Everything You Need To Know About Dry January
New Year, it is time to revisit your Dry January promise. At the end of the Christmas period, we always say to ourselves “never drinking like that again” or “I want to cut down on the amount of alcohol I drink”. Dry January is used as a way to spread awareness of the effects alcohol has on your body. This is a month-long challenge that encourages you to go 31 days without alcohol. What a brilliant way to give yourself a break!
How does Alcohol Affect the Body?
Like anything you eat or drink, there are after-effects on your body. Alcohol has short-term and long-term effects on your body. Many of these effects are down to the number of alcohol units you have within a period of time.
Alcohol Short Term Effects:
Here is a list of the short-term effects:
- Feelings of relaxation
- Changes in mood
- Slowed or slurred speech
- Impulsive behaviour
- Trouble focusing
- Loss of coordination
- Gaps in memory this is also known as blackout drunk
- Changes in hearing, vision and perception
- Being giddy
As well as the effects of drinking the next day (hangover), such as nausea, headache and dizziness.
Alcohol Long Term Effects:
Here are some of the long-term effects of drinking:
- Insomnia
- Changes of mood
- Weakness of the immune system
- Changes in libido (sex drive)
- Changes in appetite and weight
- Problems with memory
- Difficulty focusing
What Counts As Too Much Alcohol?
Do you look at the recommended amount you should drink on a night out? Does it cross your mind? Do not worry if it does not, but maybe you should look into this.
Like calorie intake, there is a recommended amount of alcohol you should be having so it does not have a massive effect on your body. For both men and women, it is recommended that you shouldn’t be having more than 14 units a week. It is advised that if you regularly drink, you should spread these units across three or more days within a week. This allows your body time to remove the alcohol from your system.
What happens if you drink more than the recommended amount?
If you binge drink or drink a large number of units regularly, you may be at risk of other health conditions. If you are drinking more than 14 units of alcohol per week for over 10 years, you have a higher chance of getting these types of illnesses:
- Cancers of the mouth, throat and breasts
- Increased risk of having a stroke
- Heart disease
- Liver disease
- Brain damage
- Damage to the nervous system
There is also some evidence that constant drinking of more than 14 units a week may cause your mental health to deaerate.
Additional Information
Alcohol change has an app that helps to keep track of the amount of money you have saved by not drinking called Try Dry.
Here are some more sites with info on how much alcohol (units) is recommended per week:
How We Help
Here at VitaProHealth, we provide the highest quality supplements available to help you with your needs. Whether you looking for supplements to help perk you up during Dry January or if you want to look after your health within 2022, we can help you there.
Our supplements are the best vitamins and minerals for people who keep vegan helping to give their bodies everything they would need. If you have, any questions about what the best vitamins are for you or want to know more about our general health page. If you have any queries please contact us via email at info@vitaprohealth.com.