20 Life-Changing Health Benefits Of Not Drinking Alcohol

People facing anxiety and depression drink intentionally to reduce stress and improve their mood. While drinking may https://ecosoberhouse.com/ provide a few hours of relief, it may worsen your overall mental health over time. Some research has identified a possible benefit of light to moderate alcohol consumption on brain health.

Possible Health Benefits of Alcohol

Your skin may appear fuller and healthier in consistency and quality. If your alcohol use distracted you from skin and hair hygiene, then the effects of sobriety can be even greater. After four weeks of hair growth without the effects of alcohol, your hair may appear fuller and more supple. Years of sobriety bring about remarkable changes to your overall health and well-being. The reduced risk of chronic conditions such as liver diseases, pancreatitis, and certain cancers becomes more pronounced. As alcohol exits your system, your sleep quality may improve, leading to more restful nights.

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Over time, large amounts of alcohol blunt your immune system and your body’s ability to repair itself. If you need a break from alcohol, going alcohol-free for a month is alcohol ever good for you or more can bring about many physical and mental health benefits. Many people participate in “dry January” and take the month off from drinking alcohol to reset after the holiday season. And perhaps that should not be too surprising since study methods differ widely. For example, the definition of «one drink» in the US is 14 grams of alcohol, as found in a 12-ounce bottle of beer, 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5-ounce shot glass of distilled spirits.

Moderate drinking increases health risks compared to not drinking

• Quitting alcohol can significantly reduce your risk of developing certain types of cancer.
• Gargling some whiskey, combined with a spoonful of warm water, can help ease pain by numbing the throat.

A drink also may help raise a man’s testosterone levels, which makes both men and women friskier. But men who drink too much can lose the desire and the ability to have sex. Another important consideration is that drug addiction treatment people who have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, caused by obesity and other metabolic syndromes, have a much higher risk of developing alcoholic liver disease.

• Researchers followed a small group of Spanish participants over the course of 12 years and found that those who who drank «low amounts of wine spread out over the week» but avoided binge drinking showed a 25% reduced risk of mortality.
• Another important consideration is that people who have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, caused by obesity and other metabolic syndromes, have a much higher risk of developing alcoholic liver disease.
• Stopping alcohol can reduce many of these risks, potentially adding decades to your life expectancy.
• Over time, chronic alcohol consumption can further imbalance the gut microbiome, promoting bacterial overgrowth and dysbiosis.
• The ethanol in alcohol inflames your liver cells and causes the liver to swell, says Mohammad Alhabbal, the medical director at AdCare Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Your body breaks alcohol down into a chemical called acetaldehyde, which damages your DNA. Damaged DNA can cause a cell to grow out of control, which results in cancerous tumors. Your gut microbiome is a hotbed of bacteria that help keep your digestive system happy and healthy. The trillions of microbes in your colon and large and small intestines are critical to proper digestion.