Dry February: This will change when you go a month without alcohol!

What does alcohol do to us?

By consuming alcoholic beverages, ethanol enters the body. In small doses, it causes short-term euphoria, it can bring a feeling of happiness, independence, greater courage for a while, it can act as an antidepressant.

“In larger doses, however, it can cause depression, loss of coordination of body movements, reduced sensitivity and reactivity, impairment of mental abilities, or aggression. Ethanol initially increases appetite, reduces reaction speed, and impairs motor skills. It affects the brain in different ways – it stimulates and at the same time calms and dulls anxiety, reduces the perception of pain, can dampen the activation of enzymes and hormones, impair the neuron’s ability to switch genes on and off. Alcohol also impairs judgment and short-term memory – we have a window, as people say,” calculates the negative effects doc. MD Pavel Kohout, head of the Internal Clinic of the 3rd Faculty of Medicine, UK and FTN in Prague.

How does monthly abstinence work?

“However long abstinence is always preferable to alcohol consumption. It does bring psychological relief in the short term, but in the long term it gradually disrupts the psyche and creates addiction.” explains Zuzana Červenková Douchová, a psychologist, nutritionist and expert consultant at the AquaLife Institute, adding:

“By giving up alcohol for a month, we can see how we are doing with our addiction and how many problems will naturally disappear. Perhaps we will sleep better, have more energy and a pleasant mood, we will concentrate better and our skin will improve. The fact that several kilos are often lost is also very motivating. Alcohol is very rich in energy, and its regular consumption contributes to overweight or obesity.”

5 tips on how to do it

“If we manage the first week, when withdrawal symptoms similar to a hangover or psychological disharmony, anxiety, insomnia, etc. may appear, then in the following weeks we will already start to feel the positive effects of abstinence,” Psychologist Červenková Douchová gives hope to abstainers by recommending five tips to manage a month without alcohol

1. Prepare for a month without alcohol both mentally and practically. Focus mainly on the first week.

2. Get rid of any alcohol that might tempt you at home.

3. Adequate intake of non-alcoholic fluids helps to manage or prevent withdrawal symptoms. Particularly advantageous are natural mineral waters, which have no calories, but supplement the body with important minerals, which is especially useful for weight loss and sports (weakly and moderately mineralized waters are a suitable part of the daily drinking regimen).

4. If you drink alcohol as a ritual to relax, reduce stress, etc., prepare other, substitute rituals in advance. For example, instead of sitting in the evening with a glass of wine, go for a walk or exercise, instead of sitting in a pub, go to the cinema. You can also try non-alcoholic drinks, which are surprisingly tasty.

5. When thinking about an alcoholic drink, occupy yourself with some pleasant activity, ideally sports, which has a positive effect on the psyche. Also, have more sex, it relaxes you and flushes out endorphins – hormones of happiness. These will help ward off mild depression or feelings of despondency from withdrawal.

Tumors, cirrhosis and depression

Long-term alcohol consumption is associated with more than 200 different diseases. It is estimated that worldwide, alcohol is responsible for about 3.3 million deaths annually, which is 5.9% of all deaths. In the Czech Republic, this is about 6,500 deaths per year.

“Liver damage is probably the most well-known consequence of alcohol consumption. The final stage is cirrhosis of the liver, a condition where liver cells damaged by alcohol die and are replaced by fibrous tissue. However, alcohol can also damage the liver through acute inflammation, which manifests itself in symptoms similar to cirrhosis, however, there is no change in the structure of the liver. This condition is treatable and may not leave lasting effects.” explains the internist of AGEL Valašské Meziříčí Hospital, MUDr. Tomáš Kocmánek and adds:

“Many cancers are also associated with alcohol consumption. People who consume 3 to 4 alcoholic drinks a day have 2-3 times more cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx and esophagus, 1.5 times higher risk of breast and colon cancer. A higher risk of liver and pancreatic cancer is also worth mentioning. Also worth mentioning are the mental disorders associated with alcohol consumption, such as depression, anxiety and sleep disorders.”