Ladies who quit drinking without having a drinking “problem” in the first place, what benefits did you find? Why’d you do it?
July 5, 2025
Interested to hear about our vices.
37 comments
We are healthy and make good decisions
I did it because the meds I was going on said to not mix with alcohol. Was sober for 3 years. It helped me prioritize my health and made me comfortable with being alone. Your social life takes a huge hit when you don’t drink as a person in their 20s in a major city. But it banished fomo from my life. Now as a drinker again I’m much better about moderation.
I slept way better
My skin is better, I think I look younger, I save so much money lol.
I moved to a new city without party friends!
I quit mostly because I noticed my mood the next day was depressive. I still have a drink here and there.
I noticed a lack of period cramps, more energy, clearer thinking, and over all just healthier. I don’t get sick more than about once or twice a year.
My husband got sober after years of fighting with alcoholism almost 2.5 years ago. I was never a heavy drinker, rarely had more than 2 glasses of wine, and didn’t like beer or liquor.
I stopped drinking entirely the same day he did out of solidarity. He had a huge challenge in front of him, I could at least make a small, symbolic sacrifice.
I only drank seldomly, like at parties, until I got a Garmin watch. Seeing what just a single drink did to my recovery skills and health really opened my eyes. I stopped drinking the next day. I’ve had one drink since then, in two years, just because I felt like it on that day.
For benefits, well I don’t have much to compare to because I didn’t drink much anyway. However, I abstain from alcohol and caffeine (caffeine because it really skyrockets my anxiety) and have noticed my mental health is way way better. No more nighttime doom thought spirals.
Stopped bc of medication. It’s nice from one perspective that I don’t have to spend money on it when out at night. It’s also cool that I never have to worry about losing control of my body bc of a substance. No hangover was sooo good after a 24 hour festival day, I cannot emphasize how much better I felt compared to how I feel when hangover. However, it’s extremely annoying when people still try to make you drink.
I did it because I moved abroad and as a social drinker, I had nobody to drink with. Then I also realised that the alcohol is not worth the side effects for me. And that majority doesn’t even taste that well.
I don’t see any daily life benefits except not being hungover after a party and not dying of thirst at night after having a glass of wine.
Started drinking at 15, quit at 19 or 20 or so (yes, Eastern Europe).
Better sleep, far less inflammation. Did it for surgery prep.
Every single glass of alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer.
My mom had breastcancer last year, I’ll do anything in my power not to get it.
I stopped profusely sweating at night, lost 15lbs, and generally felt better. I will still have a glass of wine or a few drinks on a special occasion but I’m strict about what, how much, and when to stay safe. I stopped because every time I got too drunk I’d have to find my coke dealer… and I quit that a long time ago. And to feel better. Which I do. Nothing I’ve ever done seems to wreck the body as much as alcohol.
I quit for about a year to recover from long covid. I did recover, but I don’t know whether not drinking alcohol helped. I also quit for pregnancy and lactation, I felt like shit during that period, likely unrelated to the alcohol. Years ago, I quit for a few months after I found out an uncle of me ~~is~~ *was* an alcoholic.
Overall, quiting alcohol doesn’t make a huge impact on my health.
I got pregnant. Since I didnt drink often, I have seen no real differences. Except my dinners are less expensive when going out.
I slept better and felt better in the morning.
Wanted to be healthier. I feel a lot better, less stress and anxiety.
When I stopped drinking because I thought I was pregnant (I was right) the first thing I noticed was that I woke up feeling so much more rested in the morning
I drank a lot in college and my 20s, sometimes in my 30s. I’m just over it. I hate hangovers; now that I’m older if I have more than 1 drink, I’m headed to headache town. What really shut the door is having a cousin who is struggling badly with alcoholism. I can’t enjoy it anymore knowing the damage it has done to my cousin. I’m almost a year no alcohol.
Quit drinking because of meds and never felt healthier! I never crave it but was never a big drinker. The only thing I miss it that it made social situations much more tolerable as an introvert!
It’d contribute to an anxious/depressive state that started lasting more than a day. My head meds aren’t supposed to be combined. Also, big into fitness and going to the gym. I sleep better, have more calories to spend on nutrition, less anxiety. I look younger than I did when I drank. It’s hard especially in the summer but it stopped being worth it to me.
I was on Metformin and Spironolactone for a bit, and if I had more than 3 drinks over the course of a day (like, even if I had 4 drinks over the course of say 6 hours and never even got drunk), I would sleep for about 2 hours and would wake up feeling like my heart was pounding out of my chest and lie awake the rest of the night. It was miserable, and I don’t even drink that often; I probably drink more than 2 drinks five or less times a year I’d guess.
I got off the meds but ultimately I’ve cut back drinking to just big events and the occasional beer or wine with dinner or friends. I value my sleep so much! And I’m just as happy sipping on a club soda or Diet Coke knowing I’ll sleep soundly that night, not spend as much money, and not get too rowdy and pay the price with a vicious hangover the next day. My wedding is in 2 weeks and I anticipate trying both signature cocktails and switching to N/A beverages the rest of the night. I just don’t value drinking anymore, I can have just as much fun (if not more) without it.
Because I get bad reflux and alcohol hits me hard. No benefits other than less reflux but I was never much of a drinker, anyway.
Obnoxious drunk women irritate me so I’m not an alcoholic for that reason.
They talk too much, and it’s a lot of toxic gossip whether it’s co workers or family members; and there’s no positivity in that for anybody. When you’re not intoxicated you start to see how people who are using substances are using to escape some level of accountability. They are no different than groups of men at sports bars.
That’s why birds of a feather flock together.
Weight loss is another benefit because there’s a sugar in beers. There’s a reason they don’t listen the ingredients on the products. If you’re drinking hard liquor it’s worse on your kidneys and that stuff you CAN and will eventually smell through the skin as the person starts slipping further into alcoholism.
Better sleep, lost weight. I like booze, but it doesn’t like me back. I already struggle with depression pretty badly and even a few drinks makes me sad a few hours later. Not worth the liquid calories or what it takes to bounce back from feeling sad.
My skin is better than regular drinkers, I’m healthy, I save soooooo much money on going out and I can be a DD for friends.
I have a personal rule to stop any and all drinking if I’m in a depressed phase (happens maybe every 10 years). You can pull out of a nose dive better when completely sober.
Also though, your face gets way slimmer when you don’t drink. In fact I had a friend of a friend say that he tried to become a male model and the agency said they won’t take him- not because he wasn’t good looking enough but because they could see that he drinks in his face – we was like 20.
I got tired of feeling like shit whenever I did drink. I also didn’t find being drunk or tipsy to be fun anymore.
I stopped binge eating every night. Up until I stopped for cost reasons I thought I just was more hungry than most. Nope, I was just really drunk and not present enough to notice “fullness” signals my body sent me.
Entering menopause cut off my drinking cold turkey. Would cause mw to feel flush with heat immediately after taking my first drink, so much so that I couldn’t even finish my drink. Mostly with liquor based drinks. Not so much with beer. Got tired of waking up feeling like shit, even after just one or two drinks so that helped eliminate the desire. But I occasionally crave a nice cold beer, especially during summer activities or concerts.
Health reasons, medications, I hate the feeling of being “drunk”, once I turned 30 I just started to see all my friends still getting wasted and it wasn’t cute anymore.
I stopped when I found out I was pregnant 11 years ago and I haven’t touched alcohol since. The hangover feeling the next day just isnt worth it. A friend of mine gave up alcohol for January. Then did it again in March and had bloods done and his results came back better than they’d ever been. So he’s quit for good now because he feels and looks better and obviously his blood work shows a healthier body inside.
Didn’t have a problem with either but I stopped alcohol and caffeine because I was starting antidepressants and then I just never fully went back. The immediate benefits from quitting alcohol were that going out became instantly cheaper and if nights started getting rowdy it became very easy to sneak away and go home. It’s been about two years and in that time my habits are just overall healthier. I don’t use food as a reward anymore, I workout 7 days a week, lost 15lbs in addition to body recomp, and just deal with life in a more mentally stable way. And I’m not on antidepressants anymore!
Me 🙌 love love love not having my sleep impacted, avoiding the calories of over eating with alcohol, being able to drive Feeling healthier. Never being worried the next day that I said or did something silly. (Hangxiety hangover). Overall unexpectedly reduced lot of anxiety.
Was not a drunk at all. Would do 1-2 glasses socially.
Just one day stopped. I’ll have a half a glass if it’s fancy champagne and I’m out.
I get to ace any alcohol test the police officers throw at me. I get to pamper my partner into bed. I get to learn to not rely on alcohol to get something done I want to do.
My wife is fighting with alcohol abuse (high-functioning alcoholism runs in her family). A couple of years ago I decided to “quit” almost cold turkey to see what it was like. My baseline was lower than hers ; I was averaging maybe slightly above one drink per day.
It was surprisingly easy. I almost immediately felt a noticeable and significant improvement in alertness and feeling of wellbeing. I also lost a few pounds. Alas, both of those effects seemed to disappear after a while — the pounds definitely came back 🙁 Obviously, I have a metabolism/brain chemistry/whatever that allowed me to almost quit alcohol easily, while my wife struggles with it. I am open to suggestions about how to help her in her efforts to reduce her alcohol consumption, other than being supportive in whatever she tries.
The reason I say “quit” in quotes is because I still have an occasional drink, maybe 3-4 per month. I try to save my alcohol consumption for social or festive occasions. I also suspect that my improvement in wellbeing may *not* have dissipated, just become a new normal, because I have zero temptation to go back to drinking alcohol regularly. So in conclusion (this turned out to be longer than I thought), my life does not seem to have fundamentally changed, but I think I feel better than before with no downsides, so I will keep on with my greatly reduced alcohol consumption.
OP, good luck in whatever you decide to do with respect to drinking.
I used to drink on weekends not all the time but 3 out of 4 in a month. The morning after my head would spin, the high lasted only for a couple minutes and the food i ate while drinking was very high caloric. I realised i can have just as much fun with a diet coke and popcorn or healthier chips. I do drink more but like once in 2 months.
I rarely drink nowadays because I’ve never really liked the taste of alcohol. It never grew on me. I also don’t like the way it makes me feel.
37 comments
We are healthy and make good decisions
I did it because the meds I was going on said to not mix with alcohol. Was sober for 3 years. It helped me prioritize my health and made me comfortable with being alone. Your social life takes a huge hit when you don’t drink as a person in their 20s in a major city. But it banished fomo from my life. Now as a drinker again I’m much better about moderation.
I slept way better
My skin is better, I think I look younger, I save so much money lol.
I moved to a new city without party friends!
I quit mostly because I noticed my mood the next day was depressive. I still have a drink here and there.
I noticed a lack of period cramps, more energy, clearer thinking, and over all just healthier. I don’t get sick more than about once or twice a year.
My husband got sober after years of fighting with alcoholism almost 2.5 years ago. I was never a heavy drinker, rarely had more than 2 glasses of wine, and didn’t like beer or liquor.
I stopped drinking entirely the same day he did out of solidarity. He had a huge challenge in front of him, I could at least make a small, symbolic sacrifice.
I only drank seldomly, like at parties, until I got a Garmin watch. Seeing what just a single drink did to my recovery skills and health really opened my eyes. I stopped drinking the next day. I’ve had one drink since then, in two years, just because I felt like it on that day.
For benefits, well I don’t have much to compare to because I didn’t drink much anyway. However, I abstain from alcohol and caffeine (caffeine because it really skyrockets my anxiety) and have noticed my mental health is way way better. No more nighttime doom thought spirals.
Stopped bc of medication. It’s nice from one perspective that I don’t have to spend money on it when out at night. It’s also cool that I never have to worry about losing control of my body bc of a substance. No hangover was sooo good after a 24 hour festival day, I cannot emphasize how much better I felt compared to how I feel when hangover. However, it’s extremely annoying when people still try to make you drink.
I did it because I moved abroad and as a social drinker, I had nobody to drink with. Then I also realised that the alcohol is not worth the side effects for me. And that majority doesn’t even taste that well.
I don’t see any daily life benefits except not being hungover after a party and not dying of thirst at night after having a glass of wine.
Started drinking at 15, quit at 19 or 20 or so (yes, Eastern Europe).
Better sleep, far less inflammation. Did it for surgery prep.
Every single glass of alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer.
My mom had breastcancer last year, I’ll do anything in my power not to get it.
I stopped profusely sweating at night, lost 15lbs, and generally felt better. I will still have a glass of wine or a few drinks on a special occasion but I’m strict about what, how much, and when to stay safe. I stopped because every time I got too drunk I’d have to find my coke dealer… and I quit that a long time ago. And to feel better. Which I do. Nothing I’ve ever done seems to wreck the body as much as alcohol.
I quit for about a year to recover from long covid. I did recover, but I don’t know whether not drinking alcohol helped. I also quit for pregnancy and lactation, I felt like shit during that period, likely unrelated to the alcohol. Years ago, I quit for a few months after I found out an uncle of me ~~is~~ *was* an alcoholic.
Overall, quiting alcohol doesn’t make a huge impact on my health.
I got pregnant. Since I didnt drink often, I have seen no real differences. Except my dinners are less expensive when going out.
I slept better and felt better in the morning.
Wanted to be healthier. I feel a lot better, less stress and anxiety.
When I stopped drinking because I thought I was pregnant (I was right) the first thing I noticed was that I woke up feeling so much more rested in the morning
I drank a lot in college and my 20s, sometimes in my 30s. I’m just over it. I hate hangovers; now that I’m older if I have more than 1 drink, I’m headed to headache town. What really shut the door is having a cousin who is struggling badly with alcoholism. I can’t enjoy it anymore knowing the damage it has done to my cousin. I’m almost a year no alcohol.
Quit drinking because of meds and never felt healthier! I never crave it but was never a big drinker. The only thing I miss it that it made social situations much more tolerable as an introvert!
It’d contribute to an anxious/depressive state that started lasting more than a day. My head meds aren’t supposed to be combined. Also, big into fitness and going to the gym. I sleep better, have more calories to spend on nutrition, less anxiety. I look younger than I did when I drank. It’s hard especially in the summer but it stopped being worth it to me.
I was on Metformin and Spironolactone for a bit, and if I had more than 3 drinks over the course of a day (like, even if I had 4 drinks over the course of say 6 hours and never even got drunk), I would sleep for about 2 hours and would wake up feeling like my heart was pounding out of my chest and lie awake the rest of the night. It was miserable, and I don’t even drink that often; I probably drink more than 2 drinks five or less times a year I’d guess.
I got off the meds but ultimately I’ve cut back drinking to just big events and the occasional beer or wine with dinner or friends. I value my sleep so much! And I’m just as happy sipping on a club soda or Diet Coke knowing I’ll sleep soundly that night, not spend as much money, and not get too rowdy and pay the price with a vicious hangover the next day. My wedding is in 2 weeks and I anticipate trying both signature cocktails and switching to N/A beverages the rest of the night. I just don’t value drinking anymore, I can have just as much fun (if not more) without it.
Because I get bad reflux and alcohol hits me hard. No benefits other than less reflux but I was never much of a drinker, anyway.
Obnoxious drunk women irritate me so I’m not an alcoholic for that reason.
They talk too much, and it’s a lot of toxic gossip whether it’s co workers or family members; and there’s no positivity in that for anybody. When you’re not intoxicated you start to see how people who are using substances are using to escape some level of accountability. They are no different than groups of men at sports bars.
That’s why birds of a feather flock together.
Weight loss is another benefit because there’s a sugar in beers. There’s a reason they don’t listen the ingredients on the products. If you’re drinking hard liquor it’s worse on your kidneys and that stuff you CAN and will eventually smell through the skin as the person starts slipping further into alcoholism.
Better sleep, lost weight. I like booze, but it doesn’t like me back. I already struggle with depression pretty badly and even a few drinks makes me sad a few hours later. Not worth the liquid calories or what it takes to bounce back from feeling sad.
My skin is better than regular drinkers, I’m healthy, I save soooooo much money on going out and I can be a DD for friends.
I have a personal rule to stop any and all drinking if I’m in a depressed phase (happens maybe every 10 years). You can pull out of a nose dive better when completely sober.
Also though, your face gets way slimmer when you don’t drink. In fact I had a friend of a friend say that he tried to become a male model and the agency said they won’t take him- not because he wasn’t good looking enough but because they could see that he drinks in his face – we was like 20.
I got tired of feeling like shit whenever I did drink. I also didn’t find being drunk or tipsy to be fun anymore.
I stopped binge eating every night. Up until I stopped for cost reasons I thought I just was more hungry than most. Nope, I was just really drunk and not present enough to notice “fullness” signals my body sent me.
Entering menopause cut off my drinking cold turkey. Would cause mw to feel flush with heat immediately after taking my first drink, so much so that I couldn’t even finish my drink. Mostly with liquor based drinks. Not so much with beer. Got tired of waking up feeling like shit, even after just one or two drinks so that helped eliminate the desire. But I occasionally crave a nice cold beer, especially during summer activities or concerts.
Health reasons, medications, I hate the feeling of being “drunk”, once I turned 30 I just started to see all my friends still getting wasted and it wasn’t cute anymore.
I stopped when I found out I was pregnant 11 years ago and I haven’t touched alcohol since. The hangover feeling the next day just isnt worth it. A friend of mine gave up alcohol for January. Then did it again in March and had bloods done and his results came back better than they’d ever been. So he’s quit for good now because he feels and looks better and obviously his blood work shows a healthier body inside.
Didn’t have a problem with either but I stopped alcohol and caffeine because I was starting antidepressants and then I just never fully went back. The immediate benefits from quitting alcohol were that going out became instantly cheaper and if nights started getting rowdy it became very easy to sneak away and go home. It’s been about two years and in that time my habits are just overall healthier. I don’t use food as a reward anymore, I workout 7 days a week, lost 15lbs in addition to body recomp, and just deal with life in a more mentally stable way. And I’m not on antidepressants anymore!
Me 🙌 love love love not having my sleep impacted, avoiding the calories of over eating with alcohol, being able to drive Feeling healthier. Never being worried the next day that I said or did something silly. (Hangxiety hangover). Overall unexpectedly reduced lot of anxiety.
Was not a drunk at all. Would do 1-2 glasses socially.
Just one day stopped. I’ll have a half a glass if it’s fancy champagne and I’m out.
I get to ace any alcohol test the police officers throw at me. I get to pamper my partner into bed. I get to learn to not rely on alcohol to get something done I want to do.
My wife is fighting with alcohol abuse (high-functioning alcoholism runs in her family). A couple of years ago I decided to “quit” almost cold turkey to see what it was like. My baseline was lower than hers ; I was averaging maybe slightly above one drink per day.
It was surprisingly easy. I almost immediately felt a noticeable and significant improvement in alertness and feeling of wellbeing. I also lost a few pounds. Alas, both of those effects seemed to disappear after a while — the pounds definitely came back 🙁 Obviously, I have a metabolism/brain chemistry/whatever that allowed me to almost quit alcohol easily, while my wife struggles with it. I am open to suggestions about how to help her in her efforts to reduce her alcohol consumption, other than being supportive in whatever she tries.
The reason I say “quit” in quotes is because I still have an occasional drink, maybe 3-4 per month. I try to save my alcohol consumption for social or festive occasions. I also suspect that my improvement in wellbeing may *not* have dissipated, just become a new normal, because I have zero temptation to go back to drinking alcohol regularly. So in conclusion (this turned out to be longer than I thought), my life does not seem to have fundamentally changed, but I think I feel better than before with no downsides, so I will keep on with my greatly reduced alcohol consumption.
OP, good luck in whatever you decide to do with respect to drinking.
I used to drink on weekends not all the time but 3 out of 4 in a month. The morning after my head would spin, the high lasted only for a couple minutes and the food i ate while drinking was very high caloric. I realised i can have just as much fun with a diet coke and popcorn or healthier chips. I do drink more but like once in 2 months.
I rarely drink nowadays because I’ve never really liked the taste of alcohol. It never grew on me. I also don’t like the way it makes me feel.