The decision to quit drinking is a powerful step towards better health and well-being. While the initial withdrawal phase can be challenging, the long-term benefits of quitting alcohol far outweigh the difficulties. From improved sleep and hydration to better mental clarity and relationships, the positive changes you experience will continue to grow and enhance your life. Quitting alcohol is a significant and life-changing decision that can have numerous positive effects on your health and well-being. Understanding the timeline and benefits can provide motivation and help you set realistic expectations.
Abuse is disastrous for health
This cognitive boost can positively impact both personal and professional aspects of your life. Living an alcohol-free life supports a sharper mind, allowing you to make the most of every moment. Sobriety allows you to address the root causes of anxiety and depression, leading to healthier coping mechanisms and a more balanced life.
It Can Improve Your Libido
If you use more than that, cutting back or quitting may lower your blood pressure, levels of fat called triglycerides, and chances of heart failure. In fact, your overall diabetes risk tends to drop with moderate alcohol consumption. However, when it comes to heavy drinking and binge drinking, your risk rises (53, 54, 55, 56). Consuming moderate amounts of alcohol may offer some health benefits. However, heavy drinking can have a negative impact on your mood and the function of your brain, heart, and other bodily systems.
If you drink beer, wine spritzers, hard seltzer, or similar products, check the alcohol content
“Regardless of healthy or unhealthy drinking habits, smokers should expect to confront the common cold more easily and with more frequency than those who abstain from nicotine consumption.” Similarly, a 2018 study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, has found that people who drink in moderation may be less likely to die early than those who stay away from booze altogether. Another study from 2017 followed approximately 333,000 adults who drink alcohol and found that those who kept their drinking habits in moderation saw a 21% lower risk of mortality than participants benefits of drinking alcohol who never drank. But research has also shown that drinking alcohol in moderation can actually be beneficial for your health in some surprising ways. Excessive alcohol use can harm people who drink and those around them.
By cutting out booze, you can score more get-up-and-go, more patience with your kids, a clearer head, and much better health overall — and it doesn’t take long to reap the benefits. Although each person’s experience will be unique, here’s a general timeline of what happens when heavy drinkers give it a rest. Now, having that many drinks over the course of seven days doesn’t mean you’re an alcoholic (though it can put you at risk of developing a dependency).
Lowers The Chance Of Diabetes
Enjoying alcohol socially in reasonable amounts can boost your mood and help you bond with others. But if you drink alone, or down multiple drinks a day, it could turn into an unhealthy habit. If you can’t control it, it may lead to a condition called alcohol use disorder. Giving up drinking may let you focus on your relationships, work, and health.
Recommendations for alcohol intake are usually based on the number of standard drinks per day. If you are a heavy drinker, following a healthy diet and exercise routine will still be beneficial for your health, but not as much as getting your alcohol consumption under control, or abstaining completely. Conversely, drinking moderately has been linked to a reduced risk of dementia — especially in older adults (16, 17, 18). Ethanol, the active ingredient in alcoholic drinks, is generally referred to as “alcohol.” It can have powerful effects on your mental state.
- Moderate drinking is defined as at most one standard drink per day for women and at most two for men, while heavy drinking is defined as more than three drinks per day for women and four for men (80).
- “For a light drinker, you don’t really need to taper,” says Dr. Mosquera.
- You and your community can take steps to improve everyone’s health and quality of life.
Mounting evidence links alcohol with cancer. Defining a “safe” amount of drinking is tricky — and controversial.
- Over time, heavy drinking can cloud your perception of distances and volumes, or slow and impair your motor skills.
- Finally, try this interactive tool from the CDC, which can help you make a personalized plan to drink less.
- Of course, no one needs to wait for new guidelines or warning labels to curb their drinking.
Lower-alcohol or non-alcoholic beers or wines are a good choice too – there is a wide range available in supermarkets. Reaching for a glass of wine is common when you’ve had a bad day, but alcohol is a depressant, which means it can affect our thoughts, feelings and actions – and sometimes our long-term mental health. Regularly drinking large quantities of alcohol can lead to a higher risk of a number of health problems in the long term, such as fatty liver, which is damage to the liver caused by drinking too much alcohol. Although many people use alcohol to help them get to sleep more quickly, drinking actually disrupts your sleep cycle later in the night. You spend less time in a deep sleep and more time in the Alcoholics Anonymous less restful rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep, so you’ll feel tired the next day.
- This is particularly true if people replace alcohol with high-caloric foods and beverages.
- Other studies suggest that reducing the amount of alcohol you drink could cut your risk of having a major cardiac event by nearly a quarter.
- It also may ease any depression and anxiety and elevate your self-esteem.
“So dry skin, often with a flushed complexion, is not a look most of us would choose.” “When people give up or cut back on alcohol, they often say that they feel less anxious, or less depressed,” says Prof Marlow. “For many people this is surprising, because they’ve assumed that alcohol has been helping them to manage anxiety and depression, whereas in fact it’s the opposite. “Alcohol causes seven types of cancer, including breast and bowel, and it’s responsible for around 11,900 cases of cancer every year in the UK,” says Malcolm Clark, a senior prevention policy manager from Cancer Research UK. A study in the Journal of Endocrinology suggests that the chemicals in the beer may act as phytoestrogens, which can help diminish hot flashes and lessen other menopause symptoms.