There are a lot of 30-day challenges out there, food, exercise, music, etc. Have you considered a 30-day alcohol-free challenge?
It has been proven that quitting alcohol for a period of time can bring a lot of great health benefits that you may find surprising, plus they certainly will improve your life quality. If heavy drinking is something you do regularly, you should pay attention to the 6 health benefits below and consider giving your body a 30-day break from alcohol ingestion.
1 – You will feel better mentally
Alcohol can modify the chemicals in your brain, so the more you drink, the more changes you will have. The biggest influence alcohol brings to us, and one of the reasons most people seek alcohol is the release of dopamine that drinking produces, this constant release of dopamine will make you feel ‘happy’.
Many people use social drinking as an escape from everyday stress; it is certainly not healthy because the more you drink the harder it will be to reach that ‘happy’ place in your mind, and the more miserable you will feel the day after.
Stopping your alcohol consumption will help your body restart its regular dopamine levels and set back your brain chemistry to normal levels; because of this, you will feel sharper and will be able to focus better and on the bright side, your mood will improve due to the decrease of pressure your brain will feel.
2 – You will get far from alcohol dependency
Being able to stop drinking alcohol for 30 days (minimum) will help to break any cycles or dependency you may have developed over time. It has come to the point where it is ‘normal’ when we can’t spend a night out without several drinks, or settling down for the night without some glasses of wine, or even when we get cranky when we can’t get a drink; all these can be the start of alcohol dependency and it would be wise if we can get away from it as soon as possible.
30 days will help your mind and body detach from any bad habits or dependencies you could be picking up.
3 – You will sleep better
You can get sleepy after drinking, it will bring a feeling of drowsiness and it will put you to sleep, but the sleep you will get from alcohol is not the resting type; as we said before, alcohol will change the chemicals in your brain thus making your brain active as it will be producing alpha waves, while you are trying to sleep; this is why after getting drunk and waking up in the middle of the night it will be very difficult to get back to sleep.
Alcohol will mess up your sleep patterns. Try taking a month off booze. You will help your sleeping patterns stabilize themselves, and soon, you will not be having trouble sleeping without alcohol.
4 – You will look better
Even though there is the myth that everyone looks better after a couple of drinks, truth is that alcohol definitely doesn’t help your overall appearance; it brings a lot of toxins along with everything else mentioned before.
Resting for 30 days will allow your body to get rid of all the toxins and cleanse itself, your skin will look brighter and clearer as it will get hydrated once again, your eyes will moisten more (so they’ll look livelier) and the dark circles under them will vanish.
5 – You will be healthier overall
It is believed that only people with hard drinking habits or alcoholics will develop serious health problems (like cirrhosis or cancer), but the truth is that drinking socially can affect your body as well.
Just as with smoking, a few days after quitting drinking your overall health will improve, your immune system will be boosted and you will reduce the risks of developing diseases like strokes, cancer or liver disease.
6 – You will get in shape
Alcohol will make you gain weight. Just the booze itself brings many calories, and if you add this to not moving (due to the hangover), poor sleep (due to the disrupted sleep patterns) and the constant drinking (because why would you stop?), you will see in a short period of time that you are chubbier than you remember. This happens because your body will process and try to burn all alcohol first, exhausting itself to the point where the fat and sugar will stay in your system for longer times than they should, this will result in rapid weight gaining.
Quitting alcohol for 30 days will steady your metabolism and reset the systems in charge of burning calories, making your body remember its priorities. Try it!
Nobody is saying that you have to quit drinking alcohol forever (although it is not a bad idea), but giving your body a well-deserved rest from outside substances will indeed make you healthier. Remember that excess isn’t good, so give yourself a 30-day break to help your body and brain regain their strength and get back to optimal condition.
Photo Credits
Photos are public domain from pixabay
Guest Author Bio
Carl Towns
I’m Carl Towns, a 28-year-old wanna-be writer. I am also a recovering addict on the path of self-discovery. My goal is to learn as many things as possible and to seize every single moment I live, pretty much trying to make up for all that I missed on the years I was lost in drugs and alcohol (among other things). I’m in love with tech, cars and pretty much anything that can be found online.
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[…] first few weeks without a drink were the hardest for me, but after 30 days of quitting alcohol, I could already see the change in my health, my appearance, and my […]