Celebrating without alcohol? Birthday without champagne? For some, it's hard to imagine, but others consciously avoid alcoholic drinks. They try a "Dry January" or "Sober October" and want to do something good for themselves and their bodies. In this Quarks episode, we look at what it means for our bodies when we stop drinking alcohol - for days, weeks or months. We assume people who previously drank an average amount of alcohol and also explain why alcohol is bad for health and how it increases the risk of cancer. But how do our organs react when we stop drinking alcohol? The liver, for example, can often recover surprisingly quickly. The heart and skin also feel better without alcohol. Body weight and sleep can also change after a break from alcohol. We show how long the body needs to recover from regular alcohol consumption and why abstaining from alcohol can also be good for the psyche. // Our chapters: 00:00 - Alcohol, the ubiquitous everyday drug 01:43 - How long does it take for the body to break down alcohol? 03:08 - What happens in the first few days and weeks without alcohol? 06:00 - What happens if I go without alcohol for a month? 08:20 - What are the long-term benefits of alcohol fasting? 12:02 - Is there a low-risk way to consume it? Authors: Katrin Ewert, Janina Otto Realization: Alexandra Hostert Camera and editing: Annalena Schumacher Graphics: Sandra Barth Editor: Markus H. Schall // Our sources: [1] OECD (2021): https://t1p.de/uha7a, converted into grams per day [2] Calculated using the blood alcohol calculator from Kenn-Dein-Limit (BZgA): https://t1p.de/jrjms [3] Brunner et al. (2017): https://t1p.de/k4lo8 [4] Colrain et al. (2014): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25307..., Thakkar et al. (2015): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25499..., Ebrahim et al. (2013): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23347... [5] De Ternay et al. 2022: https://t1p.de/9i1x7, BZgA: https://t1p.de/008t4, IQWIG: https://t1p.de/i7rda [6] De Visser (2019): https://t1p.de/7ejrz and conversation with Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz [7] Conversation with Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz [8] German Liver Foundation: https://t1p.de/17nxf [9] Interview with Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz [10] Written information from the BZgA [11] Pasala et al. (2015): https://t1p.de/08g4w, Interview with Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz [12] De Visser (2019): https://t1p.de/7ejrz, BZgA: https://t1p.de/wqi5f, Interview with Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz [13] Piérard-Franchimont et al. (2019): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31206..., Sawada et al. (2021): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34069... , Liu et al. (2021): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34582... [14] Mehta et al. (2018): https://t1p.de/90oia [15] Conversation with Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz [16] Kawano (2010): https://www.nature.com/articles/hr200... [17] Ren et al. (2008): https://t1p.de/q3xoy [18] Blalock et al. (2022): https://t1p.de/c91zi [19] Roerecke et al. (2017): https://www.thelancet.com/journals/la... [20] Wood et al. (2018): https://t1p.de/uv53 [21] Anderson et al. (2023): https://t1p.de/lzvk9 [22] De Visser et al. (2018): https://t1p.de/nvylq, De Ternay et al. (2022): https://t1p.de/9i1x7, De Visser et al. (2016): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26690... [23] Interview with Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz [24] BZgA: https://t1p.de/008t4, De Visser (2019): https://t1p.de/7ejrz, De Visser et al. (2020): https://t1p.de/nvylq, Interview with Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz [25] BZgA: https://t1p.de/008t4 [26] Estimate by Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz: 1.6 million (German Central Office for Addiction Issues: https://www.dhs.de/suechte/alkohol/za... + dark figure) [27] Sarich et al. (2021): https://www.nature.com/articles/s4141... [28] Ko et al. (2021): https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159... [29] Seitz et al. (2007): https://www.nature.com/articles/nrc2191 [30] Anderson et al. (2023): https://t1p.de/lzvk9 [31] Daviet et al. (2022): https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146... [32] Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health: https://t1p.de/aggs5 [33] BZgA: https://t1p.de/2kl5y [34] Alcohol Atlas (2022): https://t1p.de/ov6ru [35] OECD (2021): https://t1p.de/fjtut [36] BZgA, discussions with Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz and Dr. Rüdiger Krech // More on the topic: The topic of addiction on quarks.de: https://www.quarks.de/gesellschaft/ps... Offers of help to reduce alcohol consumption: https://www.gesundheitsinformation.de... Thanks for watching! Did you like the video? Then subscribe now to our official Quarks channel on YouTube: / quarks #Quarks on Instagram: / quarks.de / beautyquarks #alcohol #alcoholfasting #quarks