Is Alcohol Quietly Ruining Your Performance?
It’s amazing what we tolerate in the name of winding down (how many of you are reading this slightly dying in your bed this morning?)
We’ll invest in sleep trackers, supplements, cold plunges, red-light therapy and productivity hacks, all in pursuit of that extra edge. But ask someone to reconsider their evening glass of wine or beer and you’ll hit resistance faster than any caffeine crash. We convince ourselves it’s “just one”, or “well-earned”, or “part of my social life”. Maybe it is, but two weeks ago, I decided to put it to the test and see if I could go 30 days alcohol free. I’ve been here before and stopped drinking for around 7 months, so I knew the benefits it would bring, but wanted to test myself through a more challenging period, like the summer months, when I would typically have a chilled glass of Whispering Angel in my hand, watching the sunsets. Not because I hit a wall and not because I had to. Simply because I was curious about what might change if I took alcohol out of the equation, not reduced it, not managed it, just stopped it completely for a period of time. An honest experiment in performance and wellbeing.
The results?
Let’s just say, they’ve been harder to ignore than I expected.
Sleep: The Real Game-Changer
I’ve always thought I slept reasonably well. Sure, I’d wake up a few times through the night, maybe tired sometimes the next morning, but that’s life, right? Wrong.
Within a few days of cutting alcohol, I started having fuller nights’ sleep, where I genuinely felt like I had gone into a deep sleep and started waking up before my alarm. Not jolted awake, but alert and genuinely feeling totally alive for the day. I felt rested and ready to go. My WHOOP data backed it up. I’ve seen a near 20% increase in deep and REM sleep here, or Restorative sleep as Whoop calls it, and this wasn’t just about more time in bed. It was about achieving better quality recovery, spending more time in the stages of sleep that actually repair the body and restore the mind. I’ve always struggled to move this metric on my Whoop band, for all the blue light blocking glasses and night routes that I talk to my clients about. For me, I could never move it meaningfully forward. But stop alcohol for two weeks and it’s moved by a factor of 20% - wow! Coincidence? Maybe, but read on…
My recovery scores jumped from an average of around 40% to well over 60% every day. My resting heart rate dropped by 20%, a clear sign that my body was no longer processing overnight stress, and my heart wasn’t needing to work as hard. Even more striking? My heart rate variability increased (the body’s sign that you’re in balance) by 60% (this is a HUGE jump), a strong marker of improved nervous system balance and overall resilience.
WHOOP has this slightly confronting but brilliant “Lifespan” estimate. It basically tells you whether your habits are helping you live longer… or fast-tracking you to an early death.
I got my Dad a Whoop around a year ago and his lifespan score had improved by nearly a decade. Mine? It was bang on my age and heading south fast. Slightly humbling, given I’m the one supposedly into performance. But credit where it’s due, he’s in the gym most days and takes care of himself (better than I was, clearly). So when I saw my own Lifespan shift over the last two weeks, from accelerating at nearly 2x down to a more stable 1x, I was quietly buzzing. That’s a massive change in just 14 days (I'm now totally obsessed with reversing my age, because I'm not up for dying just yet...just saying!)
A longer life, it turns out, starts with a clearer head.
Energy, Mood and the Unexpected Benefits
One of the strangest things I’ve noticed? I just feel… calmer. Not in a dulled, numbed-out way but in a way that’s steady. I’ve had more energy for training, lifted heavier weights and recovered faster. But it’s not just the physical changes that have caught my attention; it’s also the way I’ve responded under pressure. Fewer spikes, less reactivity and much more patience with those around me. A little more space between stimulus and response.
I used to think that was just about mindset work, and yes, that helps tremendously, but when your nervous system isn’t constantly being agitated by disrupted sleep or low-level withdrawal, it’s a whole different baseline. I’ve been super focused in meetings, more grounded in decision-making and less emotionally volatile when the day doesn’t go to plan.
Breaking the Ritual
Of course, it hasn’t all been smooth or easy. Friday nights are probably the hardest. Last night was a great example. I’m away with family on the beautiful Isles of Scilly this weekend, and we headed across to another island called St Agnes for some dinner. The sunset was stunning, as they always are on Scilly, and those around me were happily drinking their pints and glasses of wine – something I would have been doing just a short time ago and thoroughly enjoying. The “I’ve earned this” voice is loud and the association is powerful. You don’t realise how much of your downtime is wrapped up in a glass until it’s not there.
What helped me was having a decent swap. I tried Birra Peroni 0.0, Corona 0.0, and a few others, and was honestly surprised by how much they scratched the itch. It gave me the same sense of winding down, what felt like a “proper” drink in hand, but without the compromise. No performance hit, no spike in heart rate and no disrupted sleep (hence why I’m up at 6 am on a Saturday morning writing this article). Just a subtle shift in behaviour with a disproportionate positive payoff.
That’s what this has really been — a series of small, intentional shifts with outsized results.
A Leadership Problem No One Talks About
Here’s the thing no one wants to admit, especially not leaders: Alcohol is the most socially accepted performance-reducing drug on the planet.
It’s baked into business dinners, client events, board meetings, strategy offsites, holidays, weekends… all the places we’re meant to be clear-thinking, focused, creative and well-rested. We rationalise it with words like “moderation” and “balance,” but what we’re really doing is ignoring the compounding costs. Alcohol impacts cognitive function, emotional regulation, energy levels, immune response and even decision-making - all the things we’re supposed to be great at.
It doesn't mean you're weak, it just means you're human. However, if your job requires you to operate at a high level, lead others or perform under pressure, it’s worth asking whether alcohol is quietly eroding your edge.
So What Now?
I’m not here to tell you to quit drinking, because aside from the fact that I’d be a massive hypocrite, I totally get why people do, and I’m certainly not going to moralise it. I’m not even saying I will forever. But I am saying this: the difference I’ve felt in just two weeks is enough to make me want to keep going, not out of restriction, but out of a genuine desire for more clarity, more energy and more alignment.
This is the kind of work I do with my clients. It’s rarely just about career strategy or business growth. We discuss the real stuff: the habits, systems and lifestyle decisions that either support or sabotage high performance.
You don’t have to hit a breaking point to make a change. You just need to get curious about what you really are capable of.
If you’re wondering what life might feel like without the quiet pull of alcohol in the background or other habits in your life which aren't positively stepping forward for you, I’d be happy to explore it with you and see how we might be able to transform your life
Send me a DM, ask me anything you like about my journey so far, or just try for two weeks for yourself and track what happens. You might be surprised by how quickly your body starts to thank you.
