What are the benefits of giving up alcohol for a month?

What are the advantages of giving up alcohol for a month?a

If you’re planning to abstain from alcoholic drinks for a month and are unsure of the advantages, here’s a description of the advantageous developments you might anticipate during the next weeks.

What happens when you don’t drink alcohol?

The probable signs and sensations that a person who suffers from alcohol abuse may have after they quit drinking are shown in the alcohol withdrawal timeline below.

Everybody’s body will react to stopping drinking habits in a different way, so it’s crucial to keep in mind that this schedule should only be used as a general idea of what can happen to your body after you stop drinking.

The timeline

Up to 24 hours after you stop drinking

Withdrawal symptoms are most likely to appear within the first 24 hours after quitting drinking. Depending on the person and how frequently they drink, they may begin as soon as two hours after the previous drink. The withdrawal symptoms could be worse if you drank alcohol every night as opposed to someone who only drinks on the weekends.

Mild symptoms will appear first. They could consist of headaches, trembling hands, perspiration, and anxiousness. Alcohol cravings will intensify with time, and you can start to feel worn out and depressed.

12-72 hours after you stop drinking

For anyone who has quit drinking and is going through withdrawal, this is a risky period. After 12 to 24 hours, more severe withdrawal symptoms may start to appear in some people. You could experience delirium tremens (DTs) in rare, more serious circumstances. Seizures, hallucinations, as well as a considerable rise in heart rate and blood pressure may also be symptoms.

48-72 hours after you stop drinking

The majority of the time, withdrawal symptoms will start to lessen at this stage, allowing you to resume your typical activities and control your symptoms. Some people may still experience DT symptoms, including disorientation, hallucinations, and other severe withdrawal symptoms like elevated blood pressure and profuse perspiration.

Between 3 and 7 days after you stop drinking

Most people can anticipate their symptoms to go away after a few days of not drinking. The most severely affected individuals may still have DTs and severe withdrawal symptoms. The cessation of alcohol in these individuals is advised to be under medical care.

Week one of giving up alcohol

After a period of alcohol abstinence, there are physical, psychological and emotional advantages that can be felt.

Better sleep

When you drink, you frequently enter a deep sleep right away and skip the crucial rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. While you should have six to seven cycles of REM sleep each night, drinking often results in only one or two. You might experience improved sleep after a week without booze.

Better sleep has a lot of advantages. You’ll work more efficiently and learn to tackle problems more effectively. Additionally, you’ll be able to better manage your emotions and behaviour.

Additionally, you’ll have more possibilities to control how much you eat and drink. The hormones that cause you to feel hungry or full are balanced by sleep. Your ghrelin (the hormone that makes you feel hungry) levels rise, and your leptin (the hormone that makes you feel full) levels fall after drinking.

More hydration

Alcohol consumption causes you to lose about four times as much fluid as you really consumed.

As a result of your organs removing water from the brain due to their own water loss, dehydration can result in headaches. Salt and potassium levels drop as well, which can affect how well muscles and nerves work and result in headaches, fatigue, and nausea.

Giving up alcohol can therefore help you stay hydrated, which is good for your brain. You’ll likely have less headache frequency, improved mood, and improved concentration. You’ll also have more energy throughout the day because you won’t experience the side effects of dehydration, such as decreased motivation and greater lethargy.

Calories saved

Six 175 ml glasses of wine a week would save you about 960 calories, which is the same as three burgers or five and a half bags of potato chips.

Additionally, giving up six pints of beer of average strength per week would save you 1080 calories, or around six bags of chips or five chocolate bars.

Week two of giving up alcohol

You will continue to experience the advantages of greater sleep and hydration after two weeks without alcohol. After a fortnight, you may also notice a decrease in symptoms like reflux, where stomach acid burns your throat, as alcohol is an irritant to the stomach lining.

You might start losing weight after a fortnight as a result of giving up alcohol’s empty calories. At this point, you would have saved 1920 calories if you had stopped consuming six 175ml glasses of wine every week and 2160 calories if you had stopped consuming around six pints of lager.

Week three of giving up alcohol

Overindulging in alcohol over time can raise blood pressure. You’ll start to experience a decrease in blood pressure after 3–4 weeks of abstinence. It might be quite important to lower your blood pressure because it can reduce the likelihood of future health issues.

Giving up alcohol can help you lose weight, which in turn helps lower your blood pressure because alcohol has calories and can be responsible for weight gain. If you had been consuming six 175ml glasses of wine every week up until this point, you would have shed 2880 calories over the course of three weeks. Additionally, you would have saved 3240 calories if you had been consuming six pints of lager each week.

Week four of giving up alcohol

Alcohol abstinence will improve your levels of moisture, which will benefit your skin. You may have skin that looks more moisturised and have less dandruff and eczema since more water will have been absorbed rather than wasted.

Since your liver will start to lose extra fat, cutting off alcohol for four weeks can also aid in improving liver function. Your liver could recover in 4 to 8 weeks if alcohol did not adversely damage it, causing liver disease.

You also give your body a better chance of eliminating pollutants, processing food nutrients, and storing minerals and vitamins because the liver is involved in over 500 essential functions.

Benefits of not drinking alcohol

Some of the many positive effects of quitting drinking on our physical and mental health are mentioned above. Here is a long list of long-term advantages of not drinking:

The quality of your sleep will improve.

You’ll have fewer interruptions to the two most crucial sleep cycles, rapid eye movement (REM) and slow-wave sleep, resulting in brighter and more awake mornings.

Your disposition and degree of focus will rise.

You will be more productive at work or at home if you have more energy and feel less fatigue.

You’ll be better hydrated, which has a wide range of advantages.

Your skin will feel more luminous, your headaches and dry mouth will lessen, and your under-eye circles will go disappear.

Your memory will start to get better.

Alcohol has been shown to impair your brain’s memory centre (the hippocampus).

It will be simpler for you to reduce weight.

Because alcohol slows metabolism, it is more difficult for the body to metabolise sugar and fats. A medium glass of red wine has roughly 160 calories, a pint of beer has 210 calories or more, and many of the mixers we like to use with spirits like vodka or gin are loaded with sugar. Additionally, you won’t have as many late-night fast food binges as you might after drinking alcohol.

It will feel better in your tummy.

Your digestive system may get irritated by alcohol, resulting in symptoms like indigestion and acid reflux. Additionally, you’ll be able to store vitamins and minerals and absorb nutrients more effectively.

You’ll have healthier skin.

Alcohol can make your skin look bloated, red, and blotchy. Alcohol-free skin is more moisturised, eliminating these issues and reducing dry patches that can exacerbate ailments like eczema.

Your blood pressure will drop.

Alcohol intake is associated with high blood pressure, which is one of the major contributors to heart disease.

You’ll have a healthier liver.

Your liver’s fat content will decline over time. The condition of our liver also influences our skin’s quality.

Overall Benefits of a dry month

Your body is likely to have benefited tremendously from quitting alcohol over the course of the month. Your productivity and general well-being will have enhanced thanks to better hydration and sleep. The absence of alcohol will also be good for your skin, stomach, and liver. Additionally, if you typically drank six 175ml glasses of wine per week or six pints of lager per week, you will have consumed 3840 calories less over the course of the month.

There is some research related to the results of the abstinence of alcohol for a month. These statistics show the benefits of an “alcohol-free month”:

• After the alcohol-free month, 93% of participants said they felt accomplished.
• 88% reported having saved the money they would have spent on alcohol.
• 82% of the individuals claimed to better understand their relationship with alcohol.
• 80% reported that they had more control over their drinking.
• 76% knew why and when they felt more tempted to drink.
• 71% of participants discovered they could have fun without alcohol.
• 71% claimed to have better sleep quality.
• 70% said their overall health had improved.

Consider receiving support if you are suffering from alcohol and finding it difficult to stop. We are aware that starting the process of alcohol use disorder rehabilitation can be emotionally challenging.