Benefits of being alcohol free

(Jan 2025)
Y Southland Gym Instructor and Personal Trainer Camila Peres Armelin has compiled some key info from different websites (referenced below) to share some insights with you about the benefits of stopping drinking alcohol. Check out what she found here:

There are many evidenced benefits of giving up alcohol. Just some of these include the potential to:

Relieve the liver
Decrease cardiovascular disease risk
Decrease cancer risk
Decrease weight
Improve sleep quality
Improve cerebral capacity
Improve glucose balance
Improve mental wellbeing
Improve skin and hair quality because of better hydration
Improve emotion processing
Improve decision making
Improve concentration

One year timeline:

1 week	Sleep patterns are likely to improve, though it can take up to a month or longer for some people.
2 weeks	You may start to notice weight loss due to removing alcohol calories. Those whose livers have not been badly damaged by drinking but have become ‘fatty’ can start showing signs of recovery.
1 month	Your skin and hair may start to look better. You should start to feel less anxious and more positive. The brain also begins to repair some of the damage and shrinkage you may have experienced while drinking. One study showed that after 6 weeks of abstinence from alcohol, brain volume increases by an average of 2%.
3 months	More energy and a general sense of better health.
6 months	Your risk of developing cancer will decrease, and your liver function will have greatly improved
1 year	At this point, your risk of developing all types of disease will be reduced and your bone density will start to increase.