe they go too far when they’ve had a drink. (Getty stock)

Love Bombing

In a YouTube video pointing out the red flags you might be ‘dating an alcoholic’, the expert said alcoholics may ‘love bomb’ their partners.

She explained this is because they have ‘low self-esteemed’ due to not working through their difficulties properly. “So therefore they’re going to rely on the validation of other people and in the early stages of dating them, they’re going to put you on a pedestal,” Spelman said.

But she said this will be ‘short-lived’ while the person makes sure they feel secure before their problems begin to crop up.

Exaggerated behaviour

“Alcohol makes people more extroverted,” she points out. Spelman says this might make you enjoy yourself more as they’ll be the ‘life and soul of the party’ even though it’s just the alcohol bringing out the behaviour.

But this can also then lead to the next sign.

Public Embarrassment

“They will embarrass you in public,” the expert warns. With their extroverted behaviour, they may become ‘more impulsive and have poor judgement’.

“You will probably be embarrassed by their behaviour at one point or another because it’s just constant poor social judgements when they’re intoxicated,” she adds.

You might feel gaslighted by them when they’ve drank. (Getty Stock)

Gaslighting

Spelman says those with a drinking problem with ‘gaslight’ their partners, ‘particularly in relation to defending their alcohol-related behaviour’.

But she says this may also come while they’re drunk as they deny their behaviour which could make you ‘feel a bit crazy’.

“It’s a thing people commonly do when they’re insecure and they’re not able to own up to their own bad behaviour,” Spelman explains, “because it makes them feel bad, it causes a lot of shame.

“So their natural instinct is to be defensive and that’s where the gaslighting will come into dating.”

Avoiding Conversations

Similarly, she explains people won’t ‘participate in conversations about how their behaviour impacts you’.

“I’m not saying they completely won’t engage in the conversation,” she did add, but they will find it ‘very difficult emotionally’. Plus, it might ‘lead them to actually drinking quite heavily’ afterwards.

Or, they may ‘passively participate’ in the conversation because they don’t know how to ‘navigate’ it or again, be very defensive.

They’re more likely to have affairs. (Getty Stock)

Inappropriateness

This includes being sexually and socially inappropriate – maybe you’re waiting to leave a bar but they keep running over to hug other people.

“It might not be the worst behaviour in the world, but it’s just not very well thought-out,” Spelman explains.

“It can be very upsetting for you if you’re dating them because it causes embarrassment.”

Increased Likelihood of Affairs

Spelman says affairs are more common with people who have alcohol problems as they don’t use ‘emotions to help guide their behaviour’.

“They can bury feelings of guilt and anxiety,” she adds.

The expert explains that alcoholics don’t ‘feel a lot’ which terrifies them but allows them to ignore the negatives and more easily have affairs and keep them secret.

Co-occurring Mental Health Issues

Spelman says people struggling with alcohol will have signs of mental health difficulties which may be subtle or might be ‘quite big’.

“You’ll also see signs they don’t really want to address their emotions fully,” she adds, even if they have disclosed things to you.

It can make relationships difficult (Getty stock)

Selective Charm

Those with alcohol problems may be ‘overly charming to people where it will benefit them’.

“They’re going to very calculated in relation to who they’re friendly and charming to,” Spelman says, “but it’s not going to be consistent.”

Possessiveness and Jealousy

Spelman highlights that partners with alcohol problems will have ‘all sorts of problematic behaviours’.

And when they see themselves as very low, they’ll ‘see you as being out of their league’ with a high fear of losing you.

“They’re going to act jealous for the very same reasons,” she adds. “They’re going make up stories in their mind.”

Please drink responsibly. If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support.