This Is What Happens When You Stop Drinking
Unleashing the Mysteries of Abstinence: Brace Yourself for these Shocking Transformations After Kicking the Booze Habit
Behold! The mystic concoction known to some as the elixir of the gods and to others as hooch. While indulging in a fancy and pricey cocktail may result in an exquisite taste sensation, it comes at a hefty price, one that may ultimately jeopardize your health. As a result, we should investigate the genuine benefits of abstaining from alcohol intake.
Your liver gently filters out the poisons and sweets included in alcohol seconds after you stop drinking.
The chemical ethanol is responsible for your intoxication.
It accomplishes this by attaching to brain receptors.
Most notably, ethanol binds to glutamate neurotransmitters, causing the brain to respond to stimuli more slowly.
Along with glutamate neurotransmitters, ethanol binds to multiple additional receptors, slowing brain function. Drunkenness is the effect of these blocked receptors.
This process can take some time to reverse, and the hangover that follows a heavy night of drinking is caused by your body’s attempt to rid itself of the ethanol and other poisonous substances, as well as dehydration. Unfortunately, if ethanol builds up in your system, it can kill you. Your body has filtered your blood multiple times and processed the alcohol you’ve consumed after around an hour. The time it takes your body to break down the alcohol directly correlates to the amount consumed.
About an hour after you stop drinking your body starts to feel tired due to the high amount of energy it uses to remove the alcohol from your blood.
And since it takes about six hours for your body to completely break down all the ethanol in your system and bring the sugar, water, and other nutrient levels back to normal, the lingering effects of drunkenness will persist.
After you’ve had your last sip of alcohol your body needs more rest than usual to recover from your attempts to poison it.
Unfortunately, until you get past this stage, it is difficult to have a good night’s sleep.
In fact, recent research suggests that alcohol actually increases alpha wave patterns in the brain, which are only supposed to be present while you’re awake.
This implies that alcohol tricks the brain into thinking the body is awake when it is really trying to sleep. But there is good news, if you manage to not drink for 6 to 12 hours your body physically starts to change for the better.
Prepare to be amazed since drinking can impair your immune system, leaving you more susceptible to deadly viruses and germs that circulate around bars and parties. However, there is some good news, if you stop drinking, your immune system will return to normal in just 24 hours! That is only the beginning of sobriety’s transforming impact. But if you’re a heavy drinker or an alcoholic, hang on tight because withdrawal symptoms will strike you hard around the 24-hour mark after you put down the bottle.
Your body may still crave the chemical changes that occur when you drink, and therefore, you would start to develop symptoms such as the shakes, cold sweats, increased pulse, nausea, and anxiety.
These will eventually pass but the amount of time these withdrawals last is based on each person and how much alcohol they usually consume on a daily basis.
Wow, hats off to you! If you manage to abstain from alcohol for a solid 3 to 5 days, get ready to reap the rewards of sobriety. Brace yourself for a drop in blood pressure and a noticeable decrease in stress levels. Physicians often advise patients with hypertension to cut back on their alcohol intake, so even if that’s not your primary aim, your body will definitely thank you for the much-needed reprieve less than a week after you go teetotal.
You might also notice your appetite begins to decrease about a week after you stop consuming alcohol. This is one of the reasons that people tend to lose weight when they quit drinking. The other reason is that on average each drink you’re consuming contains a couple of hundred calories.
And since the sugars in alcohol don’t break down in your body very well, much of it gets stored as fat. If you can give up drinking for an entire week you may also find your skin looks and feels better. This is because your body is now more hydrated.
Not only does alcohol make you pee more often, but it also decreases your antidiuretic hormone levels, which play a role in allowing your body to reabsorb water. Somewhere around the seven-day mark after you stop drinking, these hormone levels are back to normal and your body is retaining more water. This is good not only for your skin but for your body overall.
Again it is important to remember that the time between when you stop drinking and start seeing these benefits will vary depending on the person and how much alcohol they previously consumed. A couple of weeks without alcohol you may find your cognitive abilities start to improve.
This is because the brain, like many parts of your body, is resilient.
The damage done to your neural pathway by the ethanol can be reversed.
You will never regain memories from when you blacked out while drinking or recover thoughts that were obliterated from overconsumption of alcohol, but many of your neural connections will heal themselves over the coming weeks and months.
You will see even bigger benefits if you quit for more than 1 or 2 weeks.
Without the pressure of filtering alcohol, your kidneys will begin to repair themselves.
Like the liver, the kidneys filter out toxins. They are not quite as affected by alcohol as the liver is, but overconsumption can definitely cause damage over time.
After a couple of weeks of no drinking, the kidneys will heal enough to maintain proper fluid levels, waste excretion, and hormone balances.
If enough damage is caused to the kidneys from excessive drinking you will feel much better once they are healed.
The organ that takes the brunt of the damage when you drink is the liver. It is a vital structure and without it, you can’t survive.
So, about three weeks to a month after you completely stop drinking, your liver will begin to thank you. It is around then that the tissue will start to regenerate fully and the liver will repair itself. Without having to worry about alcohol, your liver can focus on breaking down other toxins that are produced by the body, which overall will make you feel healthier.
The regeneration of damaged tissue takes time, but it happens much quicker when you stop drinking.
A month or two after your last sip of alcohol your liver will be working at full power again. Just reducing the amount of alcohol you consume on a weekly basis can be beneficial for your liver. But if you really want to thank this vital organ for all it’s done to keep you alive, there is nothing better than giving it a rest from breaking down alcohol. And if liver regeneration wasn’t a big enough benefit, there is another major change that will occur to your body after not drinking for around a month or two.
I’m sure you’ve heard that a glass of wine a day can improve the health of your heart.
Well, too much drinking can also damage your heart and increase your chances of having a heart attack or a stroke. Around two months after you stop drinking your heart will have repaired most of the damage caused by overconsumption of alcohol.
However, the best thing you can do to increase heart strength is to exercise.
By reducing or completely stopping your alcohol consumption and exercising more, your heart can become stronger and healthier.
Even though this next change doesn’t directly impact your body, something amazing happens when you’ve stopped drinking for a few months. Your bank account suddenly start looking healthier too!. Having more money could lead to less stress in your life, which would definitely be beneficial for your health. Research has shown that people who drink socially end up spending between $500 to $1,200 on alcohol annually.
But if you live in a more expensive city and enjoy going out for drinks frequently, these numbers can be much higher.
People who stopped drinking have noticed that the money they saved was enough for a down payment on a car or to take the vacation they’ve always wanted to go on.
These are clearly positive impacts on your life that may result in less stress and increased happiness. Interestingly, stress has very similar effects on the body as alcohol does.
It can increase blood pressure, cause heart problems, negatively affect your skin, and cause depression.
Months after you stop drinking, your body may feel a hundred times better as a result of reduced stress and the ability of your organs to repair themselves.
One of the most shocking changes to your body after you stop drinking occurs without your awareness. This signifies that the drug has the potential to cause cancer.
The study implies that those who use a lot of alcohol are more likely to develop specific types of cancer.
Whoa, hold on to your hat because this information is going to blow your mind! Your body, like a delicate instrument, perceives alcohol as a poisonous substance that needs to be eliminated, pronto! And guess what? Your liver is the unfortunate organ that is stuck with this incredibly difficult and taxing job. So, brace yourself because if you’re one of those heavy drinkers, you’re skating on thin ice my friend. The higher risk of liver cancer is just one of the many horrific consequences that could await you.
But hold on, there’s more! continuing to consume alcohol may increase your risk of developing esophageal cancer. I know it’s a depressing picture. However, there is a ray of hope! Drinking less or not at all could dramatically reduce your risk of acquiring cancer.
Just to be clear, most doctors and scientists agree that occasionally drinking alcohol poses very minimal health risks. In fact, consuming alcohol in moderation may have some health benefits. However, health problems arise when overconsumption occurs.
When you stop drinking your body goes through several changes over time.
But even if you only reduce the amount you drink, similar beneficial effects can occur.
If you are planning to do something like sober January, or want to cut off alcohol for a bit to see how it goes, just know that you will definitely feel better after the initial shock to your system.
However, the health effects that come from long-term sobriety probably won’t occur just in a single month. If you want to drink from time to time that’s okay.
You can still receive some of the benefits mentioned in this article just by limiting your alcohol consumption to one drink or less a day. Reduced alcohol consumption allows your body to heal and allows you to live a long and happy life while yet enjoying a glass of booze now and then.
