Eight Health Benefits of Giving Up Alcohol in January

The new year means new resolutions. Lose weight, eat healthier, exercise more, sleep better. The usual list.

The thing is, giving up alcohol during “Dry January” or for good can knock out several of these at once, according to Dr. Amara Mulder, an internal medicine physician at South Shore Medical Center.

Whether you're a moderate drinker—one drink or less daily for women, two or less for men—or you drink more, cutting back or quitting improves physical and mental health and cuts risk of serious disease.

Here's what happens when you stop drinking.

1. Blood Pressure Drops

Drinking raises both heart rate and blood pressure and stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. Long-term use increases stress hormones like cortisol, causing inflammation, narrowing blood vessels, and straining your heart.

Cut out or reduce alcohol and people with hypertension can lower their blood pressure significantly. Some get off medications or reduce them.

2. Heart Disease Risk Goes Down

Heavy drinking causes cardiomyopathy. Basically, the heart muscle weakens and enlarges, pumping efficiency decreases, and the risk of heart failure, stroke, or sudden cardiac arrest all go up.

Excessive use also links to atrial fibrillation—an irregular heartbeat that can cause stroke or heart attack. This gets more common as we age; alcohol speeds it up.

People diagnosed with atrial fibrillation should limit alcohol to three drinks per week maximum. For people with heart conditions or hypertension, the healthiest amount is none.

3. Liver Gets a Break

Alcohol wrecks the liver.

Excessive consumption causes fatty liver disease. Fat builds up, and inflammation starts. Over time it turns into fibrosis, then cirrhosis. Extensive scarring leads to liver failure or liver cancer.

Reduce or quit and the liver can better detoxify blood, metabolize nutrients, and aid digestion. It even starts repairing damage from early-stage disease.

4. Cancer Risk Drops

Most people know alcohol damages the liver. Fewer know it increases risk of several cancers—including mouth, throat, esophageal, stomach, colon, liver, and  breast.

Ethanol in wine, beer, and liquor gets metabolized to acetaldehyde, which damages DNA in cells throughout the digestive tract and other areas.

Growing evidence prompted U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to issue a health advisory last year calling for new warning labels on alcoholic beverages.

5. Chronic Conditions

Heavy use may also trigger chronic conditions such as pancreatitis, alcoholic hepatitis, gastritis, gout, and neuropathy in legs and feet. The list goes on. Quitting alcohol significantly reduces the symptoms and progression associated with such conditions.

6. Sleep Gets Better

Eliminating alcohol helps you sleep better. Sure, alcohol acts like a sedative initially. It makes you fall asleep fast, but then it wrecks sleep patterns and quality by delaying and suppressing REM sleep. It also makes snoring and sleep apnea worse.

Without it, you get deeper, more uninterrupted sleep, plus fewer nighttime awakenings and breathing issues. You will feel well-rested, more focused, and energetic throughout the day too.

7. Your Brain Works Better

Alcohol disrupts brain communication. It impairs judgment, slows reaction time, affects memory, speech, and balance. It also messes with neurotransmitters, leading to mood swings and anxiety. Long-term chronic use can cause brain shrinkage and dementia.

Quit and you may see improved cognitive function from reduced brain inflammation, along with better memory, mental clarity, and executive functioning.

8. Weight Comes Off

Giving up alcohol helps you lose weight. Alcoholic beverages are loaded with sugar and empty calories and have zero nutritional value. It affects hunger and cortisol, increases appetite, and promotes weight gain. Heavy use links to abdominal fat.

It also lowers inhibitions, impairs judgment, and leads to overeating and choosing unhealthy foods.

Switch to sugar-free drinks like water or unsweetened seltzers and you cut calories and make healthier food choices too.

Getting Started

Giving up or reducing alcohol in January is good, but going beyond just one month is what truly benefits your health. January is a good start though and noticing the difference from just 30 days of doing this might be enough to motivate you to keep going. This requires making changes and developing new habits though and it takes several weeks to truly stick.

An important note: regular heavy drinkers shouldn't stop suddenly. Consult a health care provider for advice on cutting down safely.

If you have an upcoming appointment with your primary care provider, it is a good opportunity to see how the change impacts lab work and blood pressure.

Hopefully you learn from experience, and gain motivation to continue for long-term health and feeling better daily.

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