Editorial policy
How the 100 articles and 10 calculators on this site are researched, sourced, updated and corrected — and the limits of what any of it can tell you.
Read this first
Everything on this site is educational information, not medical advice. It is not a substitute for professional help, diagnosis or treatment, and it cannot account for your own health history. Our content is not medically reviewed — there is no clinician on staff — so instead we cite the primary medical sources behind every health claim and link them so you can read the original.
If you drink heavily or daily, do not stop suddenly without medical advice. Alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous and is sometimes life-threatening. In the US, the SAMHSA National Helpline is 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7). In an emergency, call 911 or your local emergency number.
Who writes this
One person: Ziggy, the founder of Rebuild. He built the Rebuild app and researches and writes the articles and tool methodology on this site. Articles carry the byline "By Ziggy · Founder of Rebuild" and link back to his author page.
He is not a doctor, nurse, therapist or academic researcher. His experience is in building the app's recovery models — blood alcohol curves, withdrawal timelines, recovery phases — which required reading the clinical and public-health literature closely. We state this plainly rather than dressing the site up with credentials that don't exist.
How content is produced
- 1. Start from the question a real person asks. Topics come from what people actually search and from questions Rebuild users send in — "is it normal to not sleep in week one", "when does my liver recover".
- 2. Research against primary sources. Claims are checked against public-health bodies and peer-reviewed literature (see below), not against other blogs or AI summaries of blogs.
- 3. Write it plainly, keep the numbers honest. Where the evidence gives a range, we give the range. Where individual variation dominates — withdrawal severity, recovery speed — we say so instead of inventing a single number.
- 4. List the sources on the page. Health articles end with a Sources section naming each publication and linking to it, so you can verify anything you doubt.
- 5. Add the safety context. Articles on withdrawal, quitting, recovery timelines, the science of alcohol, and mental health carry a visible disclaimer and helpline information, because those are the pages where being wrong could hurt someone.
The sources we rely on
In rough order of how often they're used:
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) — standard drink definitions, alcohol metabolism, drinking-level definitions, treatment guidance.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — US population data, standard drink sizes, alcohol-related health risks (cdc.gov/alcohol).
- World Health Organization (WHO) — global burden of alcohol, screening instruments such as AUDIT.
- NHS (UK) — UK units, low-risk drinking guidelines, plain-language clinical guidance.
- NCBI Bookshelf / StatPearls and peer-reviewed journal literature via PubMed — withdrawal syndrome, pharmacokinetics, specific study findings.
Where a calculator uses a formula — the Widmark equation for blood alcohol, UK units, calories per gram of alcohol — the method is written out in a "How this is calculated" box on that tool's page, with its sources linked. We don't ask you to trust a number we won't explain.
What this site does not do
- It is not medically reviewed. No doctor or clinician reviews these pages before publication. Nothing on this site should be read as a clinician's opinion, and you'll never see a "medically reviewed" badge here.
- It does not diagnose. Our quizzes and checkers are screening prompts built on published instruments. Only a qualified professional who can examine you can diagnose alcohol use disorder or judge your withdrawal risk.
- It does not recommend treatment or medication. No dosing, no detox protocols, no telling you to stop or continue a prescription.
- It does not tell you it's safe to drive. Our blood alcohol estimates are estimates. They are never a green light to get behind the wheel.
- It does not replace a person. A doctor, a therapist, a helpline or someone who loves you will always be worth more than an article.
Updates and corrections
Every article shows a "Last updated" date at the top. That date changes when the content changes — not on a schedule, and never just to look fresh.
We review health articles when a cited source publishes a substantive revision, when guidance changes (drinking guidelines and legal limits both move), or when a reader points out an error. Factual corrections are made as soon as we can verify them.
Found something wrong, outdated or badly explained? Tell us — include the page and, if you have one, the source. Corrections that change meaning get a fresh update date.
Money and independence
This site is published by Rebuild and exists partly to introduce people to the Rebuild app, which is free to use with an optional paid Pro tier. We say so openly.
We run no display ads, and no article, comparison or tool on this site is sponsored, paid for, or influenced by a third party. Comparison articles that mention other apps are not affiliate placements — we make nothing if you choose one of them.
If you need help now
- Emergency: call 911 (US) or your local emergency number — especially for a seizure, confusion, a very high fever, or someone who cannot be woken.
- SAMHSA National Helpline (US): 1-800-662-4357 — free, confidential, 24/7 treatment referral and information service.
- Find treatment: findtreatment.gov and the NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator.
- Outside the US: contact your doctor or your country's health service — in the UK, see NHS advice on alcohol misuse.
Questions about this policy
Write to us via the contact page. See also our privacy policy and terms of service.