What Happens to Your Brain When You Stop Drinking Alcohol?

[DGUtley]

What Happens to Your Brain When You Stop Drinking Alcohol?

Full disclosure: I don't drink. When I say I don't drink, I'm not militant about it, we have it in the house, I just come from a long line of drunks, my brothers are drunks, my uncles were drunks, my dad was a drunk so I don't drink - or rather if I have 2-3 beers or drinks in a year that'd be a surprise. Maybe at a football game. Maybe at a wedding. A cold hot day after working in the yard, an ice cold beer perhaps. A lot of my clients know that they'll finish a beer if I order one. I don't need it; been there done that. My kids have never seen me drunk. I don't know if my kids have ever seen my one brother sober.

Anyways, this article discusses what happens to your body after you've quit. Pretty interesting....

After One Week - After roughly seven days of abstaining, you’ll begin to reap the mental and emotional benefits. First and foremost, you’ll sleep better, resulting in increased energy, improved mood, and sharpened cognitive function.

After One Month - This is when meaningful reflection and long-term lifestyle shifts may come into play. Without the cravings, sleep deprivation, and mood swings that can come with partying and hangovers, you may find it easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/w...=pocket-newtab

5ee253d1b0547.jpg

[Mini Me]

I quit after my third heart attack. Alcohol is Hell on the heart! That was in 2002.

[Adelaide]

I drink once or twice a year.

It is interesting to imagine the positive impact of not drinking, but it seems to usually be more persuasive to look at some of the really scary things that can happen with long-term chronic use/abuse, like Korsakoff syndrome (or Wernicke-Korsakoff). Imaging studies of the brain after years of alcohol abuse often show similar changes found in dementia patients because the brain basically shrinks.

Nothing scares me more than the idea of living with severe cognitive deficits. Both of my grandfathers were alcoholics so no one in my family has ever drunk excessively. My mom and dad never drank in front of us (quit before my older brother was born), with the exception of my mom once when I was 15 or 16. It was not until after my grandfather died that my grandmother would even have wine in the house for special dinners (like Christmas).

It's kind of taboo in my family.

[Peter1469]

What Happens to Your Brain When You Stop Drinking Alcohol?

Full disclosure: I don't drink. When I say I don't drink, I'm not militant about it, we have it in the house, I just come from a long line of drunks, my brothers are drunks, my uncles were drunks, my dad was a drunk so I don't drink - or rather if I have 2-3 beers or drinks in a year that'd be a surprise. Maybe at a football game. Maybe at a wedding. A cold hot day after working in the yard, an ice cold beer perhaps. A lot of my clients know that they'll finish a beer if I order one. I don't need it; been there done that. My kids have never seen me drunk. I don't know if my kids have ever seen my one brother sober.

Anyways, this article discusses what happens to your body after you've quit. Pretty interesting....

After One Week - After roughly seven days of abstaining, you’ll begin to reap the mental and emotional benefits. First and foremost, you’ll sleep better, resulting in increased energy, improved mood, and sharpened cognitive function.

After One Month - This is when meaningful reflection and long-term lifestyle shifts may come into play. Without the cravings, sleep deprivation, and mood swings that can come with partying and hangovers, you may find it easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/w...=pocket-newtab

Attachment 30186

This article is about when a moderate drinker doesn't drink- what happens to your brain.

[Cletus]

The first and last time I had anything alcoholic to drink was in January, 1977.

I remember it clearly because I didn't like the sensation and just told myself "Okay, I don't need to do that again", and that was it.

[Collateral Damage]

In my misbegotten youth, I likely drank more before being of legal age then I have in all the years since. I think throwing up next to a cops shoes during a traffic stop was the highlight.

Once I was of age, it was maybe one drink every couple of months. In the decades since, I could likely count on one hand, and in recent years, none at all. Don't miss it.