What to Know

• Cravings are learned responses involving reward, stress, memory, habit and the environment.
• A trigger is the cue, a craving is the urge, and withdrawal is the body’s response to reducing or stopping alcohol after physical dependence.
• Heavy alcohol use can affect dopamine, GABA, glutamate, stress and opioid systems, but cravings are not caused by one simple neurotransmitter imbalance.
• Cravings can feel relentless, but they often rise, peak and change. The immediate aim is to create time, distance and support before acting.
• Recognising your common triggers helps you plan for the moments when judgement and impulse control may be under pressure.
• If you drink heavily, drink daily or have had withdrawal symptoms, seek medical advice before stopping suddenly.

---

As I drove home on a Friday evening, travelling down my usual route, I noticed a familiar sensation as I passed the bottle shop.

An intense craving.

My mind started creating reasons to pull in:

Come on, you’ve done so well.

You’ve got it this time.

One night will be fine.

For someone trying to stay sober, these thoughts can sound convincing. They can also reopen a pattern that took months of work to interrupt.

Cravings are one of the major roadblocks in recovery from alcohol or other substance use. They can make us vulnerable and may increase the risk of relapse.

The truth is that even when a craving feels relentless, painful and seemingly endless, the intensity can change.

Understanding what is happening gives us more places to intervene.

Cravings Are Old Wiring

A craving is old wiring: a learned connection between a cue, an expected effect and a familiar response. The pathway may have been useful for escaping discomfort in the short term, but it no longer serves the life you are trying to build.

I used to describe it as the body’s old “source code”.

The brain relies heavily on patterns. If alcohol repeatedly follows stress, finishing work, social anxiety, Friday afternoon or a particular route home, those cues can begin to activate the expectation of drinking.

The pattern can look like this:

1. Cue: a place, time, person, emotion or thought.
2. Expectation: alcohol will provide relief, reward, confidence or escape.
3. Craving: attention narrows and the urge becomes stronger.
4. Response: drinking, buying alcohol or moving closer to the opportunity.
5. Short-term outcome: the expected state change arrives.
6. Learning: the brain strengthens the connection between the cue and the response.

This mechanism can trick us into believing alcohol is the only way to get through a situation.

But it is not.

Once we begin to recognise substance cues, or “triggers” as I prefer to call them, we can understand where cravings come from and build a different response.

For many people, cravings become less frequent or less intense with time, new routines and support. They can still return unexpectedly, so the aim is not to prove that you will never have another urge. It is to know what to do when one appears.

Cravings Are Painful, and Your Brain Can Bargain With You

Cravings often narrow attention towards the expected benefit of drinking while pushing previous consequences into the background. That is why the inner argument can sound so reasonable in the moment.

Before you say, “Getting over cravings is not that easy,” I get it.

Cravings can be freakin’ nasty.

There were many times in my own sober journey when I gave in to an intense craving and ended up in a rough patch.

I completed long stints away from alcohol, only for the pattern to return after one apparently harmless thought:

Maybe I have it under control now.

After six months, the mind might say:

You have proven you do not have a drinking problem.

This is a classic priming scenario. The urgency around the original problem fades, the difficult memories feel less immediate, and the idea of drinking again begins to look safer than it is.

That does not mean the brain is deliberately trying to sabotage you. It means reward, memory, stress and habit systems can place enormous weight on the expected short-term effect while the reflective part of the mind is trying to remember the bigger picture.

Craving is clinically important, but it is not a perfect prediction of what happens next. A person can experience a strong urge without drinking, while relapse can also happen with little conscious craving (Tiffany & Wray, 2012).

A craving is an experience. It is not a command.

Cravings on a Biochemical Level

Alcohol cravings involve several interacting brain systems, including reward learning, stress, memory, motivation and executive control. They cannot be reduced to one chemical being simply “high” or “low”.

Heavy or prolonged alcohol use can affect neurological pathways involving dopamine, glutamate, GABA, stress hormones and endogenous opioid systems.

Dopamine is often called a pleasure chemical, but its role is broader. It helps the brain learn which cues deserve attention and motivates us to pursue expected rewards.

If alcohol repeatedly follows a particular cue, the cue itself can become important.

The drive home. The sound of ice in a glass. A difficult meeting. The first quiet moment after the children go to bed.

Glutamate and GABA are also relevant. GABA has inhibitory effects in the nervous system, while glutamate is a major excitatory neurotransmitter. Repeated heavy alcohol exposure can disrupt the balance and adaptation of these systems, which is particularly important in alcohol withdrawal.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism describes addiction as involving changes across reward, stress, memory and executive-control systems. Alcohol-related cues can become powerful because the brain has learned to associate them with alcohol’s effects (NIAAA, 2025).

For a fuller explanation, read Substance Abuse and Neurotransmitters: Understanding the Neurochemistry Behind Addiction and Sobriety.

Our brain chemistry is only part of the picture.

Poor sleep, missed meals, isolation, ongoing stress and a lack of routine can make emotional regulation harder and leave us more exposed when the usual cue appears. These factors do not cause every craving, and fixing them is not a treatment for alcohol dependence. They are part of the foundation that can either support or strain recovery.

Cravings, Triggers and Withdrawal Are Different

A trigger is the cue, a craving is the urge, and withdrawal is the body’s response to reducing or stopping alcohol after physical dependence has developed. They can overlap, but they are not interchangeable.

Withdrawal may include anxiety, sweating, tremor, nausea, agitation, disrupted sleep and an increased heart rate. Severe alcohol withdrawal can involve seizures or delirium and may be life-threatening.

A person in withdrawal may crave alcohol because drinking can temporarily relieve the symptoms.

If you drink heavily, drink daily, have experienced withdrawal before or are unsure about your risk, speak with a GP or alcohol and other drug service before stopping suddenly. The Australian Government advises that some people need medical support to reduce or quit safely (Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, 2024).

For more detail, read Alcohol Withdrawal: The Seesaw Effect of Glutamate and GABA.

Substance Cues or “Triggers”

Triggers are situations, thoughts, emotions and environmental cues that can activate a craving or move us closer to drinking. Learning your patterns makes it easier to plan before impulse and judgement come under pressure.

One thing I noticed across longer periods of sobriety, and while writing about recovery, was that certain scenarios repeatedly intensified cravings.

If we can identify those scenarios, we can improve stress adaptation, change the environment and develop different coping responses.

Research on alcohol cue reactivity has found relationships between responses to alcohol-related cues, subjective craving and relapse-related outcomes, although the strength of these relationships varies between people and studies (Witteman et al., 2015).

The triggers I kept seeing fell into four useful categories.

1. Perceived Opportunity Triggers

Perceived opportunity triggers happen when the body senses that alcohol is available or easy to access.

This might be passing a bottle shop or bar, being home alone, having alcohol in the house, receiving a message from someone you used to drink with, or reaching a particular time of day.

Friday evening was a major example for me. The route, the time and the bottle shop formed a familiar sequence.

Early in recovery, there is no prize for testing yourself unnecessarily. Change the route. Remove alcohol from the house. Plan where you will be during the high-risk period. Make the safer response easier to begin.

2. Attention-Allocating Triggers

Attention-allocating triggers occur when alcohol begins taking up more mental space, which can intensify craving and wear down self-control.

You might replay old drinking experiences, focus on what you think you are missing, plan a possible return to drinking or spend hours arguing with the urge.

The aim is not to force every thought away. It is to notice where attention has gone and redirect it deliberately.

A practical activity, conversation, walk, meal, meeting or change of environment can interrupt the mental loop.

3. Stress Triggers

Stress triggers occur when pressure, conflict, fatigue or emotional discomfort activates the old expectation that alcohol will provide relief.

Stress may come from work, family, finances, poor sleep, loneliness, anxiety or the accumulated load of too many demands.

When alcohol has been used as a coping response for a long time, the brain can continue to reach for that option under pressure. Stress-related craving can involve changes in both reward and stress systems, particularly after repeated heavy use (Sinha, 2013).

This is why stress management is not a fluffy extra in recovery. It is part of relapse prevention.

4. Priming Triggers

Priming triggers appear when someone starts believing they can safely control drinking again, often after a longer period of sobriety.

This is the one where the mind loves to bargain:

It has been six months.

I am different now.

I will only drink occasionally.

For some people with a history of alcohol dependence, returning to alcohol can reactivate craving and old patterns quickly.

If this thought appears, bring another person into the decision before acting. Revisit why you stopped, what alcohol was costing you and what happened the last time controlled drinking was attempted.

I explore these four categories in more depth in Identifying Triggers: How to Recognise and Manage the Cues That Lead to Drinking.

What to Do When a Craving Hits

When a craving arrives, focus on the next safe action. Create time, move away from alcohol and contact support before the urge becomes a plan.

Name It

Say: “This is a craving. It is uncomfortable, but I do not have to act on it.”

You can rate the intensity from 0 to 10 and check again after a few minutes. The purpose is to observe change, not to achieve a perfect score.

Delay the Next Action

Do not try to solve the rest of your life while the craving is loud.

Delay the next action. Set a short timer. Shower. Walk. Prepare food. Start a task that occupies your hands. Call someone.

You are creating room for the intensity to shift.

Change the Environment

Leave the bottle shop car park. Take a different route. Go somewhere alcohol-free. Remove access to money or alcohol if that is appropriate and safe.

You do not need to prove your willpower by sitting beside the trigger.

Surf the Urge

Urge surfing treats the craving like a wave.

Notice where you feel it in the body: tightness, restlessness, heat, salivation or a hollow feeling in the stomach.

Observe the sensations as they build and change without feeding them or trying to force them away.

Mindfulness-based relapse prevention has shown promise as one component of treatment for substance use disorders, although it is not a stand-alone solution for everyone (Bowen et al., 2014).

Check the Basics

Ask whether you are hungry, angry or overwhelmed, lonely or tired.

Eat if you have missed a meal. Drink water. Rest if you can. Contact someone if you are isolated.

Basic care does not replace addiction treatment, but it can reduce extra strain in the moment.

Contact Someone

Choose the person before you need them.

A message can be simple:

I am having a strong craving and need to talk for ten minutes.

This might be a friend, sponsor, family member, counsellor, peer worker, GP or alcohol and other drug service.

Record the Pattern

After the craving changes, write down:

• what happened beforehand
• where you were
• what you felt
• how strong the urge became
• what you did
• what helped

This turns a painful moment into information for the next plan.

When Cravings Keep Returning

Frequent, intense or worsening cravings are a reason to strengthen support, not evidence that recovery is impossible.

A GP, addiction medicine specialist or alcohol and other drug clinician can assess:

• alcohol intake and withdrawal risk
• mental health
• sleep and nutrition
• medications and other substance use
• social support
• relapse patterns
• whether counselling, peer support or medication may help

Medications such as naltrexone and acamprosate may be considered for some people with alcohol dependence as part of a broader treatment plan. They require individual medical assessment and are not suitable for everyone. The Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Alcohol Problems provide evidence-based guidance on withdrawal, psychosocial care and relapse-prevention treatment.

A return to drinking is serious, but it does not erase everything you learned. Look at what happened, seek support early and strengthen the plan around the point where it broke down.

The Takeaway

There is no hiding it: when we are trying to get sober, cravings suck.

But they are understandable.

Cravings can involve old wiring, learned cues, reward and stress systems, memory, habit, withdrawal and the body’s current state.

If we remind ourselves that the intensity can change, reduce unnecessary exposure to triggers and practise a different response, we can gradually weaken the old pattern.

Start with the next safe action:

Name the craving. Create distance. Change the environment. Contact someone. Let the intensity move.

Then look beyond the immediate moment. Build routines, plan for the four trigger categories and get the level of support that matches the seriousness of the pattern.

If cravings are frequent, intense or connected with withdrawal symptoms, speak with a GP or alcohol and other drug service. In Australia, the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline offers free and confidential information, counselling and referrals on 1800 250 015 (Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, 2025).

FAQ

How long does an alcohol craving last?

An alcohol craving has no fixed duration. Some urges rise and fall over minutes, while others return in waves or remain in the background for longer. Focus on whether the intensity is changing and what will help you avoid acting on it.

Why do I crave alcohol at the same time every day?

Craving alcohol at the same time each day often reflects a learned routine. The brain may associate that time with reward, transition or relief, such as drinking after work. Changing the environment and planning another activity before the usual time can interrupt the sequence.

Does craving alcohol mean I am addicted?

Craving is one feature considered in alcohol use disorder, but craving alone does not establish a diagnosis. Assessment also considers loss of control, consequences, tolerance, withdrawal, time spent drinking and the role alcohol plays in your life.

Can alcohol cravings happen after months of sobriety?

Alcohol cravings can occur after months of sobriety when a cue, memory, stressor or familiar environment activates an old learned association. A later craving does not erase recovery progress, but it is worth responding to early and reviewing the trigger.

Can medication reduce alcohol cravings?

Medication may reduce cravings or relapse risk for some people with alcohol dependence. Options such as naltrexone or acamprosate require assessment by a doctor because suitability depends on medical history, current alcohol use, other medications and treatment goals.

Is it safe to stop drinking when cravings are strong?

Strong cravings alone do not determine withdrawal risk. If you drink heavily, drink daily, have had withdrawal symptoms or seizures before, or are unsure about your risk, seek medical advice before stopping suddenly because alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous.

References

Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. (2024). How can you reduce or quit alcohol? https://www.health.gov.au/topics/alcohol/about-alcohol/how-can-you-reduce-or-quit-alcohol

Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. (2025). National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline. https://www.health.gov.au/contacts/national-alcohol-and-other-drug-hotline

Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Alcohol Problems. (2026). Guidelines for the treatment of alcohol problems. https://alcoholtreatmentguidelines.com.au/

Bowen, S., Witkiewitz, K., Clifasefi, S. L., et al. (2014). Relative efficacy of mindfulness-based relapse prevention, standard relapse prevention, and treatment as usual for substance use disorders. JAMA Psychiatry, 71(5), 547–556. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.4546

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2025). Neuroscience: The brain in addiction and recovery. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/health-professionals-communities/core-resource-on-alcohol/neuroscience-brain-addiction-and-recovery

Sinha, R. (2013). The clinical neurobiology of drug craving. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 23(4), 649–654. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23764204/

Tiffany, S. T., & Wray, J. M. (2012). The clinical significance of drug craving. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1248, 1–17. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22172057/

Witteman, J., Post, H., Tarvainen, M., et al. (2015). Cue reactivity and its relation to craving and relapse in alcohol dependence: A combined laboratory and field study. Psychopharmacology, 232, 3685–3696. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25439993/