In this informative minisode of the Catholic Sobriety Podcast, sobriety coach Christie Walker dives deep into the adverse effects of alcohol on aging, particularly for women.
Learn how alcohol consumption accelerates aging, disrupts hormones, damages brain health, liver function, skin appearance, and increases cardiovascular risks.
Christie provides actionable insights and tools to help you drink less or not at all. Don't miss out on the free guide, "Drink Less or Not at All: A Catholic Guide to Freedom," packed with tips to help you achieve better sobriety and overall wellness.
I'm here for you. I'm praying for you. You are NOT alone!
Please subscribe to this podcast so you won't miss a thing!
In this informative minisode of the Catholic Sobriety Podcast, sobriety coach Christie Walker dives deep into the adverse effects of alcohol on aging, particularly for women.
Learn how alcohol consumption accelerates aging, disrupts hormones, damages brain health, liver function, skin appearance, and increases cardiovascular risks.
Christie provides actionable insights and tools to help you drink less or not at all. Don't miss out on the free guide, "Drink Less or Not at All: A Catholic Guide to Freedom," packed with tips to help you achieve better sobriety and overall wellness.
I'm here for you. I'm praying for you. You are NOT alone!
Please subscribe to this podcast so you won't miss a thing!
Welcome to the Catholic Sobriety Podcast Minisode. These shorter episodes provide quick tips and information that you can refer back to when you need it most so you can achieve and maintain your desired level of sobriety. I am your sobriety coach and host of this podcast, christi Walker. Let's get started. Christy Walker, let's get started. On today's mini-sode. I am going to talk about alcohol and aging. Now.
Speaker 1:
I talked in depth about some of this the perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause on my last podcast episode with Maureen Brint-Nell, so I invite you to go and listen to that. You can listen to it before this one or after this one, but it got me thinking about all the ways that alcohol does really help us in the anti-aging department. In fact, it speeds up the aging process on our bodies and I'm going to talk about that quickly in today's mini-sode. So let's get into it. I'm just going to touch really quickly on the perimenopausal and postmenopausal phases, because I have women that come to me and say phases. Because I have women that come to me and say, christy, I used to be able to drink in, you know this much or whatever, but now I'm realizing it's really taking a toll on my body. I'm getting worse hangovers. My sleep is really, really messed up. I'm up for like three hours at a time, and that is actually something that happens as we age, when women go through perimenopause and then into postmenopause. Our hormones are all over the place, and having alcohol during these times can make it even worse, because alcohol really impacts every single cell in our body. It impacts all of our organs. It's just not great because it messes with our estrogen levels and then it increases our symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings and not being able to sleep well. So, in that regard, alcohol is not great as we age, not great as we age.
Speaker 1:
The next thing is brain health. Now, alcohol takes a big toll on our brain. It messes with our memory, which, let's be honest, it's already not always the best Alcohol. It's just going to make it even worse, and there have been some studies that are showing that drinking alcohol can even increase your chances of getting dementia. These brain effects can be extra tough as we get older, making it super challenging for us to stay sharp, focused and keep a clear mind. Stay sharp, focused and keep a clear mind. The next way that alcohol impacts you and ages you is we've talked about this before on the podcast as well organ function. Now the liver takes the brunt of alcohol's effects, and over time, chronic drinking can cause liver disease, which makes it really hard for the organ to detoxify the body. The kidneys and the heart are also at risk, and that can just reduce our overall body health and make chronic diseases far more likely.
Speaker 1:
The next thing is aging skin. Now, I know you guys don't want to hear this because if you're like me, you try to take good care of your skin. Maybe you buy all kinds of creams, maybe you get facials, maybe you get laser treatments I don't know what you do, but alcohol is not helping. Alcohol dries out your skin and then it leaves your skin with a dull and tired look, and then it can also cause inflammation and break down collagen, and so we definitely don't want to speed that up by drinking a lot of alcohol, which is causing inflammation and breaking down the collagen. What happens then? That that leads to wrinkles and fine lines, and then our faces get kind of sunken in in places, and let's just, I mean I'm all for aging gracefully and that's what I'm going to do, but if we can kind of prevent that and not speed it up, I think that's always a great idea. We can kind of prevent that and not speed it up. I think that's always a great idea.
Speaker 1:
Now, heart health. Let's talk about this. There have been some studies that suggest that moderate drinking could have some heart perks. You've heard red wine is good for your heart, but that is that's just not true. It's not true. In fact, irregular drinking can lead to high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy and even a higher risk of stroke. So for women especially, these risks just increase more and more as we get older. And then the last thing I kind of talked about it in the anti-aging section.
Speaker 1:
But if you are striving for a healthier lifestyle, you're eating right, you're working out, you're taking care of your mental health, you are just making sure that when you do drink, you detox the next day. So you're running and you're drinking green juices or whatever you like to do to stay healthy. Alcohol just kind of undoes everything that you've been working toward. It's packed with empty calories, it disrupts your sleep and we know sleep is super important for our overall health and our mental wellness. It can also lead to unwanted weight gain and just make it tougher for you to hit your health goals. So if you are worried about how alcohol might be speeding up your aging process.
Speaker 1:
I don't want you to stress, because I have a free guide called Drink Less or Not at All, and that is a Catholic guide to freedom and what it does. It's 12 pages. I have tons of tools in there and things that I use with my own clients that will help you gain clarity around your drinking so that you and figure out what your triggers are, so that you can reduce or eliminate alcohol and that way you can take alcohol or leave it from a place of peace. Well, that wraps up today's episode of the Catholic Sobriety Minisode. Thank you so much for joining me and please be sure to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss a thing. And remember I am here for you, I am praying for you, you are not alone.