Chennai: Taking a break from alcohol can improve overall health, finds study
Chennai: After observing various occasions to celebrate with alcoholic beverages, a break from alcohol for a period of one month can help to improve the health of an individual. This is proven by a recent research led by researchers from the University of Sussex. Observing ‘Dry January’, which is a campaign run by charity Alcohol Change in UK to abstain from alcohol consumption for a month, improved the overall well being of the people.
Dr Richard de Visser, head researcher of the study analysed data through three online surveys in which 2,821 people who registered for the ‘Dry January’ campaign in 2018, participated. In the first week of February, 1,715 participants completed a survey, and 816 participants submitted additional data in August 2018.
The study revealed that the participants reduced their drinking days from an average of 4.3 days per week to an average of 3.3 days per week after the campaign. Not only the drinking days, but also the consumption reduced as the participants who consumed an average of 8.6 units of alcohol per drinking day declined to 7.1 units of alcohol per drinking day. The study noted that the frequency of being drunk dropped from 3.4 per month to 2.1 per month on average.
“The simple act of taking a month off alcohol helps people drink less in the long term and one extra dry day per week was reported by August. There are also considerable immediate benefits: nine in 10 people save money, seven in 10 sleep better, and three in five lose weight,” said Dr Richard de Visser.
Over 88 percent of the participants not only saved money they would have otherwise used on alcohol, but also experienced a sense of confidence to be able to survive without alcohol, without considering it as a necessity. Cutting alcohol consumption also helped the drinkers to understand the reasons why they resorted to drinking.
“The brilliant thing about Dry January is that it’s not really about January. Being alcohol-free for 31 days shows us that we don’t need alcohol to have fun, to relax, to socialise. That means that for the rest of the year we are better able to make decisions about our drinking, and to avoid slipping into drinking more than we really want to,” says Dr Richard Piper, CEO of Alcohol Change.
Physical health benefits
Excessive alcohol consumption not only leads to various diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease and cancer of the breast, mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, and colon, but also mental health problems. Medicos say that refraining from alcohol consumption for a period of time helps in improving sleep, weight loss, improve concentration and keeps away skin problems too. The energy levels also improve if the alcohol consumption is low. “Taking a break from alcohol for a month rejuvenates the whole system.
The regeneration of enzymes in the body takes place, while liver and pancreas are put to rest they require for the rehabilitation of the organs. Undoubtedly, a break of around a month results in overall better health and it also develops a confidence in an individual to survive without drinking,” said Dr Kapali Neela mekam, director, Center of Hepatobilary Sciences and Liver Transplant, Fortis Hospital.
The study revealed that ‘Dry January’ resulted in following physical health benefits.
71 percent had a better quality of sleep
70 percent reported better overall health
58 percent participants lost weight
57 percent reported improved concentration
54 percent had better skin
