Sober curious? This is what actually happens to the body when you stop drinking

Better sleep, weight loss and much more

From head to toe, an expert reveals what actually happens to your body when you break up with booze.

Thinking about taking a break or quitting drinking? It’s probably no surprise that the benefits of taking a short- or long-term break from alcohol boasts major health benefits. 

While it might make for a great social lubricant, like anything in life, alcohol is always best used in moderation, says Nicole Lee, CEO of Hello Sunday Morning, an Australian not-for-profit that’s dedicated to helping people change their relationship with alcohol.

So, if you’re considering reevaluating your relationship with alcohol, here’s where to start, and what you can expect if you decide to quit. 

How to know if you have a healthy relationship with alcohol 

The most important place to start, when considering your alcohol intake, is to identify whether you have a healthy or unhealthy relationship with alcohol as a whole. 

“There’s a couple of key things that differentiate between a healthy and unhealthy relationship with alcohol and it's really around being in control of the alcohol rather than the alcohol being in control of you,” says Lee. 

Looking for a metric? National guidelines say healthy men and women should drink no more than four standard drinks in a session and no more than 10 in a week.

If you’re surpassing that national limit on a regular basis, then it could be time to change your alcohol habits. 

When to consult a doctor 

Alcohol withdrawal can be very dangerous, and in some cases even life-threatening, so it’s important to know when you should seek medical help before quitting. 

“If you think you might be heavily dependent on alcohol or if you have previously tried to stop drinking and have experienced shakes, sweating or have felt very nauseous – it’s a good idea to talk to a GP or a withdrawal service,” says Lee. 

She recommends consulting the telehealth withdrawal service Clean Slate which allows individuals to undergo withdrawal in their own homes with the support of nurses and other health professionals. 

With plenty of benefits and some side effects to look out for, let’s delve beneath the skin to find out what exactly happens inside your body when you stop drinking.

How to know if you have a healthy relationship with alcohol. Image: Pexels

Benefits of quitting drinking 

#1. Your sleep quality can improve

Lee says better ZZZs are the most common benefit people report when they stop drinking. This is because while alcohol might make you sleepy at the end of night, it can cause you to wake up during sleep as your liver works overtime to metabolise it out of your system and make you need to get up for the toilet more often.

In addition, alcohol increases brain activity and wreaks havoc with your REM stage of sleep which is vital for restoring the body. So if you cut out the bevvies before bed you can look forward to fewer trips to the toilet, and deeper and more restful sleep.

#2. You can lose weight

With just one alcoholic drink containing around 150 calories, three or four drinks make for a whole meal’s worth of calories. Thus, it makes sense that weight loss is a side effect of ceasing consumption.

Lee highlights that this can have both positive and negative consequences for the individual depending on their base weight. For those who have rapid and unhealthy weight loss, Lee says it’s important to replace the calories lost via drinking with meals. 

On the other hand, stopping drinking can be beneficial for those trying to lose weight by cutting out the empty or non-nutrient-dense calories in alcohol and limiting hungover temptations for the less healthy food options you might crave after a big night. By eliminating hangovers, the body is given more energy for physical activity the next day, too.

In every age, gender and social demographic, more and more people are choosing to forgo drinking. Image: Unsplash

#3. Better digestion

Winner winner, healthy liver? As one of the major digestive organs that expels alcohol from the body, the liver bears the brunt of drinking, so it makes sense that an over-consumption of alcohol can lead to diseases such as Steatotic (fatty) liver, acute hepatitis and cirrhosis. 

The good news is your liver has significant healing abilities and even after chronic alcohol use, it can make partial or full recovery. So lowering your risk of disease and generally healing the liver can be another reason to add to your list of reasons to quit drinking.

That being said, Hello Sunday Morning highlights a couple of things to look out for when it comes to recovering your digestion after quitting drinking: “People who quit alcohol can experience a few days of abdominal discomfort as their system becomes re-adapted to an inflammation-reduced diet, but these symptoms are typically transient.”

Heavier drinkers may experience changes to the way their bodies digests, stores, uses and excretes nutrients, leading to various forms of malnutrition and other ailments, so make sure you check in with your doctor if you do plan to go cold turkey. 

Image: iStock

#4. Your mental health and brain function can improve

As a depressant, which is a substance that reduces neurotransmission levels and weakens arousal and stimulation in various parts of the brain, it’s no surprise that alcohol has a significant impact on mental health and brain function.

“Alcohol goes hand in hand with some very common mental health conditions like depression and anxiety, and the combination of alcohol misuse and depression increases the risk of suicidal behaviour,” says Lee. But studies, like this one from 2019, show that even a reduction of alcohol consumption can lessen psychological distress over time.

In addition to impacting your mental health, heavy drinking can also cloud your perceptions of distances and slow your motor skills. However, like the liver, the brain has powerful healing properties, and can make a great recovery when you cut down on (or cut out) alcohol.

“The first few weeks might be hard if you are a regular drinker, but if you can sustain your goals for a month people often see improved productivity, focus and improvement in mood,” says Lee. 

Originally published as Sober curious? This is what actually happens to the body when you stop drinking