Dry January: A Month of Sobriety on the Prevention Forecast
Giving it a Shot
Each New Year is a perfect time to embrace a fresh start. Whether focusing on physical, emotional, financial, or spiritual well-being, many of us see January as an ideal month to set meaningful wellness goals. The frost-bitten atmosphere of the first 31 calendar days invites time for reflection and motivates us to make positive changes, fostering a renewed sense of commitment and accountability. In recent years, something new has been buzzing on the resolution radar that has piqued public interest and sparked questions among the scientific community.
Can this New Year’s trend, known as Dry January, truly have a profound impact on your and your family’s health? This month, we’ll explore the research to uncover how your whole family benefits when you participate in Dry January.
What’s All the Buzz About?
Dry January is a month-long challenge to abstain from alcohol, offering participants a unique opportunity to reset their relationship with drinking. What began in 2012 as a public health campaign by Alcohol Change UK has since become a globally recognized, evidence-based strategy for improving personal health. Recent Dry January participants have identified abounding benefits including weight loss, improved sleep and energy, and a reduction in blood pressure, cholesterol, and levels of (Mehta, G., et al., 2018). Several participants also reported a positive change in their diet, increased exercise, and better self-rated overall health even up to 6 months after participation (de Terne, 2022)!
Why Go Dry?
In addition to benefits to one’s physical, mental, and financial health, Dry January can also be a great start for those that are sober-curious or looking to reduce their consumption. Tommie Trevino, a substance use counselor of UC Davis Health notes the importance that a month of sobriety offers to reflect on one’s relationship with alcohol use (Coons, 2023).
Many substance use orders, including alcohol use disorder, can develop based on factors of quantity (how much) and frequency (how often) of use. An inability to abstain for 30 days might be a sign of addiction or trouble with unhealthy drinking habits (Coons, 2023). Recent data shows that these harmful habits may extend beyond harm to oneself and have a lasting impact on the youth in one’s life.
A PEERs and Parents Review
In 2018, scientists at The Population Research Center within the University of Texas at Austin investigated the potential correlation between adolescent drinking behaviors and those of their school peers and their parents (Olson & Crosno, 2018). They based their hypothesis on psychological theories of stress and substance use susceptibility, seeking to discover how contributing factors influenced teen drinking.
What the researchers discovered was entirely unpredicted. The team found that for adolescents whose parents did not have a recent history of binge-drinking, there was no correlation between their drinking and that of their peers. In other words, they were not highly influenced by those around them whether their peers were choosing to or not to drink (Olson & Crosno, 2018).
What the researchers discovered was entirely unpredicted. They found that for adolescents whose parents did not have a recent history of binge-drinking, there was no correlation between their drinking and that of their peers. In other words, they were not highly influenced by those around them whether their peers were choosing to or not to drink (Olson & Crosno, 2018).
However, for those that reported parents with a recent binge-drinking history, there was a higher rate of self-reported drinking influenced by peers (Olson & Crosno, 2018). The publication summarizes their findings by stating,
“Adolescents with binge-drinking parents were more susceptible than other youth to what appeared to be negative influences of drinking among peers.”
The Teen Scene
Binge-drinking behavior among teens can be extremely dangerous. While the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) both declare underage drinking to be a major public health crisis in the United States, excessive drinking poses immediate threats to teen health.
According to the CDC, teens that drink alcohol are more likely to binge-drink, a harmful behavior that is linked to approximately 3,900 deaths each year. Teens that drink and binge drink are more likely to experience difficulty in school, disruption in growth and development, physical and sexual violence, multi-substance misuse, and continued binge-drinking as an adult (CDC).
Organizations around the country have dedicated extensive efforts to developing resources for parents to identify the signs, spark healthy prevention discussions, and allocate professional help when needed. However, Olson & Crosno, 2018 shows that perhaps the most influential method for preventing teen binge-drinking is by demonstrating a healthy, responsible relationship with alcohol as an adult.
The influence of an intentional action like participation in Dry January could help delay the onset of alcohol use until the youth in your life are old enough to make similar healthy decisions and habits for themselves.
Resources & Support
We recognize that it might also not be possible for everyone to jump into a dry month right away, and that’s okay, too. One strategy to consider is working your way up to it by perhaps participating in a damp January instead, minimizing the number of drinks you consume on a weekly basis rather than coming to a complete stop. From there, February can be a natural next step to fully embrace a dry month, building on the progress you made in January and allowing you to experience the full benefits of reduced alcohol consumption.
If you are looking for support on maintaining sobriety, there are several resources to help keep you on track. As Dry January gains more attention each year, many venues, restaurants, and sporting events that have for generations been the hubs of alcohol consumption now offer sober sections and an abundant mocktail selection instead.
Other tips to consider are leaning on a network of support, journaling and keeping a log of your progress, listening to sobriety podcasts, and increasing your water intake. There are so many tips and tools to keep you on track that the Prevention Action Alliance developed a 31-day January calendar filled with little steps you can take each day to support your month sobriety. You can view and download the full calendar here!
Remember, 31 days of reduced or no use is just a start on a continuous journey of monitoring your alcohol habits. It’s important to reach out to health professionals when or if you need help. Alcohol addiction can be one of the hardest challenges to overcome, and quitting cold turkey could cause life-threatening withdrawal symptoms (Rethinking Drinking). PEER Services offers a breadth of support and recovery options for youth and adults experiencing signs of a substance use disorder. If you or someone you know is interested in exploring their path to recovery, reach out to a member of our team of experts today.
If you or someone you know could benefit from the resources offered by PEER Services, please reach out to us at contact@peerservices.org
Sources Cited
1. Coons, C. Jan. 4, 2023. “Dry January: Giving up alcohol can mean better sleep, weight loss and more energy.” UCDavis Health. Internal Medicine. https://health.ucdavis.edu/news/headlines/dry-january-giving-up-alcohol-can-mean-better-sleep-weight-loss-and-more-energy/2023/01. 2. Olson, J. Crosnoe, R. Feb. 28, 2018. “The Interplay of Peer, Parent, and Adolescent Drinking.” University of Texas at Austin. PMC 2019. Accessed from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6326588/#!po=44.1176 doi: 10.1111/ssqu.12497. 3. Solan, M. 2022. “Thinking of Trying Dry January? Steps for Success” Harvard Health Publishing. Harvard Men’s Health Watch. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/thinking-of-trying-dry-january-steps-for-success-202201032662 4. Mehta G, Macdonald S, Cronberg A., et al. Short-term abstinence from alcohol and changes in cardiovascular risk factors, liver function tests and cancer-related growth factors: a prospective observational study. BMJ Open 2018;8:e020673. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020673. Accessed from https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/5/e020673 5. de Terne, J., et al. 2022. One-month alcohol abstinence national campaigns: a scoping review of the harm reduction benefits. BMC. Harm Reduction Journal. 2022; 19: 24. doi: 10.1186/s12954-022-00603-x. Accessed from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8895623/#__ffn_sectitle 6. Rethinking Drinking. “To Quit or Cut Down.” https://www.rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/Thinking-about-a-change/Its-up-to-you/To-Cut-Down-Or-To-Quit.aspx
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