You may feel like everyone and their mother has been telling you that “it’s healthier not to drink.” “Yeah, yeah,” you think. But actually, they’re right. Ultimately, alcohol is an addictive substance, and a chemical substance at that – one that our body wasn’t exactly designed to deal with.
Don’t worry, we’re not here to preach. But hey, if you’ve been curious about what happens to your body when you cut back on alcohol (or stop it all together), take a look:
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Your organs get healthier
Yep, your insides may start to heal after reducing or stopping that flow of booze. Your liver’s job is ultimately to filter toxins, and, well, alcohol is toxic to your cells. But, being the magical organ it is, the liver has healing abilities and is able to repair itself and even regenerate once the toxins cease.
And hey, did you know that your heart can also be affected by drinking? Yep, drinking can cause an increase in your heart rate and blood pressure. So, cutting back on alcohol can lower blood pressure and regulate that heart beat to allow for a more regular rhythm.
Your gut might start to feel a bit better too, since alcohol can cause your belly to overproduce gastric acid which can cause nausea and stomach aches, along with reflux and other nasties. Cutting alcohol out of the equation can really eliminate the risk of hurting your gut with that additional acid.
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Your appearance may change (for the better)
At the end of the day, beer, mixers, and all the other things you may have been drinking have calories. And, alcohol has a tendency to ramp up your appetite causing you to eat a whole lot more than usual. So naturally, cutting this behaviour might see your weight change, or even out. (And when it comes to the famous beer belly, check out our blog on how to reduce the bump!)
And, removing toxins from the body (like alcohol) can see your digestive system improve, which can see you waving goodbye to unsightly problems like bloating.
You might get to see subtle improvements in your skin too. See, alcohol tends to dehydrate you like nobody’s business. So naturally you may have found that when regularly drinking, your skin would be dry and flaky. But according to experts, a week after kicking an alcohol habit, you’ll begin to see more supple, dewy and glowing skin.
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Cognitive function improves, a lot
The mental aspect of cutting alcohol is our favourite part. You may have found that alcohol made you drowsy at first, but did you know that drinking can disrupt your REM sleep stage? (Not to mention the amount of times you’d have to get up at night to pee.) Cutting out alcohol might see you having an awesomely restful full night’s sleep.
Now, it’s a no-brainer that when you’re drinking you’re prone to be impulsive and make decisions that your sober mind wouldn’t. So it goes without saying that you might see positive changes in your life once removing yourself from situations where this might be an option (and your frontal lobe which is responsible for these decisions will thank you as it begins to heal!).
–Overall, your body is a meat machine that relies on nutrients to survive, and giving it alcohol can definitely confuse it (exhibit A: hangovers). But the good news is that sobriety, or even cutting back in the smallest amount is a possibility, and isn’t as daunting as it seems. Don’t believe us? Check out our founder’s story.
