Reasons to stop drinking alcohol

Reasons to stop drinking alcohol today!

Do you ever find yourself asking “why should I stop drinking?” There are so many benefits to going alcohol-free. In this latest blog post we look at some of the top reasons to stop drinking alcohol.

Some of the main benefits to stopping drinking, or cutting down on your drinking, are: 

• Saving the money you would have spent on alcohol
• Sleep better and have more energy
• Avoid hangovers
• Better looking skin
• Improved mood and can benefit your mental health

Why you should give up alcohol

Now let's have a look at and explain each of the different reasons to stop drinking in more depth so you can take the first step to changing your relationship with alcohol today.

1) You can save money

Have you ever checked how much money you spend on alcohol or on a night out?  Now multiply that by however many times you buy alcohol or go out each month and that can start to add up.  Think of how much you could save and put towards something else, like a holiday!

2) Sleep better and have more energy

Remember how you can feel the morning after a night of drinking? Not in terms of a hangover but more so the impact it has on your sleep and then how you feel for the rest of the day/week. Alcohol can disrupt your sleep patterns and stop you sleeping deeply. By not drinking, you can sleep better and will likely have more energy for the day.

3) No more hangovers!

If you’re not drinking, then that means no more hangovers! Hangovers can negatively affect emotion regulation and emotional reactivity, and can impair some of your core executive functions that are important for everyday behaviours like decision making, planning and mental flexibility.  These results suggest that an alcohol hangover impairs core executive function processes that are important for everyday behaviours, such as decision-making, planning, and mental flexibility. You can avoid all of these negative effects of hangovers by not drinking.

4) Avoid any potential alcohol-related guilt

If your friends and family are concerned about your alcohol consumption then it may be that there is some guilt when you drink. Or maybe you feel guilty because when you are drinking or hungover, you are less able to be present with the people around you – or you make decisions that you otherwise would not. Once the alcohol has been put to bed, then there is no longer any alcohol-related guilt – which can be a liberating feeling.

5) Avoid potential social embarrassment after a night of drinking!

Social embarrassment can be a motivation for people to drink less. By stopping drinking, you stop any potential social embarrassment from the things you’ve done while drinking on a night out.  

6) Develop greater sense of self-worth

Once you realise you can give up alcohol and that you have got the will-power to do so, you will likely develop a new-found self-confidence. Being able to control your body rather than letting the alcohol control you is a very powerful feeling and may nourish you.

7) You may feel more optimistic about the future

If alcohol had been causing you increased stress, anxiety, guilt or confusion, stopping may have helped to alleviate these feelings so you can begin to see how positive and opportunistic life really is. This can bring about more confidence, happiness and better experiences as time goes on once you’ve dropped the baggage.

8) You can improve the health of your liver

Alcohol gets broken down in your liver, changing alcohol to acetaldehyde and then acetate. Acetaldehyde is highly toxic, so although it only exists in your body for a brief time before it is further broken down, it has the potential to cause significant damage. If you usually drink above the guidelines, studies have shown that not drinking for a month shows important improvements in your insulin resistance, which is important for preventing fatty liver disease. By simply giving up the alcohol it provides one less thing your body needs to worry about to keep you feeling healthy and fresh.

9) Better looking skin

Another great reason to give up alcohol is that alcohol has diuretic effects meaning your body gets rid of extra fluid. Hydration is fundamental to skin health, and by reducing your alcohol intake, you offer your body a better chance at retaining the moisture and hydration levels needed to maintain your skin.

Read about one member of the One Year No Beer Community and the positive changes they saw in their skin and face.

10) Can improve your executive function

Alcohol consumption can affect your executive functions, like planning, self-control, and working memory. By not drinking, you can avoid any alcohol-related deficits in this.

Other reasons and benefits our community report:

11) Gain mental clarity

Not only will your brain physically repair itself but a sober brain will also allow for you to have more accurate, logical thinking and decision making. This means that you will start to regain some mental clarity on your work decisions, relationship choices and any day to day thinking you need to do.

12) Ditch the drink = Better relationships

Your friends, family and colleagues will notice an immediate change in your personality.  They will see the ‘real you’ as a result and this will only have a positive impact on the quality of your relationships as a result.  You can develop deeper more meaningful relationships as you are able to think clearer and act more sympathetically.

13) You will be complimented…Lot’s

As you start to experience all the points mentioned above those around you will start to encourage and compliment you for your changes.  Not just because it makes them feel happier but because it shows them another confident side of you that they may not have ever seen before.

14) You will live longer

Alcohol is linked to a large variety of health issues such as heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s.  Which means you will be able to live with less pain and a better sense of well-being.

15) You will feel younger than ever

Giving up alcohol will undoubtedly change your life, you get this childish, adventurous, vibrant energy back into your very being.  It’s like the film Limitless – except you don’t TAKE a drug to feel incredible…. You STOP taking one!

16) Better sex life

With rejuvenated energy, feeling and looking younger than ever before is only going to have a positive impact on your sex life.  This will not only make you physically fitter (for obvious reasons) but allows you to maintain a physical relationship with your partner which we all know is very important for a deep relationship.

17) You will be happier than you have been in years

The last of our reasons to stop drinking is al about longevity I don’t think it’s difficult to see how the accumulation of all the benefits mentioned in the previous 16 points is going to have a positive impact on your life.  A healthy body is a happy body, especially when friends and family are supportive of your change.

Reasons to stop drinking alcohol round up

Hopefully, you enjoyed our article all about the top reasons not to drink and found it eye-opening.  If you think it would benefit any of your friends and family, then we would love for you to share the articles to your social media channel too so we can start to show what life can be like on the sober side.

To get started on your Alcohol-Free adventures join us as we change your mindset around alcohol.

We hope you have a healthy and productive day! Next time you think about having a beer or glass of wine then you can always refer back to this blog post and remind yourself of all the reasons to stop drinking alcohol. 

Sources:

Craig Gunn, Graeme Fairchild, Joris C Verster, Sally Adams, Does Alcohol Hangover Affect Emotion Regulation Capacity? Evidence From a Naturalistic Cross-Over Study Design, Alcohol and Alcoholism, Volume 56, Issue 4, July 2021, Pages 425–432, https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agaa123

Gunn, C.; Fairchild, G.; Verster, J.C.; Adams, S. The Effects of Alcohol Hangover on Executive Functions. J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, 1148.

Emma L. Davies, Dominic Conroy, Adam R. Winstock, Jason Ferris, Motivations for reducing alcohol consumption: An international survey exploring experiences that may lead to a change in drinking habits, Addictive Behaviors, Volume 75, 2017.

Mehta G, Macdonald S, Cronberg A, et al. Short-term abstinence from alcohol and changes in cardiovascular risk factors, liver function tests and cancer-related growth factors: a prospective observational study. BMJ Open. 2018;8(5):e020673. Published 2018 May 5. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020673.

Suzanne Spinola, Stephen A. Maisto, Corey N. White, Tani Huddleson, Effects of acute alcohol intoxication on executive functions controlling self-regulated behavior, Alcohol, Volume 61, 2017.