Interestingly, researchers also noted that shorter telomeres correlated with thiamine (vitamin B-1) deficiency. Our body needs thiamine to metabolize carbohydrates, amino acids, and fatty acids. Along with a person’s exterior weight and skin, there are other aging issues that are related to excessive drinking. It becomes difficult to plan, pay attention, remember information, and learn. Excessive alcohol use increases free radicals in the body and causes sleep disruptions, which can lead to poor cognitive function.

What Drinking Does to Your Face and Skin

• Prior to that, she was the senior editor for the TODAY Show.
• Banish that beer belly, drop inches off your waistline and enjoy the energy boost.
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• At night, my mind raced with anxious thoughts and I never felt well-rested.
• Your skin is responsible for immunity, sensation, vitamin D production, temperature regulation and protection from microorganisms, disease and toxins.

This is a negative thing because men are supposed to carry more weight in their bellies while women are supposed to carry more weight around their hips and thighs. A nonlinear relationship between alcohol consumption and epigenetic age is very interesting. It suggests a complicated effect of alcohol use on health.

Can Alcohol Speed Up the Effects of Aging?

Gray or white hair occurs from a loss of melanin, the pigment which gives the hair color. Melanin is produced by the hair follicles, the structures in the skin which hair grows from, per the NIH. However, age-related hearing changes can occur earlier than expected. If you are having trouble hearing, always talk to your doctor.

• This person may develop a tolerance, which means that he or she must drink more and more to get the same pleasing effects.
• Dehydration can sap your skin of moisture and elasticity, leading to sagginess, dryness, and wrinkles.
• One rarely discussed, but noticeable, benefit of recovery is how it can dramatically improve your appearance.
• Assuming a poor posture all your life can impact your overall quality of life.

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• These injuries also make it harder to exercise, further aging addicts and creating an incentive to drink even more.
• When a person drinks large amounts of alcohol, it is easy to make poor decisions.
• The safest and most effective way to stop alcohol misuse is under the medical supervision of addiction professionals.
• According to the research team, a potential biological mechanism to explain alcohol’s influence on telomere length is increased oxidative stress and inflammation.
• This may be explained by a shift in hormones, especially leptin.
• However, looking older and feeling worse rank near the top.

Heavy drinking over a period of time can cause a physical dependence on alcohol. If you suddenly stop drinking, your body will often experience withdrawal. Withdrawal symptoms include sweating, shaking, nausea, and anxiety. Because alcohol alcohol makes you look older affects your sleep, you may also notice under-eye circles the day after drinking (10). One study found that women who consumed eight or more drinks a week perceived themselves as looking older than those who didn’t drink (8).

These studies are adding fuel to a growing sober-curious movement, with the non-alcohol spirits market growing 31% year over year in 2021. Beyond causing hangovers more easily, drinking alcohol has a laundry list of other downsides for women in perimenopause or transitioning to menopause. Unfortunately, the already low levels of these enzymes continue to decrease as women age, meaning that alcohol is metabolized (changed into a form your body can use) much more slowly. Although these results do not conclusively prove that alcohol directly affects telomere length, two findings from the study support this being the case. 1) Effects were only found in current drinkers, and not previous or never-drinkers; 2) The most influential genetic variant in the MR analysis was AD1HB, an alcohol metabolism gene. Another reason to limit your alcohol intake is that it’s one of the main culprits for those extra pounds you’ve mysteriously put on.

Oral Health

Alcohol can cause your face to become temporarily red and flushed (3). This occurs when your body breaks down alcohol and creates acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde makes your body release histamine, which enlarges your blood vessels (known as vasodilation). In turn, this creates the red and warm feeling on your skin.

Heavy drinking over time can cause weight gain, which might result in the appearance of a double chin. For men, heavy drinking is defined as four drinks a day or more than 14 drinks a week. For women, it’s defined as three drinks a day or more than https://ecosoberhouse.com/ seven drinks a week (1). Moderate drinking is defined as 14 or fewer drinks per week for men, and seven or fewer drinks per week for women. A person struggling with alcoholism becomes unrecognizable to their loved ones, and not only in behavior.

Alcohol Disrupts Sleep

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