The top 7 ways your health will quickly improve after quitting alcohol

Summary

The article outlines seven ways in which a person's health will improve after quitting alcohol, including improved mood, better sleep, clearer skin, improved digestion, weight loss, reduced heartburn, and improved organ function.

Abstract

The article begins by acknowledging the initial withdrawal period that can last anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks, during which a person may feel stressed, restless, and unable to sleep well or concentrate. However, after this period, the brain fog will start to clear out, and the person will feel lighter, happier, more patient, and less anxious. The article then goes on to list seven ways in which a person's health will improve after quitting alcohol. These include improved mood, better sleep, clearer skin, improved digestion, weight loss, reduced heartburn, and improved organ function. The article emphasizes that the benefits of quitting alcohol will vary from person to person, but that the improvements will be noticeable within a few weeks.

Opinions

The author believes that quitting alcohol will lead to significant improvements in a person's health.
The author acknowledges that the initial withdrawal period can be challenging, but emphasizes that the benefits of quitting alcohol will outweigh the initial discomfort.
The author provides specific examples of how quitting alcohol can improve a person's health, such as improved sleep, clearer skin, and improved digestion.
The author emphasizes that the benefits of quitting alcohol will vary from person to person, but that the improvements will be noticeable within a few weeks.
The author encourages readers to consider quitting alcohol to improve their health and overall well-being.

Seven ways your health will improve after you quit drinking alcohol

After an initial withdrawal period that can last anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks — one that will probably leave you feeling stressed, restless, perhaps unable to sleep well or concentrate — your brain fog will start to clear out. How long people experience withdrawal symptoms depends on each individual, but by one week, you should be feeling a heckuva lot better mentally than you did while on the booze. By two weeks, any thoughts of alcohol being in any way helpful to you should be clearing out as well. You’ll feel lighter, happier, more patient and less anxious. Your results will vary: I always found the first day quitting to be easy, mood-wise, thanks to the mental boost I got from making the positive decision to quit. Day 2 and 5 were always much bigger challenges.

Part of the reason for your improved mood is you’re going to be sleeping a lot better, very soon. No more getting up all night to pee. No more constant waking as your body processes the booze in your system. No more shallow, unsatisfying slumber. Typically when I would quit alcohol, I’d have trouble sleeping the next couple of nights and my legs would be excruciatingly restless. The next few mornings, after actually sleeping enough, I’d still feel tired as my body worked to clear out the rest of the garbage. By Day 5–7, I felt as good as I had in a long time. Sleep was consistent, deep and restful. Sleep allows your body to heal and recalibrate. I cannot oversell the importance of it … it will affect everything you do.

By around the one-week mark, your skin should start looking less puffy, less wrinkly, less blotchy and less flaky. It should also feel a lot less uncomfortable as the hydration allows it to stretch and move the way it should. I have had minor eczema and major general skin dryness, and both disappeared within about a week. If you have dandruff, that should improve as well. Get ready to start looking younger.

Your stomach is going to improve very quickly. Without the alcohol shredding your digestive system as it moves though — probably in combination with the bad food choices you’re making while under the influence — you’ll be much more regular and feel healthier. Morning beer craps chasing you out of bed will be a thing of the past.

If you drink, say, four tallboy cans of beer per night — and that’s probably on the tame side for a lot of people — you’re ingesting more than 5,000 extra calories per week. For a bottle of wine a night, it’s around 4,200. Take out those excess calories and you’re going to look and feel less bloated and have the real energy needed to start getting your fitness back on track.

By the end of the first week, if you’re like me, and almost certainly by the end of week two, that persistent heartburn should be pretty much gone. Your throat, esophagus and stomach are already repairing themselves.

By the end of the first month, your internal organs have had enough time to make some progress undoing the damage you’ve inflicted on them. Your blood pressure will be lower, your kidney and liver function will have improved, and liver fat you’ve accumulated will start going away. Your skin will probably look miles better than it did even after one week without booze. As the months roll on, your risk of dying from serious diseases like cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, stroke, heart attacks will be drastically reduced.

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