On the other hand, if you drink in moderation, alcohol doesn’t affect LDL and instead increases good cholesterol (HDL). Cirrhosis of the liver (severe scarring of the liver) can occur over time in those who drink excessively. Community water fluoridation became widespread throughout the U.S. in the 1960s and is heralded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the 20th century’s greatest public health interventions. Alcohol-induced sleep may feel deeper due to its sedative effects, but it’s actually fragmented and less restorative.

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Other medicines, counseling, and psychosocial support can also help to abstain or reduce unhealthy drinking. The important point is that one must be aware of the bad consequences of drinking and take steps to stop or reduce excessive drinking. Alcohol use and poor sleep are closely linked because alcohol messes with your sleep-wake cycle. For one, drinking alcohol makes falling and staying asleep much harder.Alcohol also relaxes the muscles in your throat, so you’re more likely to have problems like snoring or disorders like sleep apnea. When you quit drinking, you’ll probably notice that the colds, flu, and other illnesses you always seem to catch happen less often.

Improved Sleep

• Lowering alcohol intake also lowers the amount of acetaldehyde in the body.
• He adds, ” Alcohol limits the amount of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep that we get per night and as a result, this can impact concentration levels, productivity, and our ability to learn new information and create new memories.”
• Heavy drinking can take a toll on this organ, leading to other complications.

Many use alcohol to reduce stress and promote relaxation, but chronic alcohol use increases levels of the stress hormone cortisol. “Sometimes people drink alcohol to help them relax or navigate social anxiety, only to find it makes things worse,” says McMahon. Alcohol has sedative properties, so while it may cause you to fall asleep faster, your sleep quality will suffer, says McMahon. That’s because alcohol reduces time spent in the restorative REM stage of sleep, she explains. Alcohol is linked with several types of cancer, including mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus, liver, colon and rectum, and breast cancer in females. And the risk of developing these cancers increases with the amount and duration of alcohol consumption, says Drug rehabilitation Andrews.

benefits of not drinking alcohol – including just how much it affects your sex life – explained by the experts

• Mixed drinks are worse once you add in all those sugars and other carbs.
• But that may not be true, or true only for light sippers (less than one drink a day).
• For those with an alcohol use disorder, there are effective prescription medications that can be helpful when abstaining from alcohol.
• Just another one of the huge health benefits of not drinking alcohol.
• Alcohol misuse can lead to serious health problems like liver disease and cancer.

When you don’t drink alcohol for a month, you might lose weight, reverse liver damage, improve the look of your skin, get better sleep, =https://ecosoberhouse.com/ and so much more! We’ve provided a timeline of benefits below from one day to one year. Symptoms can range from headache, elevated blood pressure, heart palpitations, and nausea and vomiting to tremors, hallucination and in severe cases death. Nevertheless, people who have AUD should take extra care before suddenly quitting or significantly decreasing their intake as they can experience symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.

This better sleep is caused by more REM sleep, the deepest stage of sleep where dreaming and memory occur. Whether you’re sober curious, wanting to learn about the health benefits of sobriety, or looking join a challenge like Sober October, let’s dive into what happens when you stop drinking. The three- to five-week period is also when sugar cravings brought on by the lack of alcohol tend to subside, Johnson adds. And, assuming you haven’t indulged those craving the past few weeks, you could find your clothes fit a what happens when you stop drinking alcohol bit looser.