Giving up alcohol comes with a lot of benefits, including a healthy weight, better mood, and better sleep. Unfortunately, most people find it hard to stop drinking alcohol, even if it is killing them or affecting their lives negatively.
If you fall into this category and you are still struggling with the decision to seek drug addiction help, this is what happens to your body when you do so.
Your Heart Starts to Function Better
Cutting down the intake of red wine or other alcoholic beverages lowers your blood pressure, reduces the chances of heart failure and your level of triglycerides.
There is this popular misconception that drinking red wine is good for the heart. Unfortunately, this is only true for light sippers. If you are not a light sipper, that is, you have more than one drink a day, you may be exposing yourself to the risk of an unhealthy heart and the complications that come with it.
Your Liver Heals
The job of your liver is to filter toxins and prevent them from entering your bloodstream. However, you could start facing some health problems when this organ gets overworked due to heavy alcohol consumption. Damage to your liver can result in other problems like cirrhosis, fatty liver, and many more. Fortunately, the liver is a self-repairing organ that can regenerate itself. By quitting alcohol, you give your liver the room to heal and help it carry out its functions effectively.
Your Skin Problems May Clear Up
Another amazing thing that happens to your body when you stop taking alcohol is that you have clearer and more hydrated skin. One of the primary reasons for this is because alcohol tends to decrease the production of an antidiuretic hormone that helps the body with reabsorbing water. Alcohol is also a diuretic and can cause you to urinate more than you ought to. When the body has less water percentage, it can result in dehydrated skin, leading to skin conditions like eczema, dandruff, or even rosacea. Asides from having clearer skin, getting well-hydrated helps the body maintain and balance hormones and temperature and improves blood circulation.
Your Brain Starts to Function Better
One of the adverse effects of consuming alcohol is difficulty in thinking or recollecting things. As time goes on, excessive consumption of alcohol may affect your motor skills as well as your perception of volume and distance. This can go further to affect your relationships as it becomes harder to understand other people’s emotions. By quitting alcohol, your brain may recover, and you regain some of these abilities.
Quitting alcohol can also improve your neural network and help your brain control its cognitive abilities. Since alcohol is a depressant, stopping it can also help your brain balance its neurotransmitters like dopamine and GABA.
You’ll Start Losing Weight
In case you don’t know, Alcohol contains a high amount of calories. A regular bottle of alcohol contains about 150 calories. This means even if you are watching what you eat and maintaining a diet to avoid gaining weight, if you don’t quit taking alcohol in excess, you will keep gaining weight instead of losing it.
Better Sleep
Another fantastic thing your body experiences when you stop drinking is better sleep and rest. According to some experts, having a drink even once or twice a week can alter your sleep routine.
Although for some people, alcohol may make them sleep right after drinking it. However, they may not get quality sleep. This is because alcohol reduces the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleeping and waking up. Therefore, cutting down on your alcohol intake can help you have a better night’s rest.
Better Sex Life
While taking a little bit of alcohol can help remove your inhibition and make it easy for you to try more fun sexual practices. The downside is that it can affect your overall sexual performance negatively. Abusing alcohol can result in erection problems in men, a drier vagina in women, and a lower sex drive. Stopping alcohol may improve these conditions and ultimately result in better sex life. Drug addictions also tend to have the same effect.
Once you realize that you are struggling with alcohol abuse and want to quit it, but it’s proving difficult, you can always reach out to a professional for help. There are several therapists and specialists whose job is to help people suffering from alcohol addiction. You can speak with your local health care practitioner to connect you with them.
Notably, although there is nothing wrong with consuming alcohol in a small quantity and a healthy manner, your best shot at a healthier lifestyle is quitting the intake of this substance altogether.
