Less alcohol means happier mornings, thinner waists, and younger skin
I once asked someone in alcohol sales, “Why don’t they list the calories on the bottle?” His answer, “We fought hard to keep that off.” A standard drink will add about 160 calories, but alcohol puts on further pounds by raising our appetite. Learn more in the BBC documentary The Truth About Alcohol.
It robs us of quality sleep and happier mornings. Being alcohol-free for just one week can improve your sleep patterns, leading to better decision making and problem solving. Andrew Huberman’s podcast digs deeper into these effects.
Alcohol makes us age faster, causing inflammation and skin wrinkles.
Here are other health effects:
- Brain: Dementia (memory loss), depression, psychosis, seizures, poor coordination. These effects can be due to intoxication but can also set in permanently.
- Sexual: feminization in men from high estrogen levels (leading to male breasts and smaller testes), infertility, sexual dysfunction.
- Skin: Acne, wrinkles, less elasticity, more dark circles, visible blood vessels (spider angiomas), rashes from rosacea or psoriasis.
- Heart: Cardiomyopathy (stretching and drooping of heart muscle), arrhythmias (irregular heart beat), stroke, high blood pressure.
- Liver: Potentially fatal liver inflammations including: steatosis (fatty liver), hepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis.
- Stomach: Heart-burn, gastritis, ulcers, chronic diarrhea.
- Pancreas: Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion. It also raises the risk of diabetes.
- Cancer: In the mouth, esophagus, throat, liver, colon and breast.
- Immune System: Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making your body an easier target for infections like pneumonia and tuberculosis. Alcohol slows your ability to ward off infections for up to 24 hours after getting drunk.
- Other: weakened bones, anemia, cough, painful gout (arthritis), muscle cramps.
Learn safer ways to drink.
—Chris Aiken, MD
Director, Psych Partners
Editor in Chief, Carlat Psychiatry Report
