Encore - What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Drinking for 30 Day

Dr. Mark Hyman (0:00)

As we head into September, the seasons are starting to change. And for a lot of us, this time of year naturally feels like an opportunity to reset, to get back into our routines, to refocus on how we want to feel. So for this Ankur episode, I'm revisiting what happens when you take a 30-day break from alcohol. I break down what it can change in your sleep, your energy, your mood, your focus, your gut, your liver, your metabolism, and lots more. And just how quickly the body can begin to respond. If you've ever been curious about taking a break from alcohol or simply how it affects your body, this is a great one to revisit. Enjoy the episode. This episode was brought to you by Function. Get access to over 160 latkes annually at functionhealth.com/mark.

Alcohol is an immune suppressor basically disguised as a social lubricant.

Alcohol consumption is a third lean cause of preventable cancer in the United States after tobacco and obesity.

One of just 30 days could completely change how you feel, your sleep, your focus, your energy, even your skin.

Today, I'm breaking down exactly what happens in your body when you give up alcohol for a month and why the benefits go far beyond your liver. We're going to take you through the process week by week and equip you with tools to help you get through the month alcohol free. It's not as hard as it sounds, don't worry. We also know why we drink, right? To feel good, feel a little happy, to feel a little loose, social lubricant, blah, blah, blah. But what exactly is the buzz we feel when we drink? Why does alcohol seem to make social situations so much easier and more relaxed? Well, let's first define what alcohol is and why it actually gives you that buzz. The active ingredient in alcohol is something called ethanol. That's the chemical name for alcohol, essentially. If you want to get a little more nerdy, it's a chemical that's created during the fermentation process when yeast feeds on sugars and greens, fruit or other plant-based materials. Yeast is in wine, and that's why you get the grapes fermenting to turn into wine. Ethanol is what gives alcohol that relaxing buzz, but it's also the reason that can be toxic, and that is it can kill you directly in large amounts. Paracelsus, one of the fathers of modern medicine, said the dose makes the poison, and that is very true with alcohol. A little bit, it's not going to kill you, but if you drink a lot, it will kill you. I've personally seen this in my medical career many, many times.

Now, what is actually alcohol doing? Well, it's a central nervous system depressant. Now, despite how it feels, it doesn't actually stimulate your brain, it slows it down. But in the early stages, the buzz phase, that slow down happens first in the inhibitory centers of the brain, the control centers, they keep you reserved or cautious or anxious, right? So the ego, essentially, right? When you drink, your inhibition goes down a little bit, you feel more relaxed, more social, more confident, maybe you feel a little euphoric. That's the quote buzz. The other thing that happens in your brain is it works on different neurotransmitter systems. It works on the GABA system, which is the relaxation system. It also blocks glutamate, which is the excitatory system. So GABA is calming and inhibitory and glutamate is stimulating and excitatory. So there's different neurotransmitters that have different roles in your body. Wake up, go to sleep, wake up, go to sleep. For example, Valium is a GABA formula. It basically stimulates the GABA receptors. So it's progesterone, makes you relax and calm. Now alcohol acts like GABA turning up this inhibition and it simultaneously blocks glutamate, which is the excitatory neurotransmitter and it turns down the stimulation. Now this double effect slows brain signaling and causes you to relax, but it also does bad stuff. Like it pairs your judgment, it slows your reflexes and it also can reduce anxiety, which is why people drink to self-medicate very often. Now the buzz hits when the balance shifts. Just enough to quiet the brain's noise without making you drowsy yet. And that's okay, but you want to just sort of be in the right sweet spot. A little too much, you're going to get in trouble, and you just want to get a little bit so you can have that little sense of buzz and pleasure if you drink, but not too much. And alcohol, by the way, when we look at the literature, I hate to say it, folks, it's just not good for us. It affects our sleep adversely, it increases many cancers, increases the risk of metabolic dysfunction, gut microbiome disturbances, mitochondrial toxin. I mean, just so many reasons it's not good for you, but it feels good. So I get it, in occasion I have a tequila, so I understand. How else does it work in the body? It affects the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex. The limbic system is your reptile brain, it's your ancient lizard brain, it's the emotional center. It becomes more active, leading to emotional openness, laughter, which is good. But the prefrontal cortex is the adult in the room. It's responsible for judgment, for planning, restraint, it goes offline early in drinking, which explains why people feel freer or act impulsively when they drink. Now, that combination is why you might feel just more talkative or affectionate during this buzz phase. That's good. It feels good, but it's not necessarily good for you. So what are the negative effects of alcohol in the body? I get what we drink, right? To relax, to connect, to take the edge off. But what actually happens inside the body when we drink alcohol? Why does that one or two glasses of wine or tequila hit us the way it does? And why do we pay for it the next day? Well, once your liver can't metabolize ethanol fast enough, then your blood alcohol concentration rises, moving from buzz to drunk to even worse, sedated, which is blackout drunk. Now, the buzz fades and often is followed by rebounding glutamate and cortisol activity, leading to anxiety and fatigue. That's called hangxiety. Now, even moderate drinking can impact nearly every organ system in the body.