Alcoholism affects the addict’s personal relationships, health, and destroys their lives. Common signs of alcoholism include sudden personality shifts, an incessant desire to drink, and dramatic physical changes. The effects of the disease lead to lifelong struggles and death in some cases. Studies have shown that if you stop drinking right now, your body and health improve dramatically. Knowing what the addiction does to you leads to a few questions. Why can’t you stop drinking? What will it take to convince you to stop? These 5 reasons to quit should be enough to change your mind.
1. You’ll Looking Younger
Alcohol strips the body of proper hydration. It is a diuretic which means it flushes all the water and fluids out of the body. As a result, it dries out your skin and makes you appear older than you are.
Body inflammation is another physical or aesthetic hindrance of alcoholism. Your skin appears flushed or sunburned. The flushing leaves your face after the alcohol is no longer in your bloodstream, but it ages your body cells. Alcohol renders your body unable to reproduce cells in your skin and lowers collagen production. Collagen connects your skin cells and keeps the tissue strong. Without it, your skin begins to sag.
2. Improving Your Mental Health
Alcoholism leads to poor decision-making, and you are more likely to take part in regrettable behaviors. Alcohol makes you less inhibited and makes the decision-making process questionable. After the regrettable behaviors, you experience shame and guilt.
This causes you to over-analyze each decision you make, and it takes a toll on your mental health. By quitting, you regain control over your actions, and you won’t find yourself in negative or dangerous situations.
3. Your Family and Relationships Improve
In a 12-step program, alcoholics start to rebuild their relationships with their family, friends, and romantic partners. The step helps the alcoholic make amends for any hurt feelings, previous actions, and other wrongdoings that damaged the relationships. By stopping drinking, you get a better chance to rebuild your relationships and have a better life with your loved ones. To learn more about making amends and the 12-step programs, you can read information on this website now.
4. Lose Weight More Effectively
Alcoholics often gain weight due to the high-calorie content of alcohol. Your body stores alcohol in the same way as sugars which are converted to fat. Excessive drinking produces larger fat deposits and causes weight problems. Studies show that alcoholics are at a greater risk of obesity. The type of alcohol the alcoholic consumes plays a role in how much weight they gain.
Alcoholics crave foods such as carbohydrates in larger quantities. This attributes to weight gain and poor eating habits. You may have a high metabolism now and alcohol-related weight gain isn’t an issue for you today. But, as you age, your metabolism slows down dramatically and maintaining a healthy weight becomes really difficult.
5. Avoiding Cardiovascular Disease and Heart Failure
Studies show that 500,000 patients discover that they have cardiovascular disease each year. The same studies indicate that alcoholics are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease or heart failure. Alcohol causes an increase in triglycerides and fat in the bloodstream. High cholesterol is a common cause of cardiovascular disease.
High-fat content in the blood makes the hear work twice as hard to pump blood through the body. The strain on the heart increases the risk of heart disease and failure. Quitting drinking gives your heart time to heal and your health improves considerably.
Alcoholism kills cells in your skin, heart, and liver. The effects last throughout your lifetime if you don’t stop drinking. The type of alcohol you drink causes you to gain weight and makes it difficult to maintain a healthy body weight. It takes a toll on your personal relationships and affects your performance on the job. Quitting drinking makes you healthier and allows you to heal your body, your family, and improves your life.
I don’t drink but these would make me think twice if I did. Thank you for sharing. There are people that need to read this.