The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett How Alcohol Rewires Your Brain and Increases Cancer Risk by 40%! The Alcohol Doctor, Dr. Sarah Wakeman
May 22, 2025
01:47:26
Are you unknowingly damaging your brain and raising your cancer risk with just one drink? Discover the alarming truth about alcohol from Dr. Sarah Wakeman, what every adult needs to know now.
Dr. Sarah Wakeman is senior medical director for substance use disorder at Mass General Brigham healthcare system, the number one research system in the U.S. She is also the Medical Director of the Mass General Hospital Addiction Consult Team and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
She explains:
How alcohol is hijacking your dopamine system.
Why no amount of alcohol is good for your brain.
The shocking truth about moderate drinking.
How doctors are failing addiction patients on a daily basis.
Why 1 in 3 people will struggle with alcohol.
00:00 Intro
02:23 Sarah's Mission
02:52 Sarah's Education and Experience
03:40 Issues With Addiction Treatment in the Modern World
04:31 What Is Addiction?
05:48 What Things Are Capable of Being Addictive?
06:47 Physiological Dependence vs. Addiction
07:25 Scale of the Problem: Why Should People Care?
08:59 Is Society Getting Better or More Addicted?
09:32 Substance-Related Deaths During the Pandemic
10:22 What Drives People to Use Substances?
12:24 Substances' Effects on the Brain
14:29 Does Trauma at a Young Age Increase Addiction Risk?
16:36 The Opposite of Addiction Is Connection
18:11 Why Addiction Matters to Sarah
19:02 Living With a Family Member Struggling With Addiction
20:43 Who Is Sarah Trying to Save?
22:57 Change Happens When the Pain of Staying the Same Is Greater Than the Pain of Change
25:53 Misconceptions About Alcohol
28:15 Is There a Healthy Level of Alcohol Consumption?
28:50 Is One Drink a Day Safe for Health?
30:38 Link Between Moderate Drinking and Cancer
33:23 Types of Cancer Linked to Alcohol Consumption
34:51 Cancer Risk Among Heavy Drinkers
35:31 Heavy Drinking and Comorbidities as Cancer Risk Factors
36:20 How Alcohol Drives Cancer Mechanisms
38:00 Alcohol and Weight Gain
38:54 The Role of the Liver
42:07 Liver's Ability to Regenerate
46:37 How Alcohol Causes Brain Deterioration
47:23 Other Organs Affected by Alcohol
48:00 Alcohol's Impact on the Heart
49:08 Body Fat Percentage and Alcohol Tolerance
50:05 Does High Alcohol Tolerance Prevent Organ Damage?
50:46 What Is a Hangover?
52:14 Balancing the Risks and Benefits of Alcohol
53:47 Is Rehab Effective for Addiction?
56:50 Psychedelic Therapy for Addiction
57:36 GLP-1 Medications for Addiction Treatment
59:03 Ads
59:59 Celebrity Addictions
1:02:24 Stigma Around Addiction
1:04:41 Addiction Cases That Broke Sarah's Heart
1:12:43 Is Empathy Positive Reinforcement for Addicted Individuals?
1:15:34 Setting Boundaries With an Addicted Person
1:18:57 Motivational Interviewing to Support Recovery
1:22:19 Finding Motivation for Positive Change
1:26:03 Habits to Support Addiction Recovery
1:29:12 Ads
1:30:18 Can the Brain Recover From Addiction?
1:34:55 Unexpected Sources of Addictive Behavior
1:35:35 How Sarah Copes With Difficult Addiction Cases
1:37:10 Importance of Language Around Addiction
1:41:40 How Labels Limit People's Potential
1:46:05 Sarah's Upcoming Book
You can find out more about Dr. Sarah’s profile, here: https://bit.ly/4mxu191
Ready to think like a CEO? Gain access to the 100 CEOs newsletter here: bit.ly/100-ceos-megaphone
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https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt
The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition):
https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb
Get email updates: https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt
Follow Steven: https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb
Research document:
https://stevenbartlett.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DOAC-Dr-Sarah-Wakeman-Independent-Research-further-reading.pdf
Sponsors:
Ekster - https://partner.ekster.com/DIARYOFACEO with code DOACLinkedin Ads - https://www.linkedin.com/DIARY
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theexperienceplus.substack.com
Dr. Sarah Wakeman is senior medical director for substance use disorder at Mass General Brigham healthcare system, the number one research system in the U.S. She is also the Medical Director of the Mass General Hospital Addiction Consult Team and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
She explains:
How alcohol is hijacking your dopamine system.
Why no amount of alcohol is good for your brain.
The shocking truth about moderate drinking.
How doctors are failing addiction patients on a daily basis.
Why 1 in 3 people will struggle with alcohol.
00:00 Intro
02:23 Sarah's Mission
02:52 Sarah's Education and Experience
03:40 Issues With Addiction Treatment in the Modern World
04:31 What Is Addiction?
05:48 What Things Are Capable of Being Addictive?
06:47 Physiological Dependence vs. Addiction
07:25 Scale of the Problem: Why Should People Care?
08:59 Is Society Getting Better or More Addicted?
09:32 Substance-Related Deaths During the Pandemic
10:22 What Drives People to Use Substances?
12:24 Substances' Effects on the Brain
14:29 Does Trauma at a Young Age Increase Addiction Risk?
16:36 The Opposite of Addiction Is Connection
18:11 Why Addiction Matters to Sarah
19:02 Living With a Family Member Struggling With Addiction
20:43 Who Is Sarah Trying to Save?
22:57 Change Happens When the Pain of Staying the Same Is Greater Than the Pain of Change
25:53 Misconceptions About Alcohol
28:15 Is There a Healthy Level of Alcohol Consumption?
28:50 Is One Drink a Day Safe for Health?
30:38 Link Between Moderate Drinking and Cancer
33:23 Types of Cancer Linked to Alcohol Consumption
34:51 Cancer Risk Among Heavy Drinkers
35:31 Heavy Drinking and Comorbidities as Cancer Risk Factors
36:20 How Alcohol Drives Cancer Mechanisms
38:00 Alcohol and Weight Gain
38:54 The Role of the Liver
42:07 Liver's Ability to Regenerate
46:37 How Alcohol Causes Brain Deterioration
47:23 Other Organs Affected by Alcohol
48:00 Alcohol's Impact on the Heart
49:08 Body Fat Percentage and Alcohol Tolerance
50:05 Does High Alcohol Tolerance Prevent Organ Damage?
50:46 What Is a Hangover?
52:14 Balancing the Risks and Benefits of Alcohol
53:47 Is Rehab Effective for Addiction?
56:50 Psychedelic Therapy for Addiction
57:36 GLP-1 Medications for Addiction Treatment
59:03 Ads
59:59 Celebrity Addictions
1:02:24 Stigma Around Addiction
1:04:41 Addiction Cases That Broke Sarah's Heart
1:12:43 Is Empathy Positive Reinforcement for Addicted Individuals?
1:15:34 Setting Boundaries With an Addicted Person
1:18:57 Motivational Interviewing to Support Recovery
1:22:19 Finding Motivation for Positive Change
1:26:03 Habits to Support Addiction Recovery
1:29:12 Ads
1:30:18 Can the Brain Recover From Addiction?
1:34:55 Unexpected Sources of Addictive Behavior
1:35:35 How Sarah Copes With Difficult Addiction Cases
1:37:10 Importance of Language Around Addiction
1:41:40 How Labels Limit People's Potential
1:46:05 Sarah's Upcoming Book
You can find out more about Dr. Sarah’s profile, here: https://bit.ly/4mxu191
Ready to think like a CEO? Gain access to the 100 CEOs newsletter here: bit.ly/100-ceos-megaphone
The 1% Diary is back - limited time only:
https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt
The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition):
https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb
Get email updates: https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt
Follow Steven: https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb
Research document:
https://stevenbartlett.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DOAC-Dr-Sarah-Wakeman-Independent-Research-further-reading.pdf
Sponsors:
Ekster - https://partner.ekster.com/DIARYOFACEO with code DOACLinkedin Ads - https://www.linkedin.com/DIARY
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theexperienceplus.substack.com