A Burst of Mental Clarity at 60 Days Sober (Cognitive Healing) (E276)

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Many people experience a noticeable shift in mental clarity around 60 days sober. When it happened to me I felt like I was waking up from a long dream and I could finally use my brain again. This may feel like being present, having patience, better focus and attention, improved memory, and reduced mental clutter. In this episode, I’ll explain how alcohol causes cognitive impairments, why we have mental clarity around 60 days in, and how things like memory, attention, and processing speed recover in early sobriety. You’ll learn a general timeline for cognitive healing and which functions take longer than 60 days to begin to recover.

What to listen to next:

E246: Alcohol and Dementia

E220: The Hippocampus and Alcohol: Blackouts, Memory Deficits, and Learned Associations

E216: 4 Types of Impulsivity

E254: Why You Can’t Make Good Decisions About Your Drinking (or Anything Else)

E265: E265: Rewiring Your Reward System After Getting Sober

Resources I offer:

Sober Support:

• Community & Meetings: Living a Sober Powered Life

• Weekly emails on Fridays

 Work with me:

• Sober Coaching

Courses:

• The non-negotiable mindset

• Sober milestones: what to expect when you quit drinking

• Anger Management 

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If you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support all the research and effort that goes into this podcast. This is a one woman show!

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Cite:

Gillian Tietz. A Burst of Mental Clarity at 60 Days Sober (Cognitive Healing) (E276). Sober Powered. 2025

Please respect my intellectual property and properly credit me if you share my work.

Sources

1. Endreddy, A. et al. A prospective study of amelioration of cognitive functions following alcohol abstinence in patients with alcohol dependence syndrome. Archives of Mental Health. 2023

2. Welch KA. Alcohol consumption and brain health. BMJ. 2017

3. Topiwala A, Allan CL, Valkanova V, et al. Moderate alcohol consumption as risk factor for adverse brain outcomes and cognitive decline: longitudinal cohort study. BMJ. 2017

4. Powell A, Sumnall H, Smith J, Kuiper R, Montgomery C. Recovery of neuropsychological function following abstinence from alcohol in adults diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder: Systematic review of longitudinal studies. PLoS ONE. 2024