Dr Alex George shares major milestone after 'numbing' himself with booze
Dr Alex George has celebrated a year of sobriety after quitting drinking last Christmas, revealing he's 'never been fitter, mentally or physically' since ditching alcohol.
Having teamed up with Bear Grylls to launch Mettle, a new mental health app designed for men, the Love Island star is practising what he preaches when it comes to his own wellbeing. Over the past several months, Alex, 32, has overhauled his lifestyle – streamlining his nutrition, upping his activity levels and focusing on close relationships.
One major step the Welsh native has taken to optimise his health has been to cut out drinking – a decision he says has helped make him the 'fittest he's ever been.' Alex marked his one-year anniversary of sobriety at the end of November, after realizing that he had developed a 'harmful' relationship with alcohol in his twenties.
"I was drinking to numb myself," he told the Mirror, recalling how he'd frequently down five or six pints on a Friday and Saturday night. Realizing that he wasn't enjoying it anymore, Alex quit the booze during the Christmas season last year and has been abstinent ever since. "I didn't feel healthy or happy with it," the UK Youth Mental Health Ambassador explained, before sharing the numerous benefits he's experienced from sobriety over the past twelve months.
Dr Alex George has teamed up with Bear Grylls to launch Mettle, a new mental health app for men (Mettle)
Dr Alex George says he's 'never been fitter' since giving up alcohol (Mettle)"I've lost five or six stone in weight, which is partly to do with the alcohol situation," he revealed. "People who drink less alcohol move more, you make better choices with your food, and of course, alcohol is very calorific." Alex has also seen an improvement in his skin, which can be left dehydrated and dry by alcohol, admitting it's "never been better." He's even more rested, hailing sober sleep – with its bonus of no hangover – as "amazing".
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As for the social impact of not drinking, Alex has been able to enjoy hanging out with others just as much, if not more, without the liquor. "You can do the same stuff, but alcohol doesn't have to be the centre point," he explains, before adding that his tipple of choice is now a Guinness Zero.
"I’m quite lucky, non-alcoholic drinks have become more prevalent. People know that I don’t drink, I’ll order whatever drink I’m ordering. I don’t even discuss it," he said.
Having thrived so much in the past year without alcohol, Alex is now unsure if he'll ever drink again. "I don't feel like I'm missing anything," he said. "I just don't have an interest. I wouldn't put a constraint on myself. If I do a drink [in the future], it would just be a glass of Prosecco."
Alex also says his ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) as being a major motivation for quitting the booze. He was diagnosed with the condition last year, after a discussion with DJ Toddla T on his walking podcast, Stompcast, prompted him to get tested.
"As I spoke to him, a penny just dropped," he said, admitting he'd 'always wondered' if he was neurodivergent after years of struggling with attention, hypersensitivity and initiating tasks. "The problem is when you start putting alcohol in the mix that can play havoc with ADHD," he explains. "It's a big reason I stopped drinking, because you have a brain that's already impulsive and you're applying something that disinhibits that brain. It means you eat rubbish, you drink more...I stopped, and it's the best thing I've ever done."
As for Mettle, Alex hopes that the game-changing app will target a whole new demographic who may not have been served by the current products on the market. After logging on, users take a WHO questionnaire to assess their wellbeing, before being prescribed a customised plan that focuses on building fitness and resilience. "You don't need to think too much to use it," Alex added, before highlighting the importance of equipping men with a toolkit to boost their mental health.
"We teach men to be silent, but we train them to speak. Society says, 'Big boys don't cry,' and all these toxic things...When you grow up with that, it's then very hard when you're struggling to open up. We're trying to bring people to the table, regardless of how you see mental health, by focusing on the key things that men want. But while you're at the table, we're also going to focus on emotional literacy, developing the ability to open up, seeing emotion as strength. My hope is that in the generations ahead, we won't see such a difference between men and women. It is changing, but we have a long way to go."
Mettle is available to download on the Apple App Store now with Google Play Store coming soon. Users get a 14 day free trial, thereafter subscriptions are available for £12.99 a month, £99.99 annually. To celebrate the launch, all Mettle users that sign up before 5th December get 50% off their subscription, for life.
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