As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, many people moved from their office cubicles to their kitchen tables.
Efforts to flatten the curve and prevent the spread of the virus resulted in countless makeshift at-home office spaces. Understandably, there are certain freedoms that come with working from home, including drinking alcohol during working hours. As a Delaware rehab center, we’re aware of how common drinking while working from home has become. If you’re a remote employee and have found yourself reaching for the bottle more frequently, then you may have a drinking problem.
How Alcohol Affects Your Body
Many remote employees feel confident that they can get away with drinking while working from home. While it may be easy to freshen up for a video call, drinking a certain amount of alcohol can cause obvious symptoms.
Some common side effects of drinking too much alcohol include:
- Slurred speech
- Problems breathing
- Blurred vision and hearing
- Blackouts
- Headaches
- Stomach pain
- Nausea and vomiting
- Drowsiness
- Impaired judgment
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that produces feelings of calm and relaxation. Even a few drinks can impact your mood and behavior. Especially for remote employees who have children, working from home can be extremely stressful. While there was a form of separation when the individual was commuting to and from the workplace, now the demands of their job and their families are intermingled. A hectic environment like this could easily cause someone to start drinking as a form of relaxation.
Unfortunately, many fail to recognize the dangers of drinking at work, even if work takes place in one’s own home. As with any other substance, people grow tolerant of alcohol the more they drink it, which can quickly become an addiction. At that point, it may be too difficult to quit drinking without a medically monitored detox or addiction treatment.
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Impact of Drinking at Home While Working
If you’re one of the people who drink while working remotely, you may want to consider the impact this pattern of behavior can have on your performance.
When you drink alcohol while working at home, you may experience problems like:
- Noticeably slurred speech during phone or video calls
- Inability to focus on tasks or responsibilities
- Trouble remembering your tasks for the day
- Missing emails, phone calls, and other notifications
- Showing up late to meetings or missing them entirely
- Appearing drunk or hungover in video conference calls
- Falling asleep or feeling drowsy while working
Repeated patterns of working drunk could cost not only your job but your health as well. Alcoholism is a chronic disease, and if you find yourself unable to stop drinking, then you should seek professional help immediately. At Banyan Treatment Center Delaware, our residential treatment program can separate you from the stressors of everyday life and help you get back on your feet.
Are You an Alcoholic?
Whether a person is consistently drunk at work or in their home, this pattern can have a devastating impact on their professional standing, relationships, and overall well-being. To mitigate this, it is crucial that an individual get specialized help that can aid them in overcoming their dependency before it is too late. That being said, there are certain tell-tale signs of alcohol addiction you should look out for in yourself:
- Inability to stop drinking
- Feeling hungover when you aren’t drinking
- Making excuses for drinking
- Drinking at odd hours of the day
- Drinking alone
- Abandoning responsibilities to drink
- Irritability
- Mood swings
- Temporary memory loss or blackouts
If you’re unable to quit drinking on your own or find yourself constantly worrying about where you’ll get your next drink, then you may have a drinking problem. Especially if you have a full-time job, drinking while working from home can quickly spiral out of control. Over time, the effects of alcohol on the brain can lead to permanent health problems. The longer this problem is allowed to persist, the more damage it will cause. Just remember that our treatment professionals are just a phone call away.
If you or someone you know has developed a drug or alcohol dependency, call our Delaware rehab center today at 888-280-4763 for more information about our facility and levels of care.
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