The 'Cleveland Show' star reveals she decided to give up drinking three years ago after noticing that alcohol affected her anxiety and her brain started to get unbalanced.
- Aug 8, 2021
AceShowbiz - Sanaa Lathan quit drinking three years ago after it started "dimming (her) energy" and "affecting anxiety."
The "Best Man" star told People she decided to do some research on the effects of alcohol after she noticed the symptoms she was having following a drink.
"I stopped drinking about three years ago," she said. "Alcohol was not going well with me physically. Just, it was not working anymore. It affects everything, and that's part of the reason why I stopped, because even if you're going out a couple of times a week and you're drinking, it was starting to affect me throughout the week. It wouldn't be necessarily a hangover, but it definitely dimmed my energy. I didn't feel as good. It was affecting anxiety."
"You don't realise how over time it gets your brain out of balance as well. And the more I educated myself on really what it does to you."
Sanaa - who can soon be seen in HBO show "Succession" - added that her mother is teetotal, and is the "funniest, happiest person" she knows.
In addition to quitting alcohol, Sanaa turned to meditation to help her manage her stress levels, which increased dramatically following the sudden death of her best friend.
"I didn't process it and just kept on being the strong girl, being a strong woman," she explained. "And then several months later, I started having panic attacks. I didn't know what a panic attack was. Little did I know that it's a real thing, and I would get three to five a day, even if I was happy."
"I went to the doctor and he was like, 'This is a result of trauma that you did not process correctly. It's when your body. It's handling it.' And he was like, 'There's medications, but you can try holistic things first.' And I always tend to do the holistic thing first, before I go a traditional route. So I started (meditating), and as soon as I started, they went away. There's so many benefits. And so, I'm a huge believer, a huge advocate."
