Quitting alcohol – permanently or temporarily – is a healthy practice especially popular with millennials. If you decide to voluntarily, not because of alcohol intolerance, adjust your relationship with drinking, you should find out how it can affect your life. Spoiler alert: Being sober also has disadvantages. You may develop a craving for sweets.
After eliminating alcohol from your life, you may notice that you start eating more sweets, even if you did not like desserts before. The reason is not the psychological substitution of one addiction for another but the lack of sugar. There is a lot of it in alcohol, and, as you know, sugar is addictive. Therefore, when a person refuses to drink, his body lacks sweets.
Research shows that drug use is associated with increased sugar intake, which directly alters blood sugar levels and the body’s ability to manage those levels properly.
To prevent one bad habit from turning into another, control the number of sweets in your diet and pay attention to what you eat.
You will have more money
Drinking is expensive. You can notice how badly the habit of alcohol hits your pocket after the first month of giving up alcohol.
To truly experience the benefit of being sober, try writing down your alcohol spending for a while. The next step is to exclude drinking for at least a month and save the freed-up money for the desired goals: travel, shopping, a new hobby. This way, the benefits of avoiding alcohol will become more evident than the promises of doctors about “reduced risk of cardiovascular disease” and other long-term benefits.
Your skin will change
One of the first things people notice after they quit drinking is that they look noticeably better.
The liver breaks down alcohol, releasing a toxic byproduct called acetaldehyde. It dehydrates body tissues and dries out the skin. In addition, alcohol causes inflammation, which leads to acne. Add to that snacks, which are rarely healthy and interfere with the body’s ability to process alcohol.
You may not notice how bad the booze is for your skin until you give it up.
You need a new hobby
Avoiding alcohol is a bad idea, especially if it has become part of important rituals for you: you drink every weekend to relax, celebrate the holidays with a glass of champagne and meet with friends. Any prohibition is associated with negative emotions, you feel unhappy because of the restrictions, and if you violate them, you suffer from guilt.
That is why alcohol should not just be eliminated from your life but replaced with other useful and positive practices. Alcohol also takes a lot of time from you: the very process of drinking; alcoholic intoxication, which limits you in actions; a hangover or a simple malaise from dehydration and lack of sleep (during “drunken” sleep, the body does not recover) – that is the end of the weekend.
Figure out where to spend the evenings and days freed up by not drinking. Find a new hobby, go in for sports – only those that bring pleasure – start travelling (at least out of town for the weekend). If this activity inspires you and evokes positive emotions, you will not notice the absence of alcohol in your life.
You can become more emotional
Although drunken people tend to become more expressive, the refusal to drink alcohol can lead to sudden bouts of despair and unreasonable tantrums. This is because, for many people, drinking is a way to deal with emotions. They drink to forget about stress, problems, grief. Sometimes this is effective, but
sometimes it also leads to the opposite effect: feelings intensify, causing even more suffering.
Suppose alcohol is a way to relieve stress, and you often resort to it in negative situations after giving up alcohol. In that case, you will have to learn to experience emotions and cope with them, and not avoid them. It will be a tough journey but ultimately more beneficial for your mental health.
The fact is that people think that sobriety will fix everything, but this is just the beginning of a long journey .“But it’s also the beginning of an honest life that’s more beautiful than a better drunk day.
Your relationships with people can change
It is possible that giving up alcohol will be a test of your friendships. People may not support your choice at all, make mocking comments, and constantly insist that you drink with everyone. If someone is interested in communicating with you only while drunk, you should think about whether such a person is needed in your life.
Friends are not required to follow your example and give up alcohol, but they should respect your choice and accept it.
