This is what happens to your body when you stop drinking alcohol

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Alcohol has many negative effects on our health, some of which may surprise you.

These include short-term impacts such as waking up with a pounding head or anxiety, to long-term effects including cancer.

If you’re considering quitting alcohol, you’ll see many quick and long-term health benefits.

We’ve put together a timeline – based on scientific research – that shows how you might feel in the first days, weeks, months and years after you stop drinking alcohol.

Some benefits start immediately, so every day without alcohol is a win for your health.

After a day

Alcohol takes about 24 hours to completely leave your body, so you may start to notice improvements after just a day.

Alcohol makes you urinate more often, causing dehydration. But your body can absorb a glass of water almost immediately, so once alcohol is out of your system, alcohol dehydration is reduced, improving digestion, brain function and energy levels.

Alcohol also reduces the liver’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels. Once the alcohol leaves the system, blood sugar levels begin to normalize.

If you drink daily, you might feel a little worse at first as your body gets used to not having alcohol in its system all the time. You may notice trouble sleeping, mood changes, sweating, or tremors at first. Most symptoms usually go away in about a week without alcohol.

After a week

Although alcohol may make you drowsy at first, it disrupts your sleep cycle. At the end of a week without alcohol, you may notice that you are more energetic in the morning thanks to better quality sleep.

As the body’s filter, the liver does the bulk of the work of processing alcohol and can be easily damaged even with moderate consumption.

The liver is important for cleaning the blood, processing nutrients and producing bile which aids digestion.

But it can also regenerate quickly. If you have only mild liver damage, seven days may be enough to reduce liver fat and heal minor scarring and tissue damage.

Even small amounts of alcohol can impair brain function. Thus, quitting smoking can help improve brain health within a few days in light to moderate drinkers and within a month even among heavily dependent drinkers.

After a month

Alcohol can make it harder to manage your mood and worsen symptoms of anxiety and depression. After a few weeks, most people start to feel better. Even very heavy drinkers report better moods after one to two months.

As your sleep and mood improve, you may also notice more energy and greater well-being.

After a month of abstinence, regular drinkers also report feeling more confident about changing the way they drink.

You can lose weight and body fat. Alcohol is high in kilojules and can trigger hunger reward systems, causing us to overeat or choose less healthy foods when we drink.

Even your skin will thank you. Alcohol can make you look older due to dehydration and inflammation, which can be reversed when you quit smoking.

Alcohol irritates the intestine and disrupts the normal functioning of the stomach, causing bloating, indigestion, heartburn and diarrhea. These symptoms usually begin to disappear within four weeks.

After a month of abstinence, insulin resistance – which can lead to high blood sugar – drops significantly by 25 percent. Blood pressure also decreases (by 6%) and cancer-related growth factors decrease, reducing your risk of cancer.

After six months

The liver begins to repair itself within a few weeks. For moderate drinkers, the damage to your liver could be completely repaired within six months.

At this point, even heavy drinkers may notice that they fight infections better and feel healthier overall.

After a year or more

Alcohol contributes to or causes a large number of chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and seven different types of cancer, as well as mental health problems. All of these risks can be reduced by stopping or reducing alcohol consumption.

Alcohol increases blood pressure. High blood pressure (hypertension) is the leading risk factor for death worldwide. A slight increase of 2 mmHg in blood pressure above the normal range (120 mmHG) increases deaths from stroke by 10 percent and from coronary heart disease by 7 percent.

Reducing alcohol consumption to less than two drinks per day can significantly reduce blood pressure, reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease. Reducing blood pressure also reduces the risk of kidney disease, eye problems and even erectile dysfunction.

With prolonged abstinence, your risk of getting any type of cancer decreases. One study looked at cancer risk in more than 4 million adults over a three- to seven-year period and found that alcohol-related cancer risk decreased by 4 percent, even among light drinkers who quit. Going from heavy to moderate drinking reduced the risk of alcohol-related cancer by 9 percent.

Make a change

Any reduction in alcohol consumption will have noticeable and immediate benefits on your brain and overall health. The less you drink and the more time you go between drinks, the healthier you will be.

Whether you want to cut back on spending or stop altogether, there are a few simple steps you can take to help you stick with it:

If you are still wondering whether or not you should make any changes, you can check your drinking risk here.

If you’ve tried to cut back on your spending and found it difficult, you may need professional help. Call the National Alcohol and Other Drugs Hotline on 1800 250 015 and they will put you in touch with services in your area who can help you. You can also talk to your GP about this.

We would like to thank Dr Hannah MacRae for her assistance in identifying the research used in this article.