Common myths about alcohol and aging

Gateway Foundation is here to help you take back your appearance, health and life. The good news is, as you remove alcohol use, your body starts to hydrate and correctly absorb nutrients — and your hair begins to repair itself! Many people in recovery report shinier, fuller hair now that they are sober. Drinking lots of alcohol for many years can lead to brain damage. And brain damage can increase your chances of getting dementia. Some studies have shown that if you have Alzheimer’s disease, it can get worse more quickly for heavy drinkers. With so many options available, it feels tempting to grab a bottle of soda, a sugary coffee, or a quick energy drink when you feel parched. And while a cocktail after work with coworkers or a sugary coffee on the weekend may sound ideal, your typical drinking habits may have some unintended consequences and could even prematurely age you. Adults of all ages who drink alcohol and drive are at higher risk of traffic accidents than those who do not drink.

Symptoms of that include lack of judgment, organization, or emotional control, trouble staying focused, and anger issues. According to a recent study reported in the journal JAMA Network Open, overall alcohol consumption in 2020 increased by about 14% from last year for Americans over the age of 30. This comes out to one additional drinking day per month by 75% of adults compared to last year. Regular drinkers can trigger biological functions that make them age from the inside out. If you drink heavily or consistently, you could activate the aging process, putting you at risk of health conditions that typically affect older people. Even if you’re not a heavy drinker, the toll that alcohol can take ages you.

Does Alcohol Make You Look Older?

Sometimes, families, friends, and health care workers may overlook the concerns about older people drinking. This can be the case because the side effects of drinking in older adults are mistaken for other conditions related to aging, for example, a problem with balance. At night, these cells work to repair damage it endured during the day, he says, like being exposed to sunlight, pollution, or a breakout. Skimping on sleep throws the entire process off, and your skin can’t prep for the next day, says Zeichner.

This leads to premature aging of the skin, with wrinkling, dark spots, and the development of skin cancers. Even short amounts of sun exposure on a daily basis add up over a lifetime,” he explains. For background, collagen and elastin are proteins found in our body that keeps skin strong and resilient. Vitamin A is also extremely important in the production of collagen. When you have lower amounts of collagen, you lose elasticity in Sober House your skin. Collagen and elasticity are what keep your skin supple, taut and looking young. By drinking in excess, you actually speed up the aging process because you are already losing collagen and elasticity as you age. Your facial skin is already so delicate as compared to other areas of your body. We are constantly exposed to pollution, smog, smoke and the sun. The more you drink in excess, the more you’re speeding up the clock.

What is an Alcoholic Bender?

Choose individual, family, or group therapy, depending on what works for you. Talk to a trained counselor who knows about alcohol problems in older people. Heavy smokers also had a greater likelihood of developing the age-related eye rings compared to non-smokers. Sign up to receive the latest health and science news, plus answers to wellness questions and expert tips. “Smoking has been found to harm nearly alcohol makes you look older every bodily organ and organ system in the body,” says the American Cancer Society, making it a leading cause in cancer deaths. Get in contact with us today, or learn more about how our program works. Soon, you can be on the road to a more youthful self—inside and out. At Ria, we offer weekly meetings with certified counselors to help members stay on track and build skills for long-term change.

She spends most of her days diving into the latest wellness trends, writing and editing stories about health conditions, testing skincare products, and trying to understand the next greatest internet obsession. It’s certainly not my favorite beverage but it is an extremely important one. Not only because it keeps you hydrated and healthy but it can reverse some of those skin dehydration effects. If you’ve been drinking every day for 20 years it won’t pull a complete Benjamin Button, but it will help. When a person suspects a problem with alcohol, it is essential to seek help. With assistance and support, it is possible to return to a sober life and to enjoy a more youthful appearance. When a person’s body is rid of toxins from alcohol, he or she will have better skin, healthier hair and nails, and a younger complexion. Alcohol can cause a lack of rest from a depleted sleep cycle. Usually, alcohol makes a person toss and turn during the night. In other words, a person suffers from poor quality of sleep.

“Alcohol is also well known for leading to fluid retention and puffiness across the face. Rosacea, a challenging chronic inflammatory condition of the skin is very commonly triggered and driven by alcohol.” I’ve always been healthy and fit, and I kid myself that a little poison can’t hurt me. That’s probably true — in fact, a little can be beneficial to your cardiovascular system. But by pushing the 14-a-week limit at my age, I’m also pushing my luck. Headache disorders, including migraines, affect more than 50% of people worldwide. Sugary coffees and energy drinks can end up wreaking havoc on your health. Remember to stay healthy for the fun things in life, such as the birth of a grandchild, a long-anticipated trip, or a holiday party. In older adults, especially, too much alcohol can lead to balance problems and falls, which can result in hip or arm fractures and other injuries. Older people have thinner bones than younger people, so their bones break more easily.

Wrinkles may be caused by alcohol’s ability to dehydrate the skin as well. Drinking alcohol can make you less likely to maintain the habits that keep you healthy. If you feel sluggish and achy, you may be less likely to exercise. You might not notice the effects right away, as you notice wrinkles when you’re dehydrated, but your body knows what’s going on. The reason we get puffy eyes the day after drinking is because alcohol causes tiny blood vessels to become a little leaky. It’s literally water under the skin you see accumulating.

Decreased Alcohol Tolerance

Let’s take a look at some of the ways that alcohol affects the aging process. Let’s also take a look at why, as you get older, drinking alcohol may affect you differently. The ways in whichalcohol can affect someoneinternally are widely known and documented. Overtime alcohol can do damage to key organs of the body including the liver and the brain. Alcohol can also lead to weight gain and other health-related issues. Alcohol and aging are also synonymous due to the negative effects alcohol has on the body. Many people with alcohol addiction experience limited sleep and elevated stress that also damages hair health.

This will eventually lead to a loss of skin tone and/or permanent redness including skin that is blotchy and similar to rosacea. This redness can also turn into broken capillaries or vessels that can burst, especially around the nose and face. According to the US Government Dietary Guidelines, a moderate level of drinking is up to one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men. A drink is either 5 fluid ounces of wine, 12 fluid ounces of regular beer, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled liquor. In fact, alcohol can adversely affect your nutrition levels by causing a depletion in healthy nutrients that aid in carrying oxygen throughout your body. Specifically, alcohol can have a huge negative impact on your vitamin A level, which is a very important antioxidant for your skin/body and it is vital in the regeneration of new cells. Research conducted at the University of Liverpool found that individuals who drink alcohol regularly throughout the day are attracted to salty and fatty foods. This may be explained by a shift in hormones, especially leptin. It was uncovered that leptin levels decrease by half after a person consumes large amounts of alcohol.

Myth: You can drink more (or the same amount of) alcohol as you get older

My drinking — mostly beer in the summer and wine in cooler months — tends to be mindless and habitual. Which is why the “mindful drinking” movement appeals to me. Ideally when I drink, I’ll pause and ponder the intriguing viognier in my glass before raising it to my lips. During the pandemic, 14 percent of older adults reported drinking more, according to a national survey by University of Michigan researchers. (However, 27 percent drank less, possibly because work-related and social drinking became less frequent.) Of those ages 50 to 80 who do drink, 23 percent downed three or more drinks in a typical session. You can always contact Beach House and speak with an alcohol abuse expert confidentially 24/7 too. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, an adequate daily fluid intake is about 15.5 cups a day for men and about 11.5 cups for women.

Drinking even a small amount of alcohol can lead to dangerous or even deadly situations because it can impair a person’s judgment, coordination, and reaction time. This increases the risk of falls, car crashes, and other accidents. Some medicines, such as cough syrups and laxatives, have a high alcohol content. If you simultaneously drink alcohol, that will add to the effects. The idea of having a drink to relax before bedtime may not be a good one, especially as you get older. Instead of lulling you into a restful night, alcohol can actually keep you from getting to sleep and lead to restless slumber. That can be particularly hard on seniors, who are already more likely to wake up often or have a sleep disorder like insomnia.

Again, alcohol affects the skin and can cause negative deterioration of various internal systems. When a person becomes a chronic drinker, the habit takes a toll on multiple organs within the body. By the time a person uncovers a problem, it may be too late. Does the effects of alcohol on the skin and aging cause wrinkles? The damaging effects of alcohol on skin and aging wreak havoc on your health and could make you look and feel older than you are. Simply put, drinking alcohol throws your skin off balance with the oils it naturally produces, while also promoting dryness via water loss—both internally and by evaporation from its surface. Unfortunately, white wine tends to be high in sugar too just like cocktails.

• You might not notice the effects right away, as you notice wrinkles when you’re dehydrated, but your body knows what’s going on.
• Alcohol carries significant health risks and no benefits for young people but some older adults may gain from drinking a small amount, according to the largest study of its kind.
• Long-term stress makes them even shorter and causes the body to age more quickly.
• “Alcohol is a toxin with very little nutrient value,” says Dr Liakas.

Besides the negative effects of alcohol on skin and aging, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol on a regular basis has other aging effects on a person’s body. While it might not much attention, alcohol and aging is a real thing. Over time, heavy alcohol use can result in changes to the skin. This is because of the damage that alcohol can do to the body’s organs as well as chemicals in the body.

This is usually a trait that runs in families whereby alcohol causes a surge of blood into the skin. How alcohol impacts your health as you age depends on how often and how much you drink. But there are some changes that naturally happen in the body around certain ages that can be exacerbated by alcohol consumption. Learn more about the connection between alcohol and aging below. So, aside from drinking in moderation, what is Dr. Spizuoco’s advice on mitigating superficial strain while drinking?

But drinking at levels beyond that “accelerates some of the aging process” in the brain, Koob says. Our brains normally start shrinking in middle age, but older people who drink too much show markedloss of volume in the frontal cortex, a 2018 study found. The best way to prevent premature aging from alcohol is to reduce daily consumption to a moderate level or to avoid alcohol altogether. If you are not able to control or stop your drinking, get help immediately. Alcoholism and alcohol abuse is a very treatable disease, and should not keep anyone from living a long, healthy and sober free life. Red wine has caused debate among researchers for quite some time. Some research has found a connection between drinking a moderate amount of red wine and a lower risk of heart disease. However, no study has shown that drinking alcohol directly causes better heart health.