Quitting Alcohol Improves Well-being, Especially In Women

Alcohol abuse is commonly considered as an underlying cause for health problems like regular alcohol consumption despite related legal and health issues. Further, it promotes complications in families and relations.

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A recent study published on Monday highlighted that quitting alcohol can lead to improved well-being and overall quality of life, especially in women. The study was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.   

The research included 10,386 Hong Kong citizens who were either non-drinkers or moderate drinkers. The time span of the study was between 2013 to 2016. According to the study, moderate drinkers were defined as individuals having 14 or fewer drinks per week for men and seven or fewer per week for women. While around 64 per cent of men were non-drinkers (abstainers of former drinkers), 88 per cent women were non-drinkers.   

Further, researchers of the Hong Kong study compared their findings with information from representative research of 31,079 individuals conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the United States. This research was conducted between 2001 and 2005 in the USA.    

The research also found out that in both men and women, lifetime alcohol abstainers had the highest level of mental well-being at the beginning of the study. And in the case of a female moderate drinker, beneficial changes were observed in metal well-being after they quit consuming alcohol in both the studies.  

According to the study, for the measurement of physical and mental well-being, researchers used the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey. The mean age of the participants was 49 years and women representation stood at 56 per cent.   

According to sources, researchers concluded that unless effective strategies are employed to restrict alcohol consumption, global alcohol consumption will continue to increase. Further, they believed that although moderate consumption of alcohol improves health and well-being but quitting it provides additional health and well-being benefits, especially in women.