After several decades of being a regular social drinker, I decided to stop completely. I recently celebrated three years of being sober. I have seen the benefits of not drinking, and I like it.
I had noticed my body developing a lower tolerance for alcohol shortly before I quit. Just one or two beers negatively impacted not just my quality of sleep but also reduced my overall energy the next day.
I discovered that an older person’s response to alcohol is stronger. As people age, the enzyme that metabolizes alcohol decreases, and a person’s body water decreases as we age, contributing to a higher blood alcohol concentration. The same dose of alcohol has a more significant impact. That’s one of several reasons I decided to give up alcohol altogether. My body and mind are thankful.
Alcohol is ubiquitous in society. It is so ingrained into our lifestyle. For some, it is difficult to imagine life without it. It has many uses (and excuses), including rewarding ourselves, medicating ourselves, using it as an escape, and using it in a myriad of social situations. We drink to celebrate the good times; we drink to escape the bad times. Drinking for all sorts of occasions is normalized.
Some will undoubtedly see it as giving up something of value, as a sacrifice. On the contrary, I feel more in control of myself than ever. I find it extraordinarily liberating. I like that feeling, and I’m keeping it.
Some people have also become more conscious of what they put in their bodies. Hence, there is an increased interest in whole-food, plant-based diets. As a result, people are adopting healthier habits and mindsets.
If I want to attain an optimal level of health, alcohol cannot be a part of my life. Giving up alcohol and pursuing a whole-food, plant-based diet go hand in hand. It’s a recipe for an extraordinarily vibrant and healthy life.
I’m fitter, healthier, sharper, and more focused. My mind and body can function much better because it is freed from processing toxic chemicals. Consistently getting a good night of sleep and waking up feeling clear-headed, well-rested, and full of energy every day is one of my favorite parts of not drinking.
Eliminating alcohol has so many benefits. Alcohol interferes with and impedes your body’s absorption of vitamins and nutrients. When you stop drinking and focus on a healthier lifestyle, your body will absorb nutrients better.
When you drink, your body breaks the alcohol down into a chemical called acetaldehyde. It damages your DNA and prevents your body from repairing it. When it is damaged, your body's cells can start to grow out of control, sometimes resulting in cancer. This same byproduct has adverse effects on your skin. It dehydrates your body and causes tissue inflammation.
Drinking ages the body’s cells. It reduces the lifespan of the cells in the heart, liver, skin, and other organs, resulting in faster deterioration. It slows the speed at which blood moves through the body, requiring the heart to work extra hard to pump blood.
When moderate drinkers give up alcohol, their liver starts flushing out all the leftover byproducts produced over time, allowing it to return to its normal function. This process takes several weeks, sometimes months. People who quit drinking will feel the benefits within a few months. I certainly did.
Alcohol damages the immune cells and fine hairs in your lungs, which are critical in clearing pathogens. It reduces their ability to remove mucous from the lungs, damages lung tissue, and leads to a chronic weakening of lung function over time.
In the gut, alcohol triggers inflammation and can kill normal, healthy gut bacteria. It can weaken the lining of the stomach. Gut bacteria can help with the absorption of critical nutrients and maintain gut barrier function. Alcohol disrupts the flora in the gut, which can lead to health problems.
Besides disrupting the bacteria in your gut, leading to inflammation in the stomach, it also leads to inflammation of the liver, pancreas, and other vital organs. Inflammation is at the core of many chronic and deadly illnesses.
Alcohol degrades your immune response, making you more vulnerable to respiratory diseases. When you drink, your body prioritizes breaking down the alcohol. It won’t have the energy or resources to fight anything else. Even for light-to-moderate drinkers, alcohol can affect your body’s ability to fight off infections and viruses.
Unfortunately, even for social drinkers, alcohol is slow physical destruction. Alcohol can cause your immune system to deteriorate over time and disrupt your body’s biological balance. Many people don’t understand the extent to which alcohol harms your body. It can take a toll on your physical and mental health in the long run.
There is no such thing as a "safe" level of drinking. Recent studies have concluded no amount of liquor, wine, or beer is safe for your overall health. Alcohol is the leading risk factor for disease and premature death in men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 worldwide.
Alcohol is toxic, it is carcinogenic, and it is terrible for your health. To argue otherwise is denialism. The alcohol industry does this by denying the evidence, distorting the evidence, and distracting the public’s attention. It’s the same kind of extensive misrepresentation of the evidence for which the tobacco industry is best known. It is also what the corporate food industry is doing. They all operate from the same sordid playbook.
Contrary to popular opinion, one or two drinks a day is not good for your health, nor is it safe. What about those studies showing moderate drinkers being lower risk than those who abstain entirely from alcohol? Well, it turns out there’s something very fishy about how they were conducted.
Dr. Greger at NutritionFacts.org addressed this: “If you look at studies of smokers, sometimes you see higher mortality rates among those who quit smoking, compared to those that continue smoking. Why? Because the reason they quit smoking is because they got sick. That’s why when you classify someone as a non-smoker in a study, you have to make sure they’re a ‘lifelong non-smoker’ and not just a non-smoker…since last Tuesday. Yet, unbelievably, that’s not what they do in most alcohol studies, where instead they misclassify former drinkers as if they were lifelong abstainers.”
Many of those former drinkers were in poor health and abstained because they got sick. That skews the numbers. When you go back and correct the misclassifications, you find no protection at low levels of consumption. On the contrary, it reduces life expectancy, and cancer risks increase. Given the well-documented cancer risk, lower life expectancy, and no benefits, the ideal alcohol intake should be zero.
My desire to protect my immune system and optimize my physical and mental health means eliminating alcohol entirely. I eat healthier, sleep better, and have more energy. I’m more alert, focused, disciplined, and productive. I also feel better. I traded in happy hour for a happy and healthy life. What’s not to like?
A much needed post/read. I too would like to give up drinking completely but haven’t quite reached that level of commitment yet. This post was very enlightening and a bit frightening! I am enjoying your Substack immensely.