While alcohol detox is designed only to be the first step of your recovery journey from alcohol addiction, it can allow you plenty of time to reflect on the good things to come. Some of the benefits of quitting alcohol for the long term include getting better sleep, reducing your risk for serious diseases, and improving your mental health. Here is what you can expect.
The Benefits of Quitting Alcohol for the Long Term
Better Sleep
Alcohol’s sedative properties interfere with sleep by affecting various neurotransmitter systems. Consuming a lot of alcohol right before going to bed can have a detrimental effect on the quality of your sleep. Specifically, it can make it harder for you to fall asleep and disrupt the normal pattern of your sleep in the initial hours of the night, especially when the alcohol is still in your system at its highest levels.
Quitting alcohol allows you to experience more rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a critical sleep cycle most adults need at least two hours of each night. REM sleep is important for various aspects of our mental functioning. It helps with consolidating memories, processing emotions, promoting brain development, and facilitating dreams.
Improved Mental Health
When under the influence of alcohol, it becomes challenging to accurately gauge the complete range of your emotions and the potential consequences of your behavior. Regardless of your personal emotions, chemical changes in your brain due to alcohol can lead to the experience of negative emotions such as anger, sadness, or anxiety.
Alcohol use also leads to a complicated disruption of dopamine levels in the brain. Quitting alcohol will allow you to focus on the people and activities that enrich your emotions and mental health. Over time, your brain will naturally adjust and regulate dopamine levels again without the need for alcohol.
Reduced Risk of Serious Diseases
Excessive alcohol consumption can result in the development of chronic diseases and various other significant issues, such as:
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Liver disease
- Digestive problems
- Cancer
When you choose to quit alcohol, you eliminate the health risks associated with consuming each alcoholic beverage. Over a period of time, your body has the ability to gradually recover from the effects of alcohol. As a result, you can anticipate the following changes:
- Enhanced cardiovascular and cardiac health
- Reduced risk of cancer
- A stronger immune system
Upon quitting alcohol, your liver also has the potential to undergo a recovery process of self-repair, especially if you have a condition such as fatty liver or alcoholic hepatitis. While it may not be possible to completely reverse the progression of liver damage, making the decision to quit alcohol can significantly increase your longevity.
Enhanced Brain Function
Alcohol has a significant impact on the intricate communication pathways within our brain, posing challenges for the brain’s ability to regulate balance, memory, speech, and judgment.
For individuals who struggle with chronic drinking, alcohol often becomes a relied-upon coping mechanism to navigate various situations and emotions that arise in their daily lives. However, the brain needs to be able to adapt to challenges in order to stay sharp, and it doesn’t help when the effects of alcohol dull this important function.
When you stop drinking, you give your brain a chance to develop and improve by acquiring new coping skills and fostering emotional maturity. It forms new connections and creates pathways that pave the way for healthier, more positive activities that enable you to navigate life’s challenges with greater resilience.
Deeper Relationships
Alcohol can sometimes hinder our ability to communicate clearly, which can, unfortunately, lead to misunderstandings and strained relationships. When you make the decision to quit alcohol, you can begin to experience a heightened sense of presence and engagement in your conversations with others. This newfound clarity allows you to actively listen and genuinely respond, creating more meaningful and authentic interactions.
The power of effective communication goes beyond words—it has the ability to strengthen the bonds we share with our loved ones, friends, and colleagues. By engaging in open conversations about recovery from alcohol use, we create a safe space where we can understand and be understood by those who matter most to us.
How Should I Quit Alcohol?
Quitting alcohol or any other substance without medical supervision, especially if you have been consuming great amounts of it for a long time, is never recommended. This is because chronic alcohol or drug use disorders affect the brain in such a way that it may develop a physical and psychological dependence on the substance.
When consumption of alcohol is suddenly stopped in people with long-term alcohol use disorder (AUD), they may experience moderate to severe withdrawal symptoms that can lead to dangerous health complications or increase the risk of relapse.
For this reason, a professional alcohol detox program is your best option for safely and effectively quitting alcohol for good.
What Is Alcohol Detox?
Detoxing from alcohol is the process of clearing the body of alcoholic substances after it has developed a chemical tolerance to alcohol. This process is designed to support the body in navigating withdrawal symptoms, which can differ greatly from person to person, depending on a range of factors. These factors include the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption, as well as the presence of any co-occurring mental health or substance use disorders.
Embarking on the journey towards a clean and sober life is a courageous decision, and it’s important to recognize that alcohol detox, while not a guarantee for life-long abstinence, can serve as a crucial first step. When coupled with rehabilitation or therapy, it can lay a solid foundation for a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle.
Visit an Alcohol Detox Center in Muscle Shoals, AL
Genesis Medical Detox is a professional drug and alcohol detox center in Muscle Shoals, AL, and Pulaski, TN, ready to provide you with the comfort and support you need for a safe, medically supervised detoxification. Once your alcohol detox is complete, we take our time and care to provide you with the best resources to ensure your successful recovery journey.
Whether you are seeking treatment for yourself or a loved one, we are here for you every step of the way. Contact us today for a free insurance verification or to learn more about our specific services.
