Alcohol and Aging: Does Drinking Make You Look Older?

Alcohol is now the most abused substance among people over 65. Alcoholism is often overlooked or misdiagnosed in older people. Depressive symptoms like insomnia, mood swings, and anxiety can mimic those of alcoholism. This can be dangerous for people who already have slower reaction How Long Does Heroin Stay in Your System times and poor balance without alcohol. One global study found that no amount of alcohol is completely safe and that alcohol was the biggest risk factor for disease worldwide. Another more recent study found that any amount of alcohol causes harm to the brain.

Why age and alcohol don’t mix

From time to time, most people enjoy an alcoholic beverage. However, alcohol abuse is known to bring negative health effects. For example, it can lead to liver damage, cancer, immune disorders, and brain damage.

Every alcoholic drink goes “straight to your head,” or at least to your brain. Heavy drinking over a long time can shrink brain cells and lead to alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD) and certain types of dementia. Symptoms of that include lack of judgment, organization, or emotional control, trouble staying focused, and anger issues. I ask Koob if just drinking more water would dilute the alcohol in my system. Staying hydrated may help limit a blood-alcohol surge, he says, but the physiology of aging will prevail. And the old trick of alternating drinks with something nonalcoholic can help you pace yourself, he adds.

1. It’s no secret that unwanted weight gain can be a reality of menopause.
2. For example, it can lead to liver damage, cancer, immune disorders, and brain damage.
3. It also can make it harder for your kidneys to do their thing.
4. There are some things though that you can do to improve your overall health and well-being to counterbalance many of the effects of alcohol-related aging.
5. Drinking at levels beyond that “accelerates some of the aging process” in the brain, Koob says.

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. Although it is common for a person to lose a few hairs each day, excessive drinking can cause severe hair loss. In fact, there is no direct link between alcohol consumption hair loss. However, scientists believe that drinking heavily may lead to nutritional deficiencies or hormonal problems that affect a person’s hair.

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 optimize your physical and mental health. If you or a loved one struggles to regulate or limit alcohol consumption, you don’t have to do it alone.

How alcohol affects skin

For example, drinking alcohol when you take aspirin can raise your chances of stomach problems or internal bleeding. Mixing it with certain sleeping pills, pain medications, or anxiety drugs can be life-threatening. A nonlinear relationship between alcohol consumption and epigenetic age is very interesting. It suggests a complicated effect of alcohol use on health.

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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. Drinking alcohol may make you feel younger as you lose your inhibitions and gain some energy, but the hangover the next day can make you feel sick, sluggish, and downright old. Even if you don’t experience acute after-effects, alcohol can age you. You may not realize it, but alcohol and aging effects go hand-in-hand.

Markedly, most heavy drinkers experience puffy and red faces. Drinking alcohol on a regular basis leads to widened blood vessels in the face. With time, this leads to loss of skin tone and a permanent red color. Also, a person may have heightened risks of developing skin infections. They studied beer, wine, liquor and “total alcohol” (sum of the three alcoholic beverages consumed by an individual).

People older than 65 who don’t take any medications should average no more than one drink a day (seven per week) and have no more than three at one sitting. (A drink is one 12-ounce can or bottle of beer, one 5-ounce glass of wine, or one 1.5-ounce shot of an 80-proof or less liquor.) Talk with your doctor to find out what’s right for you. Red wine has antioxidants called polyphenols that may help your cholesterol level and protect your blood vessels.