Adele talks alcohol problem – what happens when you stop drinking

Your relationship with alcohol is not easy. Singer Adele has often spoken publicly about her drinking habits. About the fact that her father also had a drinking problem. “It was he who kept me away from it,” she said
American media.
“So I always wanted to know what’s so great about it. ”

Adele drank four bottles of wine before 11am

In a US show, the 34-year-old now revealed that she had lost control of her alcohol consumption at the beginning of the corona pandemic. “It was only 11 a.m. and I’d probably had four bottles of wine by now,” the singer said at the final concert of her Las Vegas show Weekends with Adele.

But a stroke of fate changed her drinking behavior: her father died of colon cancer in May 2021. Since then, the singer has been drinking less.

What happens in the body when you give up alcohol

From a health perspective, it makes sense to drink less. But doing without it completely brings the body even more. Because alcohol increases the risk of numerous diseases:

• liver diseases
• damage to the brain
• cardiovascular diseases
• Krebs
• dementia
• impotence
• Inflammation of various organs
• overweight

The renunciation is worthwhile – and after just a few days.

Alcohol abstinence: That brings a day

If you don’t start an alcohol-free day with a proper hangover from the night before, you won’t notice any physical changes from mini-abstinence. At best, the pilsner or the glass of wine in the evening is missed and the mineral water is perceived as a less than satisfactory substitute in terms of taste. However, this is not yet a sign of an incipient dependency, but simply the break with a pleasant daily habit.

Jarmila Mahlmeister, chief physician at the Betty Ford Clinic in Bad Brueckenau
says: “For people with normal alcohol consumption applies: If you can easily do without alcohol two days a week, you are not dependent.”

Experts recommend this regular short abstinence anyway, especially for a more conscious handling of the potential addictive substance. However, anyone who keeps thinking about not being allowed to drink anything on an alcohol-free day or has to fight very hard not to get an alcoholic drink from the nearest gas station in the evening should seriously reconsider their consumption. Because alcohol already plays a dominant role in everyday life and the border to addiction is close.

That’s a week without alcohol

Anyone who has previously consumed alcoholic beverages every day can already notice the first physical changes in the first few days, which become even clearer after two weeks:

• better and deeper sleep
• increased performance

Mahlmeister adds: “If the liver is relieved by abstaining from alcohol, it immediately breaks down stored fats. The triglycerides are reduced after just a few days, while the cholesterol levels take longer. But in general, our liver recovers amazingly quickly.”

That’s a month without alcohol

There are good figures for this period from Great Britain, wherever a alcohol-free campaign is launched in January: research by the
University of Sussex after “Dry January”
have shown what the absence of beer, wine and spirits actually achieves. After 31 days without alcohol, the participants not only had better control over their drinking behavior, they also had more energy, better skin and less weight.

The January abstainers also registered better sleep, lower blood pressure and greater ability to concentrate. “We hear from many participants that they feel healthier and happier afterwards. And that they don’t need alcohol to have fun and relax,” says Richard Piper of Alcohol Change UK, the creators of Dry January.

The expert from the Betty Ford Clinic adds:

• An overloaded liver makes you tired. Those who do without alcohol are therefore more alert, fitter and more productive.
• Alcohol hinders cell metabolism, bloats, causes lymphatic congestion. Those who do without alcohol get tighter contours and smoother skin.
• Alcohol has a lot of useless calories. Anyone who does without two units of 200 calories a day has already saved 12,000 calories after 30 days: a (theoretical) weight loss of almost two kilograms.

Alcohol abstinence: That takes a year

• The liver is like new. Even severe alcohol-related liver damage can be cured by giving up altogether.
• The entire metabolism, including the digestive processes and fat burning, runs faster. In combination with the increased performance through better sleep and more activity through better fitness, there is an optimized body feeling.
• Anyone who normally has two drinks a day can lose 20 kilograms after a year of abstinence from the calories saved alone.

And: “Anyone who hasn’t drunk alcohol for a whole year can actually do without it in the future,” says Jarmila Mahlmeister. “Even if alcohol is ‘part of it’ in many social situations, giving up does not mean a loss of quality of life.”

But if you don’t want to do without it completely, you should keep the rules for moderate consumption in mind: for men, half a liter of beer or a quarter of a liter of wine is “allowed” per day. Women who break down alcohol less well should not drink more than half of it.