No Alcohol for a Week: The Benefits
If you’re thinking of giving up alcohol for a while, you’re probably wondering what effects it might have on your daily life, mind, and body. And what, if any, are the health benefits of drinking no alcohol for a week?
If you’re hoping for some kind of transformative lifestyle overhaul after just 7 days, you may be a little disappointed.
But you might be keen to hear that positive changes to your overall health can be noticed after such a short period.
Important note: At Zero Point Beer, we’re not anti-alcohol. We’re pro-moderation. We’re celebrating the emergence of low alcohol and no alcohol beer as a way to enjoy our favourite drinks with fewer negative impacts on the mind and body. You can read our alcohol-free beer reviews here. Cheers! 🍻
Quitting an alcohol addiction
Let’s be clear. Quitting an alcohol addiction is a very different scenario to the average social drinker giving up the booze for a while. We’re not addiction experts, but what we do know is that overcoming a lifestyle of heavy drinking or alcohol abuse is a big step, and not one to be taken lightly, or without medical advice and professional help.
Heavy drinkers should be aware of a range of severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms, like sweats, shakes and hallucinations called delirium tremens, vomiting, and severe anxiety.
These serious symptoms can appear as quickly as 2-6 hours after the last drink, depending on the severity of alcohol addiction. If it’s time to go cold turkey, it should be done under the guidance of professional medical supervision. Go there before reading anything on the internet.
What happens when you quit drinking?
Everyone’s reaction to going alcohol-free will differ. This will be dependent on your general physical and mental health, any underlying physical conditions you may have, and the degree of alcohol consumption you usually maintain.
So what should you expect? Whilst you probably won’t experience any of the significant changes associated with longer-term sobriety, like weight loss or a reduction of cancer risk or high blood pressure, let’s dive into a week of being alcohol-free.
Benefits of not drinking alcohol for one week
For the “average casual drinker”, there are many benefits to quitting drinking alcohol for a week, but the effects may be much less dramatic than if you give up the booze for a longer period.
Having said that, just 7 days of no alcoholic drinks can still improve the quality of your overall health and wellbeing. Here’s how.
Your liver gets a rest
Guidelines suggest that you should take a two-day break from alcohol after an excessive drinking session to give your body time to recover, and a big part of that is giving your liver some relief. Moderate alcohol consumption within the daily limits, but on a daily, or almost every day, basis can be linked to an increased risk of developing liver disease.
If your liver is working overtime to process the alcohol out of your bloodstream, it’s not able to keep up with all its other 500 important functions, like converting food nutrients and fighting infections. So just think what a week-long break from alcohol could do to help detoxify your body.
Giving your liver time to recover can help restore balanced hormone levels needed for healthy eating habits, so the rest of your diet, not just your liquid lunches, might improve too.
While research shows going alcohol-free long term can reverse severe damage caused by early stages of alcohol-related liver disease, just a week off drinking now and again can help your liver function.
Better sleep patterns
The effects of alcohol on sleep are widely researched and vary between people of different ages, genders, and overall health. But one thing in common with all the variables is that the effects of alcohol intake on sleep are all negative.
Although many people would say drinking alcohol has a positive impact, helping them into a deep sleep, the type of sleep many people experience after a boozy night out is less than ideal.
Rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep phases are particularly important when it comes to our brain function, specifically our learning and memory. But these cycles are reduced by alcohol consumption. It’s recommended to get around 5-7 of these cycles in a healthy night of sleep, but after drinking, you may only experience 1 or 2.
Reduced REM sleep can also be linked to having reduced coping skills and migraines, whilst alcohol-induced slumber also increases the chances of suffering from sleep apnoea.
Sleep after regular alcohol consumption can also be disrupted by the less pleasant “hangover” side effects like needing to urinate more frequently and nausea. Ugh.
After a week of no drinking, you might find that it’s harder to fall asleep straight away, but your sleep quality should improve and you’ll start feeling more alert upon waking up with improved energy levels. Good news!
Better skin
If you’re used to drinking every day, you might notice that your skin is dry, you may have eczema or dandruff, dark circles, puffy or sunken eyes, and an overall blotchy skin tone. Alcohol can also inhibit collagen production, leading to premature ageing of the skin and more pronounced wrinkles.
Drinking alcohol is majorly dehydrating. When you drink, you lose approximately 4 times more liquid than you consume, either through sweat or urine. Attractive, right?!
So it’s maybe not surprising that one of the very first signs of going alcohol-free can be a boost to your complexion thanks to being better hydrated.
After just a week of no alcohol, your skin may appear plumper (in a good way), with a smoother skin tone, fewer spots, and any puffiness around the eyes will reduce.
Reduced digestive issues
A dodgy stomach is one of the most common hangover symptoms, regardless of whether you drank 2 drinks, or 20 drinks the night before. Nausea can be caused by a reduction in sodium and potassium levels thanks to our old friend, dehydration.
Heartburn, indigestion, and acid reflux are all triggered by an increase in stomach acid and gut irritation caused by alcohol, too. And if you often suffer from diarrhoea after an alcohol binge, you’re not alone.
Not only are these short-term effects uncomfortable, but alcohol also impacts our body’s ability to absorb vitamins and nutrients from our food and the acidity of alcohol impacts our overall gut health. So trust us. After a week of no alcohol, your bowels will thank you.
Fewer headaches
Headaches are another common hangover symptom of drinking alcohol, which, regardless of how much alcohol you consumed, would usually have dissipated after a week of no alcohol (unless there was an underlying cause).
An alcohol-induced headache can be as severe as a migraine for some, but for many, a headache as a result of dehydration is felt as a dull throbbing in the temples which worsens with physical activity. As the days of no drinking mount up, and your hydration levels improve, your constant fuzzy head might feel like a thing of the past.
One week alcohol free
How many benefits you notice after a week-long break from alcohol will differ from person to person, but what we do know is that it certainly won’t have any negative effects.
If you’re looking to cut down on your alcohol consumption, it’s recommended to have several alcohol-free days per week, so why not go a bit further, for the sake of your overall health (and wallet), and have regular week-long breaks from alcohol. Or push yourself to take part in an alcohol-free month challenge, like Dry January.
Along with other healthy lifestyle changes, it might just be the reset your body, and mind, are craving.