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How many times have you looked up the internet or turned to family and friends asking them about how to stop drinking alcohol Trust us when we tell you that it takes a lot to take the first step on the road to a better life without alcohol.
If you have been a regular drinker, and intend to quit alcohol after years of alcohol consumption, your body will initiate to reverse the adverse impacts of alcohol consumption and you will start feeling better. If you are a social drinker and have seriously decided to quit alcohol for good, you will also need to let go of your social activities and other hobbies that made you consume alcohol in the first place.
Heavy drinkers are at constant risk of mental and physical health issues, such as anxiety, arrhythmia, hypertension, depression, dementia, cancer, alcohol hepatitis, stroke, etc. As you will start living a sober life, you will have plenty of time to self-discover life and passions that don’t involve alcohol. Here are the top four health benefits of quitting alcohol.
Improved Skin Texture
You might have heard about the term “alcoholic face”, which is explicitly used to point out the adverse effects of alcohol on the skin. Usually, an alcoholic face refers to skin inflammation, dehydrated skin, broken capillaries on the different areas of the face, saggy skin due to reduced collagen. Amongst long-term alcohol abusers, you can also detect chronic jaundice and psoriasis.
Once you stop consuming alcohol, you will see the gradual restoration of your skin, including skin elasticity, while the yellow and red patches around your nose and eyes tend to slowly disappear.
Better Sleep
Did you know that alcohol consumption and disturbed sleep patterns are closely linked with one another? The primary reason for this is that the more one consumes alcohol, the more it interrupts the sleep cycle, making it more difficult for you to relax and fall asleep. Often, once you have fallen asleep, it might get difficult for you to stay asleep. Besides, amongst the side effects of alcohol, you will also experience snoring and sleep apnea, which happens due to the relaxed throat muscles caused by alcohol.
Initially, you will go through some sleep trouble due to the alcohol withdrawal symptoms. However, once you have successfully abstained from alcohol for a certain period, you will see massive improvements in your sleep pattern, and you will be able to enjoy quality sleep.
Immunity Boost
Understandably, alcohol interrupts your physical health as much as it interrupts your mental health. The impact of alcohol on your immune system is bad enough to abstain you from producing substantial white blood cells. Resultantly, your immune system becomes weak as it fails to fend off potential diseases, making you fall sick more often than before. Now you might understand why long-term drinkers are prone to many illnesses, especially tuberculosis and pneumonia.
Once you give up consuming alcohol, you will see a massive improvement in your health due to the boost of your immune system. No more will you fall ill as much as you used to; hence, you will be able to ward off miscellaneous chronic diseases, including flu and pneumonia.
Improved Mental Health
Did you know the correlation between mental health and drug/ alcohol abuse? There is an innate connection between alcohol addiction and mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, stress. More than 9 million American adults experience mental illness and alcohol use disorder. What is worse is that nearly 60% of addicted individuals don’t receive proper treatment for their addiction.
Understandably, many people turn to alcohol and drugs as a last resort to solve their problems and cope with their mental struggles. A majority of the affected adults also try to self-medicate and find a solution to their problems in drugs and alcohol. We also know that alcohol and drugs worsen mental health issues, which is why stopping alcohol and drug abuse can immensely improve your mental health.
If you want to live a quality life, you must incorporate positive changes in your current lifestyle, which includes quitting alcohol and achieving lifetime sobriety. As easy as it might sound, doing so takes loads of effort and massive willpower. Once you get rid of your alcohol habit, you will see massive improvements in your overall physical, mental, and emotional health. Your anxiety will reduce tremendously while your confidence will reach new heights.
Final Thoughts
As addictive alcohol consumption may be, living a healthy lifestyle is equally addictive. Once you settle down in the good feeling, there is no going back as the mentioned above health benefits are just the beginning. The longer you stay without alcohol, the more improvements regarding your mental, emotional, and physical health you experience. With that, your social relationships and financial situation also change for the better. However, it is important to mention here that the road to healthy wellbeing isn’t easy – you are more likely to face various challenges, and the risk of relapse always remains. Therefore, make sure you have a strong support system and don’t let go of patience and resilience while you reconstruct your life without alcohol.
