Alcohol Use Disorder: What to Expect When You Quit Drinking

By the first week after stopping alcohol, you will be more hydrated. The effects of being well-hydrated will continue to build, having more positive results as you continue sobriety. A day and a half after quitting alcohol, withdrawal symptoms will intensify.

Alcohol withdrawal symptom timeline

• When you give up alcohol, your sleep patterns often normalize, leading to a more restful and rejuvenating night’s sleep that has cascading benefits for your overall health.
• Your mental health can also be affected in the first week of sobriety.
• The timeline and intensity vary depending on drinking patterns, overall health, and individual factors.
• Liver function begins to improve after a couple of weeks after quitting alcohol, but after a couple of months, you may feel the differences in your body.
• Mentally, you’ll likely experience enhanced clarity and concentration as the fog of alcohol’s impact on the brain lifts.

Because alcohol slows down your metabolism, you can easily gain weight when drinking. When your metabolism slows, your body needs to work harder to process fats and sugars. On its own, alcohol is high in sugar and empty calories, and when you add mixers, you’re likely to substantially increase your calorie intake. That’s why abstaining from alcoholic beverages can lead to significant improvements in your psychological well-being. According to a 2022 review, giving up alcohol can help reduce anxiety and depression, enhance mood, https://seedsofnatures.com/bruises-symptoms-causes-diagnosis-treatment/ and improve cognitive function.

Here’s What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Drinking for 30 Days

It’s worth noting that these what happens when you stop drinking alcohol are just some of the benefits of quitting alcohol. Because alcohol can affect nearly every aspect of our life, abstaining from it can bring numerous benefits to our overall level of health, happiness, and well-being. Furthermore, chronic alcohol use has been known to weaken the immune system, making you susceptible to illnesses. A robust immune system is critical for fighting infections and staying healthy. After three months without drinking, your immune system strengthens as the impact of alcohol on white blood cells diminishes.

• The drinkers also experienced more cravings for high-fat (high-calorie) foods.
• Or if you’re just thinking about taking a break from alcohol, for your own reasons or as part of a challenge, you will be joining millions of others.
• If you are alcohol dependent, the two most serious potential complications are Delirium Tremens (DTs) and Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS).
• If you consistently consume significant amounts of alcohol, your CNS gets used to this effect.
• This is totally normal as your body adjusts to its new normal without alcohol.

Quitting Alcohol Timeline What Happens When You Stop Drinking?

Regular alcohol use slows the central nervous system, and the body compensates by producing more stimulatory chemicals to stay awake, alert, and prepared for survival. When alcohol is cleared, this overcompensation leaves you with more alert signals than calming ones, which explains many withdrawal symptoms. You might feel a surge of excitement that you’re so close to achieving your goal of 30 days of sobriety. Journaling can be a great way to document the ups-and-downs, and learn from your past experiences. Alcohol causes inflammation, and it can take a few weeks for this side effect to wear off. By the fourth week, inflammation-related symptoms may improve, and you might notice a slimmer face, reduced bloating, and less joint pain.

Your ongoing care team for mind & body.

Your calorie intake will be about 9,000 calories less, leading to a potential drop in weight of about three pounds. While you will still likely have some alcohol cravings, you will probably feel pretty good about quitting alcohol. Avoiding alcohol for long periods also reduces the risk of several types of cancer (including liver, pancreas and colon) and the risk of heart disease and stroke. In people with liver inflammation or mild scarring, even within seven days of giving up alcohol, there are noticeable reductions in liver fat, inflammation and scarring.

What to Expect: The Complete Alcohol Cessation Timeline

Physical symptoms will be much better by a week after stopping for most people. Sometimes called alcoholic hallucinosis, these can show up within 12 to 24 hours after you quit. Tell your doctor if you see, hear, or feel things that aren’t there.

Although recovering from alcohol addiction is a life-long journey, making it through the first year after you stop drinking is a milestone to be proud of. Within the first month of refraining from alcohol, you will notice that you feel more rested in the morning because you are sleeping through the night and are not having interrupted sleep. Many people are unaware that they are experiencing nighttime awakenings but wonder why they wake up in the morning feeling exhausted even after a long night’s sleep. Many people look forward to fresh starts and new resolutions in the New Year, often focused on health and wellness. One of the best steps towards a healthier and longer life is abstaining from alcohol.

Delirium tremens has a fatality rate of 37% if untreated and is considered a medical emergency. If you are struggling with addiction and co-occurring mental health, our expert team is here to guide you every step of the way. Without alcohol, your blood pressure often moves towards a healthier range. Alongside detox, you will also participate in alcohol rehab to help you understand your addiction and find strategies to stay sober long-term.

• While it may have been helping us to fall asleep, it basically wrecked the quality of our rest after we lost consciousness.
• Alcohol irritates the gut and disrupts normal stomach functioning, causing bloating, indigestion, heartburn and diarrhoea.
• The GI tract is now exposed to bacteria and toxins, resulting in bloating, diarrhea, and an increased likelihood of infections and illnesses.
• It particularly disrupts REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is crucial for cognitive function, memory consolidation and overall restorative sleep.

Improve sleep

Although alcohol is a depressant and works to induce sleep, you are less likely to stay asleep, as alcohol disrupts the sleep/wake and REM cycles. Thus, nighttime awakenings increase (consciously or unconsciously). These effects will subside as your body adjusts to the absence of alcohol. If you are still wondering about whether to make what is alcoholism changes or not you can check your drinking risk here. Alcohol can make you look older through dehydration and inflammation, which can be reversed when you quit.

“It’s absolutely vital to find the right facility and support system. You need a place that can help stabilize you, arrest the progression of addiction, and educate you on what’s really going on mentally, physically, and emotionally. “In the first week, I didn’t realize how much energy alcohol was stealing from me, emotionally and physically. So, to answer the question posed by the myth of Prometheus, the liver has an amazing power to repair itself after it has been damaged. But it cannot grow back as new if it was already severely scarred. In the late stages of cirrhosis, when the liver fails, people can turn yellow (jaundice), swell with fluid and become sleepy and confused.