By 5pm the kids are screaming, you've had 77,000 tabs open in your brain all day, and a voice says you deserve a glass of wine. That voice isn't weakness, it's your brain reaching for the fastest exit it knows. I take you deep into what's actually happening in your body when stress hits, and why alcohol keeps showing up as the solution even when you know it isn't serving you.
I walk you through nervous system 101, the fight or flight trap so many of us are living in, and the biology of GABA and why perimenopause leaves us more depleted and reaching for wine. Then I share my seven favourite tools for handling stress without alcohol, the exact practices that helped me and the thousands of women I've supported. Whether you're sober, curious, newly alcohol-free, or just want better strategies for managing stress, this one is for you.
What We Cover:
- Understanding the fight or flight stress response and why so many women are living there for years rather than hours.
- The open tabs and middle gear phenomenon, the chronic low-grade activation that keeps you wired but tired all day long.
- Why alcohol works as a GABA agonist in the short term and quietly makes you more deficient over time.
- The perimenopause and GABA connection that leaves women naturally more anxious and reaching for a drink to cope.
- How drinking raises your baseline cortisol and creates the next-day anxiety loop most women never connect to alcohol.
- Seven practical tools including low gear breaks, walking, breathwork, alcohol-free rituals, the "of course" exercise, shaking to discharge adrenaline, and calming hands-on activities.
Timestamps
Nervous System 101 (00:00)
The 5pm Wine Trap (04:46)
Living In Middle Gear (09:34)
Why We Seek Oblivion (15:16)
How Alcohol Hijacks GABA (17:42)
Alcohol Borrows Calm From Tomorrow (23:05)
The Research On Women And Anxiety (28:38)
Rewiring The Stress Loop (32:12)
Seven Tools For Stress Without Wine (34:38)
Your Personal Toolkit (51:44)
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Sarah Rusbatch is an accredited Health and Wellbeing Coach and one of Australia's leading experts on grey area drinking. Her podcast, Stronger, Bolder, Wiser, is the go-to space for women who are questioning their relationship with alcohol, navigating life alcohol-free, or simply curious about what life could look like on the other side of the bottle.
If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you haven't already, subscribe so you never miss an episode, and leave a review to help more women find this community.
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Feeling like alcohol has quietly become your default way to unwind, reward yourself, or take the edge off?
Join my October Reset Challenge, a supportive, guided reset to help you break the daily drinking habit, reconnect with yourself, and prove you can feel good without the glass of wine.
Join the October Reset → https://bit.ly/4gJyKSY
Struggling to know what to do when stress, boredom or big emotions hit?
Download my free guide "100 Things to Do Instead of Drinking", a toolkit for sitting with those feelings instead of reaching for a glass of wine.
Get your free guide → https://sarahrusbatch.com/free-guide-100-things-to-do-instead-of-drinking?utm_source=sbw&utm_medium=ep28&utm_campaign=100+things&utm_content=list+building
Find out more about my other programs here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/
If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don't always say out loud and connect with others going through the same, join my free Facebook group, Women's Wellbeing Collective here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067
And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/beyond-booze
