Nearly half of Americans pledged they were going to drink less alcohol in 2025.
Alcohol has many negative effects on our health, including short-term impacts such as headaches, anxiety and dehydration, to long-term effects like cancer.
The World Health Organization warns that no level of alcohol consumption is safe for health and it is one of the leading preventable causes of death in the US, behind tobacco.
Currently, alcohol guidelines in the US are no more than one daily drink or 7 weekly drinks for women and no more than two daily drinks or 14 weekly drinks for men.
But abstaining from alcohol – even for a few days – can bring various physical and mental health benefits.
If you are thinking about taking time off alcohol, you’ll find many quick wins and long-term gains for your health.
How long will you have to wait to feel the benefits?
Experts have compiled a timeline – based on scientific research – that shows what you might feel in the first days, weeks, months and years after going sober.
Some benefits start immediately, so every day without alcohol is a win for your health.
After one day
The World Health Organization warns that no level of alcohol consumption is safe for health and it is one of the leading preventable causes of death in the US, behind tobacco
Alcohol takes around 24 hours to completely leave your body, so you may start noticing improvements after just one day.
Alcohol makes you need to urinate more often, causing dehydration. But your body can absorb a glass of water almost immediately, so once alcohol is out of your system, alcohol dehydration is reduced, improving digestion, brain function and energy levels.
Alcohol also reduces the liver’s ability to regulate blood sugar. Once alcohol leaves the system, blood sugar begins to normalize.
If you are a daily drinker you may feel a bit worse to start with while your body adjusts to not having alcohol in its system all the time.
You may initially notice disrupted sleep, mood changes, sweating or tremors. Most symptoms usually resolve in about a week without alcohol.
After one week
Even though alcohol can make you feel sleepy at first, it disrupts your sleep cycle. By the end of an alcohol-free week, you may notice you are more energetic in the mornings as a result of getting better quality sleep.
As the body’s filter, the liver does much of the heavy lifting in processing alcohol and can be easily damaged even with moderate drinking.
The liver is important for cleaning blood, processing nutrients and producing bile that helps with digestion.
But it can also regenerate quickly. If you have only mild damage in the liver, seven days may be enough to reduce liver fat and heal mild scarring and tissue damage.
Even small amounts of alcohol can impair brain functioning. So quitting can help improve brain health within a few days in light to moderate drinkers and within a month even for very heavy dependent drinkers.
After one month
Alcohol can make managing mood harder and worsen symptoms of anxiety and depression. After a few weeks, most people start to feel better. Even very heavy drinkers report better mood after one to two months.
As your sleep and mood improve you may also notice more energy and greater wellbeing.
After a month of abstinence regular drinkers also report feeling more confident about making changes to how they drink.
You may lose weight and body fat. Alcohol can trigger hunger reward systems, making us overeat or choose less healthy foods when drinking.
Even your skin will thank you. Alcohol can make you look older through dehydration and inflammation, which can be reversed when you quit.
Alcohol irritates the gut and disrupts normal stomach functioning, causing bloating, indigestion, heartburn and diarrhea. These symptoms usually start to resolve within four weeks.
One month of abstinence, insulin resistance – which can lead to high blood sugar – significantly reduces by 25 percent. Blood pressure also reduces (by six percent) and cancer-related growth factors declines, lowering your risk of cancer.
It can take up to three days for the body to return to normal functioning following a two-day boozy drinking session, experts say
After six months
The liver starts to repair within weeks. For moderate drinkers, damage to your liver could be fully reversed by six months.
At this point, even heavy drinkers may notice they’re better at fighting infections and feel healthier overall.
After one year or more
Alcohol contributes to or causes a large number of chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and seven different types of cancer, as well as mental health issues. All of these risks can be reduced by quitting or cutting back on alcohol.
Alcohol increases blood pressure. High blood pressure (hypertension) is the top risk factor for death in the world. A small 2mmHg increase in blood pressure above the normal range (120mmHG) increases death from stroke by 10 percent and from coronary artery disease by seven percent.
Cutting back on alcohol to less than two drinks a day can reduce blood pressure significantly, reducing risk of stroke and heart disease.
Reducing blood pressure also reduces risk of kidney disease, eye problems and even erectile dysfunction.
With sustained abstinence, your risk of getting any type of cancer drops. One study looked at cancer risk for more than 4 million adults over three to seven years and found the risk of alcohol-related cancer dropped by 4 percent, even for light drinkers who quit. Reducing from heavy to moderate drinking reduced alcohol-related cancer risk by nine percent.
This article is adapted from The Conversation, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to sharing the knowledge of experts. It was written by Nicole Lee, an adjunct professor at the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University, and Katinka van de Ven, an alcohol and other drug specialist at the University of New South Wales Sydney.
DO YOU DRINK TOO MUCH ALCOHOL? THE 10 QUESTIONS THAT REVEAL YOUR RISK
One screening tool used widely by medical professionals is the AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Tests). Developed in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, the 10-question test is considered to be the gold standard in helping to determine if someone has alcohol abuse problems.
The test has been reproduced here with permission from the WHO.
To complete it, answer each question and note down the corresponding score.
YOUR SCORE:
0-7: You are within the sensible drinking range and have a low risk of alcohol-related problems.
Over 8: Indicate harmful or hazardous drinking.
8-15: Medium level of risk. Drinking at your current level puts you at risk of developing problems with your health and life in general, such as work and relationships. Consider cutting down (see below for tips).
16-19: Higher risk of complications from alcohol. Cutting back on your own may be difficult at this level, as you may be dependent, so you may need professional help from your GP and/or a counsellor.
20 and over: Possible dependence. Your drinking is already causing you problems, and you could very well be dependent. You should definitely consider stopping gradually or at least reduce your drinking. You should seek professional help to ascertain the level of your dependence and the safest way to withdraw from alcohol.
Severe dependence may need medically assisted withdrawal, or detox, in a hospital or a specialist clinic. This is due to the likelihood of severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the first 48 hours needing specialist treatment.
