Drinking Alcohol Doesn’t Pair Well With Aging

Our programs are flexible and customized to target your specific needs. We work with individuals, couples, and families to ensure that you and your loved ones are on the same page when it comes to your sobriety. Contact us to find out how we can help you navigate the path to recovery and does alcohol make you look older optimize your physical and mental health. Depriving yourself of adequate sleep can make you age faster. If you’re aging faster than you would otherwise, you’re also increasing your risk of age-related health problems. Alcohol reduces the amount of vasopressin that your body makes.

• You might have a few drinks in hopes of forgetting your troubles.
• Broken bones from a stumble are a serious health issue for seniors.
• When looking at how alcohol ages the skin, it becomes evident that drinking has the same effects as UV radiation from the sun’s rays.
• A loss of identity, status, or purpose can even contribute to feelings of depression.
• Over the last three decades, studies have estimated that the prevalence of at-risk and problem drinking among older adults ranges from 1 percent to 16 percent (Menninger 2002; Moore et al. 1999; SAMHSA 2004, 2007).

It does this by causing permanent or chronic inflammation within the body that continues to damage cells as time goes on. Free radicals are breakers of chemical bonds and cause oxidative stress brought about by drinking too much alcohol. These effects of alcohol on skin and aging contribute greatly to premature aging effects such as wrinkles and age spots.

Here’s How Alcohol Affects Your Body in Your 30s, 40s, 50s, and Beyond

The average person metabolizes alcohol at a rate of one drink per hour. Once all the alcohol has been eliminated from your system, you will no longer be dehydrated, you will be well-rested and short-term symptoms such as dark circles should fade away. Department of Agriculture suggest consumption should be no more than one alcoholic drink per day for women and two for men. Consuming more will, in the long term, have a negative effect on skin.

It’s a natural process called intrinsic aging, and it’s something you can’t control. Extrinsic aging is when your skin ages faster than it should because of your environment and how you live. That’s where alcohol comes in — it dehydrates you and dries out your skin. However, in some cases, such as psoriasis and rosacea, a person will need to continue treatment even after they have stopped drinking alcohol. These effects are temporary, and a person can notice them the day after a night of drinking, whether or not they have AUD.

Final Thoughts About Alcohol and Aging Effects

If you believe that you or a loved one has problems with alcohol, you can contact your family doctor and they can perform a substance abuse screening. It is never too late to get the help that you need for drinking. This is especially true when it comes to alcohol abuse and addiction.

In this article, “older adulthood” refers to individuals who are age 65 or older, unless otherwise indicated in the text (Bartels and Naslund 2013). Some types of dementia and alcohol-related brain damage develop as your brain cells shrink. Over time, heavy drinking can lead to loss of judgment, focus, and memory. You may have more trouble regulating your emotions or managing your coordination. If you’re blessed with genetics that resists wrinkles and other visible signs of aging, you might not notice the way that alcohol affects your appearance.

Life expectancy

Because of its vasodilatory action (it opens up the blood vessels and raises blood flow above normal levels). Dehydration due to alcohol can also enlarge the skin’s pores, increasing blackheads and whiteheads. This prematurely ages the skin and may result in permanent scarring. It can progress to acne and rosacea if not treated appropriately.

However, at Chapel Hill Detox, we understand that this is easier said than done. Many people suffer from alcoholism, and it can be challenging to know where to start. Alcohol can cause your body to be overworked in a variety of ways. It stimulates the release of additional stress hormones in the body, hastening the aging process.