There are plenty of benefits of getting sober that can help you stay on track if you are wanting to live a clean life free from substances. Addiction causes changes in your brain that make you dependent on substances. The addiction can cause issues physically, mentally, and with your social life. Giving up alcohol, or other substances can have amazing effects on your short-term and long-term health. You’ll be happier and healthier if you can live a clean life. Try to keep all these benefits in mind when beginning your journey to sobriety to help you stay on track.
The Benefits of Getting Sober from Alcohol or Drugs: Physical, Mental, and Social
How Addiction Works
The benefits of getting sober can affect your entire life. Addiction is a serious illness that can cause harm or even be fatal. When you use a substance like alcohol, it makes your brain and body rely on that substance to function. As you rely on it more and more, you’ll need the substance in larger quantities to keep your body working. When you give up alcohol, you might go through withdrawal, where your body struggles to figure out how to operate without alcohol. However, once you are past the short-term effects of withdrawal, your body can begin to heal.
Physical Benefits
There are plenty of physical benefits of getting sober. Alcohol and other substances make your liver and other organs have to work harder to remove the toxins from your body. Heavy alcohol use also can lead to heart trouble, so by giving it up you are increasing your heart health. You might also lose weight from giving up drinking.
Mental Benefits
Sleep is one of the best mental benefits of getting sober. Alcohol can impact sleep in many ways. It can cause insomnia and difficulty staying asleep. It also is a diuretic, which means that it makes your kidneys force liquid out of your body. The result is that it can make you wake up to go to the bathroom several times a night. By giving up alcohol, you should be getting more restful and uninterrupted sleep.
Social Benefits
Finally, there are plenty of social benefits of getting sober as well. Alcohol and substance abuse can lead to a lot of pain for family members. It often can be something that couples and families fight over frequently. It also is expensive, so can cause financial trouble within a family. Often, somebody with a substance abuse problem is used to hiding it and lying to their friends and family. All of this can cause feelings of doubt and a lack of trust. Giving up alcohol also will improve your mood, which can be a huge benefit for you socially as well.
There are many benefits of getting sober from alcohol and other addictive substances. Getting clean and sober will allow your body to function more efficiently without dependence on these substances. You will improve your heart health, as well as the health of other organs in your body. Your sleep will likely improve as well as your mood. In addition, your relationships with friends and family are likely to get better as well since you will no longer have to hide your addiction from them. Hopefully, all of these reasons will be great motivation to help you stay on track with your goal of getting sober.
