One January at a Time

By Marlo Archer

Alcohol Change UK (https://alcoholchange.org.uk/) is the organization that trademarked Dry January®, a challenge to refrain from drinking alcohol for the entire month of January.

According to them, taking time off from drinking alcohol, brings immediate positive changes. This short break from booze will improve your sleep, concentration, memory, and energy level. Your ability to feel thirst accurately will improve, and all the water you drink will not only reduce heartburn, but will help you shed pounds without even really trying. On top of that, you’ll even start looking better as your pores become smaller and your skin gets softer and less flushed. Other benefits you won’t see or feel include reducing your risk of cancer, stroke, heart and liver disease and diabetes.

You may already be days or weeks into your own Dry January challenge, since this is not a new activity. Reports of individuals challenging themselves in this way date back to the early 2000’s. The UK charity formalized it in 2013, and has been promoting it ever since, having celebrated it’s 10th anniversary in 2023.

If you have not already started, feel free to jump in right now and just do 31 consecutive sober days if you’d like to experience the benefits. If you are fastidious and the idea of starting mid-month is just too messy to consider, all the benefits will be there if you — just do it in February instead. Or March. Or December. Heck, the benefits are even more pronounced if you do it for January AND February. AND March. AND December. AND NEXT JANUARY.

 

Whoa! Wait a minute, there. Slow down. We were only talking about one month without alcohol, not doing ALL the months without alcohol. That might sound impossible. It’s one thing to consider forgoing adult beverages after the winter holidays, but to think of a life without alcohol might sound outrageous.

Okay, then, let’s just stick to the idea of having a Dry January®. Spend one month without alcohol and enjoy the changes. You’ll get a better looking face. Your gym workouts will go better. You won’t feel so yucky. Your blood pressure and your heart rate will both improve. You will be more rested, have more energy, remember things better, lose your keys less often, and be overall less likely to die.

Unless, of course, you are physically addicted to alcohol. In that case, Dry January® could actually kill you. Yes. The sudden and complete withdrawal from alcohol, for a person who is clinically dependent on alcohol, can be fatal. Don’t just try Dry January®. Instead, talk with a doctor first about slowly reducing alcohol safely, then try it when your body is strong enough to be without alcohol for a month.

If alcohol has become any sort of annoyance for you, consider experiencing some time without it. You may need to do one hour at a time, one day at a time, or one January at a time. In any case, it’s easier if you do it with someone, so ask a friend or two to do it with you.

 

Dr. Marlo Archer is been a licensed psychologist
specializing in Psychodrama.