Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
21 days today!
Not drinking alcohol results in cheerful minds and healthy bodies. There will be no more hangovers and no more DUIs. Getting off the habit will help you to maintain a positive outlook, make rational and useful decisions and live a better life altogether. Work improves, the mind-set improves, relationships improve, including those with your family. To sum up, not drinking alcohol would benefit you in the following ways:
Healthier Liver
One of the many functions of the liver is assimilation of alcohol. Most of the alcohol that we consume (about 90%) is metabolized and absorbed into our body through the liver. The liver can only process about half an ounce of alcohol every hour. If more is consumed, the liver cannot process it and complications arise in our vital systems due to the increased alcohol content in the blood. Furthermore, if this goes on unchecked over a long period of time, the liver can become permanently damaged. Liver cirrhosis and other liver disorders are a leading cause of alcohol-related deaths.
Staying off alcohol results in a healthier liver, which is crucial, because the liver is a vital organ, i.e., the human body cannot survive without it.
Sharper Brain
Brain cells are affected due to alcohol. Prolonged overuse of alcohol results in lesions on the brain. It also damages our cognitive (understanding) functions and memory. People addicted to alcohol sometimes lose the ability to form a long-term memory. Due to the inhibition-lowering effect of alcohol, it has also been linked with increased domestic violence, teenage pregnancies and child abuse.
Teetotalers, on the other hand, can always maintain a firm grasp over themselves and be responsible for their actions.
Sound Heart
Although moderate consumption of wine is known to reduce the risk of heart ailments, most alcoholic beverages have a much larger share of alcohol than wine, and contribute to the buildup of HDL (cholesterol) rather than prevent it.
If the promise of a trifecta of a healthier liver, brain and heart doesn't get you to put that glass down, I bet this next one will.
Better Sex Life
Prolonged abuse of alcohol causes hormonal imbalance in the human body. This results in the hypersecretion of estrogen, the female sex hormone, which can lead to sexual dysfunction and impotence in men.
Abstinence from alcohol leads to stable hormone levels.
Reduced Risk of Cancer
The same hormonal imbalance responsible for impotence in men (hypersecretion of estrogen), can lead to breast cancer in women. Alcohol has also been linked with various ailments of the pancreas, including pancreatic cancer.
Safer Pregnancies
The placental barrier between a mother and her developing baby is permeable to alcohol. If alcohol is consumed by a pregnant woman, the fetus is invariably affected. This leads to miscarriage, stillbirth or severe congenital disorders in the baby. Even if you are not a teetotaler, alcohol should never be drunk during pregnancy.
Putting down the drink puts you at a much lesser risk during pregnancy, so that you avoid any medical complications.
Lower Chances of Obesity
Alcohol contains far more sugars than many fruits, but no nutrients at all. This leads to unhealthy weight gain. This weight gain (obesity) increases the chances of more serious problems like diabetes, heart problems, depression etc. It is very difficult to reduce weight gained due to alcohol. By the time one realizes this, it is usually too late.
A teetotaler is at a lower risk for these problems.
Better Sleep
Although alcohol is a depressant and causes drowsiness, it disturbs sleep patterns, especially in the second half of sleep.
A teetotaler experiences sound sleep, a critical element of holistic health.
Improved Social Life
Addiction to alcohol also causes psychological and social problems. As mentioned before, alcohol causes hormonal imbalance in our bodies, causing frequent bouts of depression, insomnia, dementia, etc. Although alcoholic beverages are part of the fabric of many cultures, abusive overuse of alcohol is often condemned by societal norms, leading to the alcoholic becoming an outcast.
No more alcohol will mean no more of any of the above mental/psychological problems.
There are some who advocate the benefits of alcohol, and, for the sake of fairness, they do have a point. As mentioned earlier, consumption of alcohol in small quantities does, indeed, has some benefits. However, resorting to alcohol as a medicine can hardly be deemed necessary, as a well-balanced diet and regular exercise is more than enough to 'keep
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-of-not-drinking-alcohol.html
Not drinking alcohol results in cheerful minds and healthy bodies. There will be no more hangovers and no more DUIs. Getting off the habit will help you to maintain a positive outlook, make rational and useful decisions and live a better life altogether. Work improves, the mind-set improves, relationships improve, including those with your family. To sum up, not drinking alcohol would benefit you in the following ways:
Healthier Liver
One of the many functions of the liver is assimilation of alcohol. Most of the alcohol that we consume (about 90%) is metabolized and absorbed into our body through the liver. The liver can only process about half an ounce of alcohol every hour. If more is consumed, the liver cannot process it and complications arise in our vital systems due to the increased alcohol content in the blood. Furthermore, if this goes on unchecked over a long period of time, the liver can become permanently damaged. Liver cirrhosis and other liver disorders are a leading cause of alcohol-related deaths.
Staying off alcohol results in a healthier liver, which is crucial, because the liver is a vital organ, i.e., the human body cannot survive without it.
Sharper Brain
Brain cells are affected due to alcohol. Prolonged overuse of alcohol results in lesions on the brain. It also damages our cognitive (understanding) functions and memory. People addicted to alcohol sometimes lose the ability to form a long-term memory. Due to the inhibition-lowering effect of alcohol, it has also been linked with increased domestic violence, teenage pregnancies and child abuse.
Teetotalers, on the other hand, can always maintain a firm grasp over themselves and be responsible for their actions.
Sound Heart
Although moderate consumption of wine is known to reduce the risk of heart ailments, most alcoholic beverages have a much larger share of alcohol than wine, and contribute to the buildup of HDL (cholesterol) rather than prevent it.
If the promise of a trifecta of a healthier liver, brain and heart doesn't get you to put that glass down, I bet this next one will.
Better Sex Life
Prolonged abuse of alcohol causes hormonal imbalance in the human body. This results in the hypersecretion of estrogen, the female sex hormone, which can lead to sexual dysfunction and impotence in men.
Abstinence from alcohol leads to stable hormone levels.
Reduced Risk of Cancer
The same hormonal imbalance responsible for impotence in men (hypersecretion of estrogen), can lead to breast cancer in women. Alcohol has also been linked with various ailments of the pancreas, including pancreatic cancer.
Safer Pregnancies
The placental barrier between a mother and her developing baby is permeable to alcohol. If alcohol is consumed by a pregnant woman, the fetus is invariably affected. This leads to miscarriage, stillbirth or severe congenital disorders in the baby. Even if you are not a teetotaler, alcohol should never be drunk during pregnancy.
Putting down the drink puts you at a much lesser risk during pregnancy, so that you avoid any medical complications.
Lower Chances of Obesity
Alcohol contains far more sugars than many fruits, but no nutrients at all. This leads to unhealthy weight gain. This weight gain (obesity) increases the chances of more serious problems like diabetes, heart problems, depression etc. It is very difficult to reduce weight gained due to alcohol. By the time one realizes this, it is usually too late.
A teetotaler is at a lower risk for these problems.
Better Sleep
Although alcohol is a depressant and causes drowsiness, it disturbs sleep patterns, especially in the second half of sleep.
A teetotaler experiences sound sleep, a critical element of holistic health.
Improved Social Life
Addiction to alcohol also causes psychological and social problems. As mentioned before, alcohol causes hormonal imbalance in our bodies, causing frequent bouts of depression, insomnia, dementia, etc. Although alcoholic beverages are part of the fabric of many cultures, abusive overuse of alcohol is often condemned by societal norms, leading to the alcoholic becoming an outcast.
No more alcohol will mean no more of any of the above mental/psychological problems.
There are some who advocate the benefits of alcohol, and, for the sake of fairness, they do have a point. As mentioned earlier, consumption of alcohol in small quantities does, indeed, has some benefits. However, resorting to alcohol as a medicine can hardly be deemed necessary, as a well-balanced diet and regular exercise is more than enough to 'keep
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-of-not-drinking-alcohol.html
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Dick Van Dyke’s path to sobriety was a turning point in his life and career. Here’s what happened:How He Got SoberStruggles and Realization: Van Dyke began drinking as a teenager, largely to cope with shyness and social anxiety. Alcohol made him feel more comfortable in social settings, but over time, his drinking spiraled out of control. By his mid-40s, he recognized that he had an addictive...
Congrats on three weeks. WOO HOO!!!!!
The benefits of sobriety are huge and I like to count my blessings regularly. This is about so much more than no longer drinking.
A grateful heart , getting on with work of the programme and being open to new experience all add up to make the foundations of newly found sobriety good and strong.
I'd add being truly free, having choices, and yes.....being alive and in the moment.
Sobriety is life on life's terms and its beautiful.
Good job on 21 days.
Take good care of yourself.
Another benefit is that the bloated look goes away in about a month :)
It is good that you are aware of the benefits of not drinking alcohol. I guess it might help to stay sober to know these facts. Would be good if one could learn about them before it is too late. Some scientists even deny the occasional glass of wine for non-alcoholic people stating that alcohol doesn't do any good in any quantity.
I knew the deadly consequences of drinking alcohol, but knowledge couldn't keep me away from it. I needed to find God, my God and being able to ask for His/Her help. To experience the miracle of not craving alcohol. Alcohol made a monster from me.
The greatest benefits for me? To be alive. To feel the love I missed so much. Not hating myself anymore. Accepting and trying my best to live a life worth living. Alcohol took away all my self-esteem, everything. Enjoying the love of my family, friends.
Experiencing the miracle day by day.
I still have some mental/psychological/physical problems, I guess most of them due to alcohol. But I wouldn't change a miserable sober day for a horrible drunken day, oh no, no way. I have hope now in my heart.
Thanks for your sharing.
Just post this on your wall and when the compulsion hits 10 fridays from now remember how great you feel right now.
It only gets better
1is2
Thanks for all the wonderful support, it truly is appreciated.
Thank you for the article. I agree with everything. I would add that through my recovery and my husband's, the future of our children changed. That was a "limp" in my recovery for a number of years.
Not so anymore.
I thought I was, at the very least, an agnostic when I began my recovery. Today, I start the day with "Thank you God". I would have nothing, let alone my life, without that spiritual connection.