“Alcohol is a depressant that makes you slower both mentally and physically,” says Dr Niall Campbell, consultant psychiatrist and addiction expert at The Priory, London. “When you stop drinking, you quickly gain better focus and concentration and even greater physical capability.
If you stop drinking completely, one of the first things you notice should be improved energy levels, better sleep and finding it easier to wake up in the morning. Regular drinking can affect the quality of your sleep making you feel tired and sluggish during the day.
And the meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open that involved 107 studies with more than 4.8 million participants also found no longevity benefit for drinkers. This research showed that people who have one or two drinks a day have essentially the same risk of dying prematurely as people who've never had alcohol.
You may have relied on alcohol or other substances to relax in social settings, and you might wonder if all the fun and exciting times of your life are behind you. It's possible to learn to enjoy yourself without alcohol, but it may take time and practice.
Not drinking can improve your brain health. Not only can poor mental health lead to drinking, but drinking can also lead to poor mental health. In the short-term, alcohol can reduce anxiety and release your inhibitions. But anything beyond a drink a day increases the risk of new or worsening mental health problems.
It's pretty normal to feel bored in early sobriety, but it's kind of related to not being used to feeling calm or peace. The feeling of things being too quiet or empty does pass. Don't be scared. I promise you will have so much fun in life without alcohol.
Summary. Across the month, your body is likely to have benefitted greatly from giving up alcohol. Better hydration and improved sleep will have increased your productivity and daily wellbeing. Your liver, stomach and skin will also have benefitted from not dealing with alcohol.
With fewer calories and no negative effects of alcohol, you can stay out all night with your friends throwing back NA after NA without worrying about hangovers, DUIs, liver damage, or waking up wondering if you made a fool of yourself the night before.
The teetotaler (0 drinks/week) and the excessive drinker (8+ drinks/week) were projected to live to 92 and 93 years old, respectively. The same person having one drink per week was projected to live to 94, and the moderate drinker (2-7 drinks/week) was projected to live 95 years.
Without alcohol in your life, you'll get better sleep, and wake up without a hangover. This can lead to more energy and productivity. You'll also experience long-term improvements in your health and reduced risk of alcohol-related conditions, like heart and liver complications.
At 3 weeks of not drinking, most drinkers have successfully reduced their risk of heart disease, including stroke, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Their kidney health and even their vision may improve. For dependent drinkers, blood pressure may reduce to normal levels by the 3rd or 4th week.
Research has found that just four weeks without a drink can be enough to start lowering both blood pressure and heart rate. * Your risk of type 2 diabetes has already started to reduce (in one study insulin resistance came down by an average of 28 per cent) and your cholesterol levels should be starting to lower.
Liver Issues And Alcoholism
An individual diagnosed with liver cirrhosis has an expected life span thereafter of around 12 years [12]. Most alcoholics are diagnosed with liver disease between the age of 30 and 40 [13], giving an expectation of, at best, 52 years of age.
Heavy alcoholics consuming at least 80 g of alcohol per day for more than 10 years will develop liver disease at a rate of nearly 100%.
Myth: I don't drink every day OR I only drink wine or beer, so I can't be an alcoholic. Fact: Alcoholism is NOT defined by what you drink, when you drink it, or even how much you drink. It's the EFFECTS of your drinking that define a problem.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking is considered to be in the moderate or low-risk range for women at no more than three drinks in any one day and no more than seven drinks per week. For men, it is no more than four drinks a day and no more than 14 drinks per week.
After abstinence from alcohol for 2 to 3 weeks, hepatic steatosis completely resolves and liver biopsies appear normal when examined by electron microscopy.
Reduced anxiety, better sleep and increased energy and productivity top the list of benefits that participants typically experience, not to mention significant improvement in weight and body composition, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and liver enzymes.
Over-60s who drink a lot enjoy life more than those who are teetotal says a new study. Those with heavy drinking habits are likely to experience a better quality of life as they get older reveals a new study, that also linked drinking to better health.
Since alcohol can increase the body's production of dopamine and serotonin, two of the body's 'happy hormones', it can temporarily make us feel less anxious. Long term drinking, however, can lower levels of both these hormones as well as lowering blood sugar and increasing dehydration, leading to worse anxiety.
When you're sober, you'll have more time to focus on yourself and your well-being. You can engage in physically and mentally healthy activities, such as regular exercise, eating nutritious meals, and taking care of your mental health. You'll also be able to regulate your emotions better without drugs or alcohol.
Alcohols bind with other atoms to create secondary alcohols. These secondary alcohols are the three types of alcohol that humans use every day: methanol, isopropanol, and ethanol.