Last year, some 4.5 million French people took part in Dry January. The principle of this challenge from across the Channel (1)? Do not drink a single drop of alcohol for a month in order to take stock of your alcohol consumption and regain control. And the benefits for your body are numerous.
Starting with an improvement in the quality of sleep: in fact, by acting on neurotransmitters, alcohol
degrades the quality of sleep which is then less deep and therefore less restorative.
If, through its relaxation effect, alcohol promotes falling asleep, it “modifies the architecture of sleep with an increase in the number of awakenings and difficulty falling back to sleep. Someone who has consumed alcohol is often very tired and sleepy the next day,” explains the Morphée Network website.
In addition, through its relaxing action on the muscles of the pharynx, alcohol promotes sleep apnea.
Stopping alcohol consumption is therefore followed by an improvement in the quality of sleep, a reduction in snoring and better shape during the day (2).
In 2019, a study was carried out by Inserm (3), on a panel of more than 5,000 Dry January participants: 71% of them said they enjoyed better quality sleep after just one month. without alcohol.
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2 More beautiful skin
When you stop drinking alcohol, the skin is less puffy, because when you drink, the skin is redder (result of dilation of blood vessels), more irritable. This dilation of the vessels also increases the risk of irritation by creating a pro-inflammatory environment which threatens to aggravate underlying skin problems such as eczema, rosacea, acne or psoriasis.
Alcohol is diuretic, meaning it increases urinary secretion, and by extension dehydrates the body more quickly than if you did not drink it. And dehydrated skin will more clearly mark certain facial features such as wrinkles and dark circles. 57% of participants in the Inserm study claimed to have noticed more beautiful skin than before.
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3 Weight loss
We also notice weight loss when we take a break from drinking, because alcohol has a significant caloric intake. Pure alcohol contains, in fact, calories: 7 kcal per gram. This means that there are on average 70 kcal in a standard glass of alcohol (4). Added to this are the sugars contained in certain alcohols such as beers, sweet wines, cooked wines. This is also the case with alcohol/sweetened drink mixtures.
Provided, of course, that you don’t set your sights on non-alcoholic drinks loaded with sugar, like sodas for example.
Recommendations
– Maximum ten glasses per week.
– Maximum two glasses per day.
– Days during the week without consumption.
Source: Public Health France. -
4 Reduces anxiety
Stopping alcohol also affects your temperament: the more anxious you are, the more you may tend to drink, but the more alcohol you consume, the more anxious and depressed you are, with alcohol aggravating anxiety. Mood improves upon stopping (5).
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5 Better concentration
Stopping alcohol also has a strong cognitive impact since improvements in concentration and work performance have been reported among the main benefits. 57% of participants in the Inserm study indicated that they very quickly felt positive effects on concentration.
Practical
More information on Dryjanuary.fr and alcool-info-service.fr.
(1) Dry January was initiated by the British NGO Alcohol Change UK in 2013.
(2), (5) Please note, heavy alcohol consumers are however recommended to consult a doctor before suddenly stopping their consumption due to a risk of withdrawal syndrome.
(3) Study: “Professor Mickael Naassila, What are the benefits of “alcohol-free” challenges?, Alcoholology and addiction, 2019”.
Health
