Side Effects of Drinking Wine Every Night
Most often, wine is considered as a classy drink that is to be tasted, sipped and enjoyed alongside dinner. Too much wine however, like other types of alcohol can lead to addiction and cause numerous potential health issues.
Nonetheless, not every person consuming alcohol develops an addiction. But drinking too much wine even without addiction is a problem by itself. While there are some positive health benefits of consuming wine that are solely made from grapes and natural yeast, there are risks associated as well. Addiction is for one that can lead to several other issues over time.
Negative Effects of Consuming Excessive Wine
Even when it is not yet an addiction, consuming too much white or red wine can have quite a few serious impacts on health.
- It can increase cholesterol and toxins in blood due to impaired liver function.
- It can cause premature aging.
- It can increase the risk of infertility.
- It is known to cause sexual dysfunction.
- It can cause poor quality of sleep or create difficulty in sleeping.
- Wine drinkers are also found to gain weight.
Though it can at times be a little confusing to realize how wine can impair health as moderate consumption of wine is known to have health benefits. This aspect directly contradicts the negative health effects of consuming wine.
Wine consumption in moderation, especially red wine supports weight loss and maintains due to the effect of antioxidants on fat. Nevertheless, it can also add pounds when consumed in excessive proportions. Consumption of alcohol adds plenty of calories without providing much nutrition.
It also tends to stimulate the appetite. The person consuming wine tends to eat far more alongside getting excessive calories from the alcohol too.
Know When You are Getting Addicted to Alcohol
You must understand and recognize symptoms of addiction to wine. This is when even a casual and healthy drinking habit can become problematic. Serious complications and health problems can arise if alcoholism and alcohol abuse is left untreated or unaddressed in time.
Here are some signs that tell you that the habit is gone out of control.
- Failing again and again while trying to drink less or stop drinking.
- When you are setting a limit to drinking often go past it.
- When people are noticing and commenting on your habit of drinking.
- When you get the feeling of guilt or shame after drinking.
- When you are more frequently consuming wine alone.
- When you are often forgetting what happened after a drinking binge.
- When you are hiding your habit of drinking or lying about the number of drinks consumed.
- When you feel the urge for wine while being stressed, sad, or experiencing negative emotions.
All these signs mentioned above are of a potential alcohol use disorder. These may vary in intensity and can be mild, moderate, or severe. It is considered an addiction or alcoholism when the disorder is severe.
Specific Alcohol Addiction Symptoms
Here are some specific alcohol or wine addiction symptoms pointing to alcoholism –
- Tolerance – Requiring more and more of alcohol to get the same level of kick.
- Withdrawal – You get physically uncomfortable along with mood symptoms when avoiding drinking.
- Drinking Despite Issues – You continue to drink even when the habit is causing significant problems.
- Loss of Control – You are completely unable to control the habit of drinking, including amount or frequency of alcohol.
- Time & Energy – While also giving up other activities, you spend an outsized amount of time and energy on drinking wine.
Ways to Prevent Addiction to Wine
The harmless habit of drinking wine can all too easily become an addiction or disorder. Here are some steps that you can take to avoid this outcome and still enjoy consuming a moderate amount of alcohol.
- Make it a point to keep an accurate record of the amount of wine you consume for a specific period.
- Understand that 12 ounces of beer, 1.5 ounces of liquor or 5 ounces of wine are standard drink sizes, so avoid overconsuming.
- Limiting and pacing drinking to one glass of wine or other drink to an hour.
- Try setting specific goals for drinking during the week.
- Never drink on an empty stomach.
- Enjoy wine on social occasions and avoid drinking it alone.
- Find alternative activities that you can do in the time you had previously spent for drinking. You could exercise or have coffee with friends instead.
- Adopt alternative and healthy coping strategies to overcome stress and other emotions that usually trigger alcohol consumption.
- Make it a point not to binge drink. Binge drinking means consuming four or more drinks at once for women and five for men. This may even be as a reward for abstaining for many days.
Drinking a glass or two of wine quite often becomes a habit for many people at the end of a long working day. This is a way to unwind or destress. But then this habit can quickly get out of control when you start believing that you need that fix to feel better.
Healthy strategies like relaxing is a good way to avoid developing this habit. Go for a walk, have a cup of tea, read a good book, take a hot shower, or talk to a friend, are always better ways to cope up with stress.However, when none of these strategies work and wine addiction symptoms persist, it is essential to seek professional help.
