An ordinary person with an average income drinks about 9.5 liters of alcohol a year, according to statistics. And this person is not addicted to alcohol, they just enjoy spending time with their friends and having drinks.
Sometimes they take a break during the week and drink a little, maybe having a glass of wine before going to bed to relieve stress. What would happen to this person’s body if they stopped drinking for 28 days?
We were interested in experimenting with several volunteers who wanted to find out if there would be any change in their health and appearance in just four weeks without alcohol. For the most impatient people, the answer is yes, there will be, and they are quite dramatic.
Stop Drinking Alcohol Effects On Body
1 Weeks Without Alcohol
The appetite seems to increase. In fact, people eat much more if they drink alcohol. And when they stop drinking, they instinctively want to keep their hands busy, usually with food. Therefore, it is better to replace foods with juice and fruits after you stop drinking.
Your desire for sweet foods may increase. Alcohol, especially the sweet type, can increase blood sugar levels, which in turn can create sugar cravings.
But different people have different reactions and some experience a decrease in sugar levels. This is especially dangerous for people who have diabetes.
It is difficult to achieve quality sleep after you stop drinking. This may even be true for people who are used to drinking a glass of something before bedtime to fall asleep faster.
Although alcohol can make you sleep faster, it decreases the quality of your sleep. Then, when you stop drinking alcohol, the sleep itself will not be deep and some people may also have nightmares.
In some cases, people may have headaches, which are a sign of major changes in the body as they detoxify alcohol. It can affect the liver or even cause high blood pressure.
At this stage of the interruption of alcohol consumption, your body may even experience the opposite effect and eliminate pain (when people drink regularly, pain tolerance increases) and there is still some semblance of pain tolerance in the body in week one.
2 Weeks Without Alcohol
The liver begins to recover. When people drink alcohol regularly, liver cells die and scars appear. The organ can recover, but it is a very slow process. The less a person drinks, the faster their recovery.
Another strong motivator may be changed in skin color. Alcohol disrupts blood circulation, which leads to a lack of oxygen in the skin. As a result, alcohol leaves the skin dry, which leads to the appearance of pigment spots and early wrinkles.
Digestion begins to improve. Alcohol increases the production of gastric acid. In other words, the stomach “eats” slowly. By the way, this is the reason why people eat more when they drink alcohol.
People who tried to stop drinking said it was much harder to refuse invitations to meet friends in week 2. People are very enthusiastic at first, but in week 2 they need a lot of willpower.
3 Weeks Without Alcohol
By the third week, the obvious signs of drinking alcohol (such as dark circles under the eyes and facial swelling) disappear. This is because the urinary system can work properly now.
It is easier to wake up in the morning. When a person is a little drunk, he enters a deep phase of sleep, immediately skipping the first stages. And when the concentration of alcohol in the blood decreases, sleep is no longer deep and people wake up more frequently.
When alcohol leaves the system completely, the sleep cycle becomes natural again, which makes waking up easier.
Drinking decreases the production of saliva that affects the condition of the teeth. Therefore, if you do not drink alcohol, you have a lower risk of tooth decay and tooth enamel becomes stronger.
Alcohol not only kills the pain but also receptors of taste and smell. Over time, the ability to smell and taste is recovered.
4 Weeks Without Alcohol
If a person has extra weight, body mass decreases dramatically. The numbers are individual, of course, but on average they are around 6-8 lbs per month. The longer a person doesn’t drink, the more weight they will lose.
Alcohol increases blood pressure. If this happens too often, there is a risk of developing hypertension. People who do not drink alcohol do not have this condition as often. In addition, the risk of developing cardiovascular disease decreases dramatically.
The skin is much clearer. Acne and irritation disappear. Mainly this happens because the water balance in the body is normalized and blood circulation too. The color of the face becomes more uniform and the pigment spots disappear.
People have a clearer mind and work more efficiently. This is probably the least obvious change. However, the research results show that by drinking alcohol regularly, a person’s brain swells a little and millions of brain cells die from lack of oxygen. These changes are very slow but irreversible.
Have you considered trying this challenge to see what happens to your health? Or do you never drink alcohol in the first place?
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