When the demon drink has you on the brink...
Whether you drink out of habit, to be sociable, or to relax and de-stress, cutting back on your alcohol intake has many and varied benefits, writes Sophie Aubrey.
Alot of us wake up every year on January 1 and, perhaps feeling rather fragile, decide it’s time to break up with alcohol. The pledge usually doesn’t last long. While we hear success stories about people who manage to give up the grog for good, or know people who take part in the month-long campaigns that come around each year, such as Dry July and Sober October, for many it can feel unachievable.
But there is a strong argument to be made for the value of simply reducing your alcohol intake, particularly after a year in which many of us felt we drank more heavily than usual.
‘‘A dry month can have benefits, but it’s better health-wise to reduce your overall level of consumption over a longer period of time,’’ says Professor Kate Conigrave, a University of Sydney addiction medicine specialist.
‘‘If you’re making a New Year’s resolution, particularly with something as powerful as alcohol is to our brains, it really needs to mean something to you.’’
Professor Nicole Lee, of Curtin University’s National Drug Research Institute, agrees.
‘‘I’m not suggesting we should all go alcoholfree. I like a drink on the weekend as well. But you want to be in control of your drinking so that you have the effects you want, rather than the alcohol being in control of you,’’ Lee says.
The key is to figure out a realistic goal for yourself. Quitting alcohol isn’t easy.
As Conigrave explains, it’s a sedative drug, so it dampens our body’s systems and brain activity, lowering our inhibitions and feels good. It also works on the reward centre of our brains, including our opiate receptors.
Conigrave says that reducing is not an option for people with an alcohol addiction – in that situation, it’s best to quit altogether and seek professional help if needed.
But for others, even moderate drinkers, Conigrave encourages trying to cut back. She says the reduction tactic means you can still have the perks drinking might bring you, but research shows you’re also up for a medley of health benefits.
Here’s a look at what you can expect to happen to your body and mind when you rein in your drinking, starting with the most immediate shifts to the longer term changes.
And, of course, the more you reduce, the greater these effects will be.
Sleep
One of the first things you’ll experience when you ease your alcohol intake is better shut-eye.
Conigrave says it’s common for people to drink to de-stress or to sleep, without realising it can make matters worse.
‘‘If you’re drinking regularly, your body pushes back against [alcohol’s] sedating effect by increasing the volume of your natural uppers – the NMDA receptors in your brain,’’ Conigrave says.
‘‘It’s just your body reacting: ‘I have a sedative on board, I’d better fight back’.’’
So while alcohol may make you sleepy to start with, when it leaves your system the uppers are still working to keep you awake, Conigrave says.
The balance of your REM and deep sleep gets disrupted.
When you cut down, Conigrave says sleep quality and duration should start to improve right away for a moderate drinker, noticeably so for a couple of weeks.
People who were heavier drinkers (above the guidelines) may find their sleep is worse the first week, but then it improves for up to a year.
Sex
Drinking alcohol may make you feel sexier at first because it shrinks your inhibitions, but when it gets down to it, you’re less likely to have satisfying sex, Lee says. Alcohol interferes with the hormones and chemicals that regulate a number of bodily functions, including physical arousal, for example testosterone in men.
‘‘Men who are heavy drinkers are less likely to get an erection. For women, when heavy drinking, they can lose interest in sex. It also has effects on lubrication and blood volume. We know from studies that orgasm takes longer and is less intense,’’ Lee says. ‘‘So when you reduce your alcohol intake, sex can become more enjoyable.’’
Illness and injury
We know we can become quite unco-ordinated when on the beers. So winding back the amount of alcohol you drink means you’re less likely to injure yourself, Lee says.
‘‘Not just with getting into car accidents or fights, but people are really clumsy when they’re drinking. You’re less likely to have minor or major injuries the less you drink.’’
And of course, the hangovers shouldn’t be as nasty, meaning fewer sick days at work, or fewer occasions where you’re working but feeling tired, unwell and unproductive.
Then, over the next month, your immune system can improve, meaning you shouldn’t be getting ill as often. Conigrave says if you’re regularly drinking heavily, it can suppress the function of your T cells, a type of white blood cell that plays an important role in helping your body ward off infection.
Withdrawal
At first, it’s not always pleasant to cut down on alcohol. ‘‘The more you drink the more withdrawal symptoms you’re likely to experience,’’ Lee says.
If you’ve been a regular heavy drinker, your body has to work to readjust. Lee says you might feel restless, anxious, nauseous, sweaty, and you may experience vomiting, headaches and bad sleep. In severe cases, you need to consult a health professional.
‘‘It’s usually over within seven days or so, so if you can manage to get through that period, you’ll feel a lot better and you’ll start feeling the other [positive] effects,’’ Lee says.
Moderate drinkers are unlikely to experience severe withdrawal symptoms when they cut down, but that’s not to say they won’t battle cravings. It’s about retraining your brain.
‘‘Even people who have a couple of drinks a couple of times a week, can find it difficult to change [the habit],’’ Lee says.
Stomach
Even a little bit of alcohol can irritate your digestive system directly and cause acid reflux. At the top of our stomachs is a sphincter that Conigrave says acts like a ‘‘drawstring purse’’.
‘‘Alcohol can relax that muscle and let the acid come up and burn the oesophagus,’’ she says.
If you cut down your drinking, your symptoms of reflux can immediately recover, but it might take inflammation about a week to settle down, Conigrave says.
Liver
The process of breaking down alcohol in the liver can damage the organ. That’s because, Conigrave says, one of the key breakdown products of booze, called acetaldehyde, can cause oxidative stress and trigger the body to attack its own cells in the liver.
‘‘But here we’re talking about six or more standard drinks a day or people who have a holiday binge,’’ Conigrave says. ‘‘Someone drinking within the guidelines shouldn’t have issues with this.’’
The good news is that if the damage isn’t severe, the liver is usually quick to heal.
‘‘If there’s not permanent damage or scarring, even over two weeks your liver enzymes can come halfway back to normal.’’
Weight
Alcoholic drinks contain more energy than many realise. It varies, but a serving of beer or wine can contain 400-500 kilojoules. It’s not insignificant when you consider the average adult should have 8700 total kilojoules in a day.
‘‘So if you reduce [your drinking], most people find they lose a little bit of weight,’’ Lee says, adding this can be noticeable within a month.
The influence on weight is not just thought to be the energy in booze itself, but also the behavioural effects of alcohol. It can make you more impulsive and more tempted by junk food.
‘‘For some people, even one or two drinks, that bit of disinhibition can cause them to take on behaviours that affect their health, from unhealthy food to illicit drugs to cigarettes. So [curbing your alcohol] also helps you live the way you want to live,’’ Conigrave says.
When you drink less you’re also more likely to engage in healthier behaviours. Saturday morning HIIT classes become less of a problem.
Mental wellbeing
After about a month of lightened drinking, your mood will be improved, Lee says, as should