The new year begins and with it the “Dry January” operation which consists of stopping alcohol for a month to allow your body to recover from abuse. Better sleep, more beautiful skin… Why Doctor reviews the main benefits of abstinence for 30 days for the body.
The new year begins and, with it, the good resolutions. Among them, stopping alcohol for at least a month for many people. This is called the Dry January or dry January. If the government, which originally wanted to launch this campaign at the national level, had to cancel it following pressure from lobbies, the Addiction federation, at the origin of the initiative, intends to carry it out with “ the means at hand”. The idea is not to preach morality or to establish prohibition but to take the time, “the idea is not to encourage complete cessation of alcohol consumption, but to take a time to regenerate and test other lifestyles”, assures the Federation of General Student Associations (FAGE) which is taking part in the challenge. Why Doctor takes stock of the main benefits of stopping alcohol for a month on the body.
1/ Positive effects on cholesterol, blood sugar and liver
According to a study from University College London (UK), liver fat decreases by an average of 15% after one month of abstinence, while blood sugar and cholesterol decrease by an average of 16% respectively. % and 5%. Concerning the liver, the consumption of at least six glasses a day leads in 90% to the infiltration of fat, responsible for fatty liver disease (inflammation and liver damage). However, stopping drinking can completely reverse the process and allow the liver to regenerate. In the UK, health authorities recommend two alcohol-free days a week to give the liver time to recover from excessive consumption.
2/ Better tension
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), alcohol increases the risk of developing high blood pressure. Blood pressure rises linearly from three glasses a day for men and two for women. In details, increased blood pressure is approximately 10 mmHg with each glass of alcohol consumed daily. However, over time, excessive blood pressure can lead to ventricular hypertrophy, heart attack, stroke, atrial fibrillation, type 2 diabetes or even cerebral thrombosis. Fortunately, this increase in blood pressure is reversible within two to four weeks of abstinence or a substantial reduction in alcohol consumption.
3/ Rapid weight loss
After the caloric excesses of the end of year celebrations, a month without alcohol is often welcome to find a balanced weight. Because not only alcohol is full of sugar (7 calories in a gram of alcohol, against 4 calories for a gram of sugar (carbohydrates) or 9 calories for a gram of fat (lipids)), but in addition it increases hunger. For example, it has been proven that a person allowing themselves two drinks during meals ate 30% more than a sober person. Therefore if you continue to eat as usual while removing alcohol from your diet, you are sure to lose, at the level of the body but especially of the face, often a little puffy after the excesses of December.
4/ Better skin
If you stop drinking for a month, not only will you lose cheeks, but your skin will look better. Because everyone knows that excessive and continuous consumption of alcohol can lead to aging of the skin. Indeed, alcohol is an empty calorie. It has no nutrients for the body and exhausts the liver, leading to general fatigue and slow cell renewal. A study conducted by the University of Kobe (Japan) showed in particular that excessive drinking modified the composition of telomeres, these ends of the chromosomes making it possible to protect the DNA sequence which shorten over the course of life: alcoholic patients had shorter telomeres than the others.
Besides aging cells, alcohol has inflammatory effects on the skin and can aggravate already existing problems such as acne, rosacea or psoriasis. It also leads to great dehydration, causing the hangover phenomenon, with serious aesthetic consequences: the skin dries out, becomes dull, and wrinkles are more marked. You will therefore have understood that abstinence for a month will restore your youth.
5/ Better sleep
If alcohol promotes sleep, it does not offer more beautiful nights, quite the contrary. Researchers have shown in particular that after having helped to fall asleep more quickly and deeply during the first part of the night, alcohol reduced the duration of paradoxical sleep, the phase of sleep where one dreams, essential for memorizing creativity, during the second part of the night. And this, whatever the dose of alcohol consumed.
Not to mention that drinking before sleeping leads to going to the bathroom regularly during the night or leads to bouts of sweating, headaches, nightmares or the most unpleasant dry mouth.
Finally, the last harmful effect on sleep and not the least: snoring. Alcohol causes the musculature of the respiratory tract to relax, the inhaled air struggles to make its way to the lungs, inspiration becomes more difficult and snoring increases. This can lead to brief pauses in breathing, even in people who don’t normally suffer from sleep apnea. All of these disorders lead to fatigue on waking and eventually to irritation and mood swings. Stopping drinking for 30 days should therefore help regenerate both your body and your mind. And of course bring you the gratitude of the person sleeping next to you.
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