Most people who give up alcohol notice that their skin is dewy, and healthier looking after just one week. By the end of Dry January, you're likely to see less swelling, clearer skin, and an overall healthy glow.
As soon as you give up alcohol, it's amazing just how fast your appearance will change. You'll look more vibrant, in shape, and healthy. In addition to all of these big changes above, you'll also experience less puffiness, less bloating, a slimmer appearance, clearer eyes, and smoother skin.
With on-time alcohol detox, you can get your health back on track. The skin will look younger, with fewer wrinkles, puffiness, and flare-ups. You will have an easier time losing weight and getting rid of the bad smell. Most importantly, you will give your eyes a new start.
Your skin will look better
Drinking less alcohol can have a positive impact on your appearance - and your skin in particular. Alcohol dehydrates your body, including the skin, and this happens every time you drink. This can cause your skin and eyes to look dull. But stopping drinking could help your skin's hydration.
After Quitting: By replacing alcoholic drinks with plenty of water, you are allowing your skin to rehydrate and flush out toxins through urine and sweat. Your skin will regain its natural, healthy glow as you replenish the necessary vitamins and minerals lost from active addiction.
For example, after just 24 hours of no alcohol, your blood sugar levels will normalise and blurred vision caused by alcohol intake will disappear. “The longer you abstain you may also notice your eyes become brighter and whiter, as your body counteracts damage/yellowing of the sclera – the white part of your eye.
Although positive changes may appear earlier, 3 months of not drinking can not only improve your mood, energy, sleep, weight, skin health, immune health, and heart health. It can even reduce your risk of cancer.
After abstinence from alcohol for 2 to 3 weeks, hepatic steatosis completely resolves and liver biopsies appear normal when examined by electron microscopy.
Most people will stop experiencing withdrawal symptoms in less than a week, in which time their body will begin to restore its normal function and quality of life can already improve considerably. Some improvements in sleep occur as early as seven days, and these gains increase in the week after.
Answer: Yes, detox can make you stink. Body odor from alcohol detox is a side effect of the detox process, but one that should not typically cause alarm. Fortunately, this odor does not usually linger beyond the detox process.
Without alcohol in your life, you'll get better sleep, and wake up without a hangover. This can lead to more energy and productivity. You'll also experience long-term improvements in your health and reduced risk of alcohol-related conditions, like heart and liver complications.
Drink enough fluids every day
“Decreased body water content is the most common factor that increases serum sodium, which is why the results suggest that staying well hydrated may slow down the aging process and prevent or delay chronic disease.”
6 Months - Improved Focus
At this stage, you've continued to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. This is the point where some more intangible benefits start to appear. Some people find that their self-esteem improves and ability to be self-compassionate also increases (Collison et al., 2016).
It can take anywhere from a few days to a few months for the appearance of bloating to reduce, depending on the cause and severity.
The first effect is dehydration, as it actually takes all the fluid out of the skin. If you look at a woman who has been drinking for 20 or 30 years, and a woman the same age who hasn't at all, we see a massive difference in the skin—more wrinkles from that dehydration damage, which can make you look 10 years older.”
By 4-8 weeks after quitting, your gut will start to level out. Your sleep-quality will improve. Though we may fall asleep faster when we drink, our brains actually increase alpha wave patterns, which cause our brains to be more active than they should be while we sleep.
After two weeks off alcohol, you will continue to reap the benefits of better sleep and hydration. As alcohol is an irritant to the stomach lining, after a fortnight you will also see a reduction in symptoms such as reflux where the stomach acid burns your throat.
However, by day 4 without alcohol, most people will have got beyond any initial withdrawal symptoms. All the alcohol will have left your system by now, and your body will begin to bounce back. If you're not as focused on alcohol, you may be eating better, drinking water, moving more, and perhaps sleeping more deeply.
You should notice your general health and well-being improving when your liver starts to heal. For example, you may notice clearer thinking, more energy, improved appetite, and less pain.
Depending on how much you drank, your starting weight, your age, and how you've treated diet and exercise since you stopped drinking, it's not uncommon to lose anywhere between 6-15 pounds after a month without alcohol.
Someone who goes from daily alcohol drinking to stopping altogether can expect to see physical body composition changes as well as weight loss in the days or weeks after they quit drinking alcohol.
Staying sober for 6 months will have an extremely positive impact on the brain. However, there's also something important to point out: 6 months of sobriety doesn't always mean feeling better on the inside. Your drug abuse can affect your neurotransmitters in your brain.