8 Most Common Benefits of Not Drinking Alcohol Or Not Drinking At All

Mehta noted that it’s difficult to disentangle the effects of temporary sobriety from other self-improvement people engage in at the start of the year, but the study controlled for the effects of changes in diet and exercise. The researchers also followed up with participants six months after the dry month and found that they had maintained lower alcohol use, and anecdotally, participants reported better concentration and sleep, Mehta said. Alcohol hinders brain functioning and causes long-term brain damage. According to one study, heavy regular drinkers who stopped drinking for just two weeks experienced improved brain functioning and had repairs in brain matter.

• Cut out alcohol from your life, and your concentration will get better, as well as your school and/or job performance.
• Exces­sive alco­hol con­sump­tion can ele­vate your triglyc­erides, caus­ing fat to accu­mu­late in your arter­ies.
• It’s difficult to estimate when a person will experience benefits from sobriety because each person is different.

Comparison of the first and second treatment arms would permit an evaluation of whether complete abstinence from alcohol leads to larger or longer-lasting reductions in alcohol consumption compared with a less ‘all-or-nothing’ attempt at temporarily restricting drinking. However, before conducting such an RCT, it is important to establish the feasibility of a number of aspects of the research methods. In addition, participants in the complete abstinence condition objected to the requirement to access the Drinkaware app every day in order to record their alcohol consumption, given that they were reporting ‘zero’ on the majority of study days.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Our ‘complete abstinence’ condition should not be seen as directly analogous to participation in organized temporary abstinence campaigns such as Dry January because it lacks the social characteristics, particularly ‘social contagion’, of those campaigns . Finally, we reported hypothesis-driven tests to explore group differences in primary feasibility outcomes , but results from these tests should be interpreted with caution given that that they are not recommended for use in small underpowered feasibility studies . Here we report a feasibility study in which we recruited heavy drinking women who were motivated to reduce their alcohol consumption and randomized them to either complete abstinence from alcohol for 4 weeks or intermittent abstinence for the same period.

If that process is hindered by the damaging effects of alcohol, it leads to a build-up of fat, which causes “ fatty liver ”, an indicator of liver disease. The good news is that the liver is a regenerative organ and, given time, can repair itself. Just 30 days of abstaining from alcohol is enough to decrease liver fat by 15%. However, a 25-year-old woman who binge drinks at every Friday happy hour and Sunday brunch will probably experience significant physical and mental health benefits after reducing her alcohol intake. During the 28-day intervention period, participants attempted to comply with their instructions regarding alcohol consumption and to access the Drinkaware app at least once per day in order to record their alcohol intake.

Why do I drink?

However, for people who exceed recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, he said Dry January can reap changes. Our center employs knowledgeable staff who specialize in addiction and deliver these services to each client with care and expertise. We provide clients with the tools and support they need to achieve sobriety and enjoy long-lasting wellness and harmony.

Um, and obviously I’ve saved my three days for any social activities that I had. So they were more or less you know I didn’t really have much leeway. Um, but I actually bought in alcohol-free substitutes, alcohol addiction & abuse so if the temptation was there, then I would … have a drink and I’d feel like I was actually doing something. … everybody else was like, “go on, go on, go on, everybody else will be having a drink today.

Liver relief

In the U.K., Dry January is a formal campaign entering its 10th year. According to Alcohol Change UK, last year, 130,00 people participated. In Australia, people participate in Dry July, which raises money for cancer research, and in 2021, nearly 40,000 took part.

When you stop drinking, you also get better sleep, leading to normalized appetite and metabolism. If your sleep quality is poor, hormonal changes can lead to increased appetite, slower metabolism, and more stress. Anything beyond that moderate grandiose and vulnerable narcissism amount significantly increases your risk of heart disease, including deadly events. If you continue to experience mental health problems after months of abstinence, you may have a co-occurring disorder that’s independent of alcohol use.

A jumpstart for modifying alcohol intake

By reduc­ing your alco­hol con­sump­tion, you may expe­ri­ence sig­nif­i­cant health benefits. After you get past the temporary though sometimes severe discomfort of alcohol withdrawal symptoms, you’ll notice increasing improvements in your physical and mental health. In the short-term, alcohol can reduce anxiety and release your inhibitions.

Our target population was heavy drinking women aged between 40 and 60. We selected this population because alcohol consumption in this demographic is divergent from broader trends in the UK towards reduced drinking and abstinence . Furthermore, participants who took part in an earlier evaluation of the Dry January campaign were primarily women, with a median age of 41 .

If you find yourself unable to give up drinking even though you want to do it, it may be a sign that professional assistance is needed. For some people, there may be a feeling of achievement but no noticeable results. Whether you extend Dry January into February and pledge a Sober Super Bowl or abstain alcohol, headaches and hangovers from alcohol even longer, Dry January could serve as a reset for the year. «In general, a lot of people have problems with moderation,» Axelon said. Alexon says some of her clients in the past have been buoyed by the way they feel doing Dry January and kept it going for one or two additional months.

Vital organs and other internal parts of the body can recover from infrequent, moderate drinking. But the regular binge drinking and heavy drinking that often accompany alcohol addiction can cause long-term damage that lowers your quality of life. Drinking this way increases your chances of developing numerous alcohol-related diseases. “These findings are really promising,” notes Sari Chait Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at the Behavioral Health and Wellness Center in Newton, MA. However, since Dry January involves a short-term goal, participants may be more successful.

Studies have also connected alcohol consumption with an increased risk of stroke, especially for people under 45 years of age. As you achieve your sobriety goals and work toward a healthier you, you will begin to notice an improvement in your mental health. This can include increased self-confidence and self-respect, along with decreased anxiety and depression. While you can expect some sleep-related issues in early recovery, the longer you abstain from alcohol , the greater the improvements in your sleep quality.

Deep­er sleep

Brain damage can reduce memory and concentration,” said Dasgupta. However, he notes that people of Chinese and Indian descent do not get the benefit of drinking alcohol due to a genetic reason that isn’t clearly known. The guidelines state that alcohol should be consumed in moderation — up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men. The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that alcohol should be consumed in moderation — up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men. If you’re struggling to get a good night’s rest, abstaining from alcohol can also help improve sleep, according to Shah.

Binge drinking has many effects on your body, both over the short and long term. Dry January can have benefits for those who drink more than the recommended two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. “Alcoholics have some specific disorders of the brain which are due to excessive alcohol drinking.