Health Essay Example: Dependency Journal

I chose to refrain from using soda for two weeks. The reason why I chose to refrain from specifically taking soda is that I feel as though I have developed some slight addiction. I had gotten used to taking soda on a daily basis and a day could hardly end without me taking it. Also, I felt that soda is a beverage that I dont need and consequently, I can do just fine without. Significantly, soda has not much nutritional value as compared to some other beverages (Willett, 2017). Due to that fact, abstaining from taking soda would do me no harm health wise. Additionally, I felt that I was spending quite a lot on buying soda on a daily basis, whereas soda was something I could easily do without as abstaining from taking it would be of no adverse consequence to my health. I also learned that most of the ingredients used in making soda are merely chemicals, most of which are harmful to human health when taken in large amounts.

By, following my abstinence from taking soda for the two weeks, various aspects of my life have been impacted quite profoundly. For starters, from a biological perspective, one of the most notable biological changes I have noted since I refrained from taking soda is that I was less dehydrated (Sobell, Sobell & Ward, 2013). Such is evidenced by the fact that I no longer felt the urge to take a lot of water. It can be attributed to the fact that soda causes a state of body dehydration, which causes one to have the urge to drink a lot of water. However, I experienced some mild headaches, which decreased in severity with the passing of each day in the course of my abstinence.

My abstinence from taking soda for those two weeks had several psychological effects on me. In the first days of my abstinence, I felt very confused, and I could hardly concentrate on some of my daily tasks. There was a sense in which I felt that I was missing something. Such psychological effects could be attributed to the fact that I had denied my body what it had gotten used to. Thus I could not concentrate on doing most of my daily activities. Also, I felt rather sad or unhappy without any apparent cause. For this reason, I became quite restless. It is because my body was no longer getting the amount of caffeine that I was consuming before I stopped taking soda (Sobell et al., 2013). These are the psychological responses that my body gave as a consequence of my abstinence from taking soda.

From a social viewpoint, the only notable effect that I experienced was the fact that I became a little withdrawn. In the first days of my refraining from taking soda, I found myself not interacting with my colleagues as much as I used to. I tended to keep to myself and spent an unusually large amount of time sleeping. Such might have been a manifestation of the psychological effects that refraining from taking soda had on me (Willett, 2017). Also, before I stopped consuming soda, it was rather habitual for me to take soda in the company of some of my friends. As such, when I resolved not to take soda for those two weeks, I had to avoid being in the company of my friends since I would have undoubtedly felt tempted to take soda.

Concerning spirituality, when I started refraining from taking soda, I became more spiritual than ever before. Such is because, for me, the abstinence was a sacrifice that I was making. Since I tended to spend most of my time in solitude, I found myself being more contemplative upon religious issues, as well as other aspects of life. I read a lot of religious material in a bid to improve my spirituality. All said and done; it was quite blatant that my abstinence from taking soda for those two weeks helped me improve my spirituality.

The whole experience of refraining from taking soda for two weeks is unarguably very much similar to the case of an addict having to refrain from abusing alcohol or other drugs (Sobell et al., 2013). As to begin with, the process of refraining from taking soda was very problematic in the sense that the urge to take soda was very strong. It took a lot of effort and discipline on my part not to take soda. It is the same with drug and alcohol addicts who are in their rehabilitation process (van Wormer, 2016). They have to fight the urge to take alcohol or other drugs. Secondly, just like drug and alcohol addicts suffer biological and psychological effects after stopping to use their drugs of choice, I experienced several adverse effects such as feeling restless and having mild headaches.

Following the experience I had for those two weeks of refraining from taking soda, I intend to reduce the number of bottles or cans of soda that I take on a monthly basis. I plan to reduce my soda consumption gradually. I may not abstain completely from taking soda, but I have to cut back on the amount of soda that I take because of the potential benefits linked to resolution.

References

Sobell, L. C., Sobell, M. B., & Ward, E. (Eds.). (2013). Evaluating alcohol and drug abuse treatment effectiveness: Recent advances. Elsevier. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LgclBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=rehabilitation+effects+of+drug+abuse&ots=z5OSHs4CVc&sig=_8sGL97z3gep--Ln20Uv4Mds5WM&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=rehabilitation%20effects%20of%20drug%20abuse&f=false

van Wormer, K., & Davis, D. R. (2016). Addiction treatment. Cengage Learning. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=i-G5DQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=reducing+addiction+of+beverages&ots=EEY-NG9CPF&sig=eCrxAA3fi0vG9fZ4l9Bf78LyiSQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=reducing%20addiction%20of%20beverages&f=false

Willett, W. (2017). Eat, drink, and be healthy: the Harvard Medical School guide to healthy eating. Simon and Schuster. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ukk1DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=Soft+Drinks+and+Disease-the+nutrition+source&ots=6GNqYzklN2&sig=evh4PRrLxkhfd7AywC6x8YCBbTU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Soft%20Drinks%20and%20Disease-the%20nutrition%20source&f=false