Alcohol Consumption, Cardiovascular Disease and Quitting

Cardiovascular disease is a catchall term for blood vessels and heart diseases. Usually, people talk about heart disease, such as heart attacks or strokes, when they discuss the cardiovascular disease. We know that the most significant issue and the most prominent link between alcohol and cardiovascular disease are that drinking excessively increases your risk of cardiovascular disease quite significantly. Hypertension or high blood pressure is linked with excess alcohol intake. There has been a study of patterns of alcohol consumption on the development of vascular disease in a mouse model and it was looked at between dearly moderate versus weakened moderate binge drinking. It was found that with moderate drinking there was a decrease in heart disease and with binge drinking, there was an increase. So, the patterns had opposite effects. In conjunction with the increase in the development of vascular disease in the different groups of mice, differences in their cholesterol level were also found. We know that those people who drink excessively develop higher pressures within their blood vessels and this increases the chances of damaging the lining of the blood vessel. When this happens, people are more likely to get heart attacks and strokes. People are also more likely to develop some rhythm disorders, for example, atrial fibrillation, which is a type of irregular heartbeat that increases very significantly the risk of stroke. Such people are also more likely to develop pump failure. The left ventricle our main pumping chamber is more likely to fail, and become less efficient with excess alcohol intake. There are probably no safe numbers of units for alcohol if you look at all the evidence combined. The safest is probably no alcohol at all. What needs to be made sure of is that people stick to below the maximum recommended limits. That for men and women is 14 units per week, evenly spaced, not in one night or two nights. It is like speed limits. Let’s make sure we don’t drink to the limit. What Happens When You Quit Drinking? When you quit drinking, you look and feel better. Quitting drinking even for just a month, the first thing that’s going to happen is that your gut will thank you for it. There are a lot of health benefits and a lot of wonderful things that are going to happen, but overall, it’s good for your stomach as a whole. Then after your stomach improves, your whole body is going to enjoy these little breaks from drinking. The first month is the most pronounced simple because everyone comes out of a bit of a fog. You’re not getting as many empty calories, so your body starts to reset. So, what ends up happening, first off, is your energy levels got brought to the roof. You will begin to notice that there is a little bit more regularity in your schedule. Your stomach doesn’t hurt as much. It's also going to affect your appetite and your cravings. You will consume beverages, primarily water, because you’re not consuming as much alcohol. You may crave more sugar, but you also start drinking more water. You end up eating more healthy foods and the reason is that when you drink more alcohol, you end up consuming a lot of calories and those calories pile up. What’s happening now is that you’re exchanging one type of calorie for healthier calories. Alcohol is also a diuretic, meaning it dehydrates you. But when you give it up, you start drinking more water and your bowel movements become smoother. As you consume substantial amounts the liver also becomes overwhelmed, and it can develop some inflammation. Low levels of inflammation will start to improve simply by cutting back. Abstaining from alcohol will help that. For people who have a bit more of a drinking problem, quitting will help the regenerate also. All of these are long-term effects of quitting drinking. The other good news is that when you start giving up alcohol regularly start eating more protein and you start puffy. Your skin gets better and more importantly, all those empty calories are gone which will help you lose some weight.