As soon as the thrill of Christmas is over, many Brits try to reverse the festive overindulgence by setting themselves a dry January problem.

Based on Alcohol Change, 9 million individuals deliberate to chop out alcohol in January 2024.

Nonetheless, whereas many Brits will likely be aiming to go alcohol-free for the primary month of 2024, Dr Alasdair Scott, a medical knowledgeable at Selph, says a dry January can have only a few well being advantages except alcohol is considerably reduce down in the long run.

“Alcohol has unfavourable results on many organs and tissues all through your physique, resembling your bowel and mind, not simply your liver. For instance, alcohol will increase the danger of bowel most cancers, breast most cancers, and dementia. The unfavourable results of alcohol are from cumulative publicity, so the extra alcohol you drink over an extended time period, the extra possible you might be to expertise associated well being issues.

“Cumulative publicity results in a continuum of threat. There isn’t any such factor as a ‘protected degree of alcohol’, solely a regularly rising threat of well being issues, from negligible to low to excessive.

“In relation to dry January, there’s a notion that this is a chance to offer your liver a ‘break’, to make up for the excesses of December and the New Yr. However the actuality is, you possibly can’t merely reset or detoxify the impacts of alcohol in your well being in a month.

“It’s a bit like a crash weight-reduction plan, in that you just do it for a brief time period and also you lose some weight, but it surely’s troublesome to maintain up, so that you simply find yourself going again to what you probably did earlier than and the load goes again on. Whereas chopping out alcohol for one month will go away you feeling far more energised and can assist you to sleep higher, there’s little or no profit if you happen to then proceed to drink closely as soon as January is over.

“For instance, somebody who drinks on the higher restrict of UK pointers (14 models or seven drinks per week) will drink 728 models a yr. In the event that they cease ingesting solely in January however resume common ingesting behaviour afterwards, they’ll be all the way down to 672 models for the yr. In distinction, if they only reduce all the way down to 10 models per week, their consumption for the yr will likely be 520 models, a much better consequence.

“Dry January could possibly be the beginning of a brand new life-style during which much less alcohol is consumed. If these new behaviours are maintained, they don’t even should be ‘dry’. Life is for residing, and low-level alcohol use, notably in social settings, can completely be suitable with a wholesome life-style.”

To assist Brits reduce down on their alcohol consumption for a sustained interval, Alasdair shares his prime ideas:

1. Solely drink with meals

“Altering your mindset on alcohol and having fun with it as an accompaniment to a scrumptious meal you have got labored arduous to cook dinner or a deal with meal in a restaurant will assist you to to drink much less in the long term.

“Educating your self on one of the best wines to accompany sure meals, for instance, will imply you have got a greater understanding and appreciation for the style of the drink reasonably than simply the ‘feeling’ alcohol provides you. It should additionally imply you drink alcohol much less typically, as these are normally seen as ‘particular’ deal with meals that you just don’t have daily.”

2. Solely drink alcohol on sure days 

“For those who’re used to ingesting most evenings, it may be a good suggestion to chop down on the variety of nights you do that, for instance, a Friday or Saturday evening. Nonetheless, it’s vital you additionally monitor the variety of models you drink, as you can simply find yourself binge ingesting by consuming a big quantity of alcohol in a extra condensed time interval.

“Having one or two small glasses of wine on a Friday or Saturday night is a lot better than having one massive one daily of the week.”

3. E-book in train lessons for the weekend 

“Many individuals binge drink extra on a weekend as a result of they know they don’t should stand up for work within the morning. Nonetheless, reserving an train class for a Saturday or Sunday morning will imply you’re much less more likely to drink the night earlier than, as you’ll know it’s good to get up and really feel refreshed.

“It’s a good suggestion to e-book these in with a good friend too, so that you each have some accountability, and you may get pleasure from exercising collectively too!”

4. Attempt alcohol-free drinks 

“Lots of people battle to stop or reduce down on ingesting for the social facet, as they concern the peer stress of not ingesting alcohol at an occasion will likely be too overwhelming and troublesome to justify to pals.

“Selecting alcohol-free variations of your standard drink might help to beat this, so that you’re nonetheless holding a drink in your hand, which is able to assist you to really feel extra snug in social conditions when others are ingesting. Nowadays, there are many low-alcohol and alcohol-free drinks obtainable in bars and supermarkets, so you possibly can spend a while discovering those you want one of the best.”

5. Attempt the 20-minute rule 

“Taking a 20-minute break after ending one drink earlier than pouring your subsequent could make a giant distinction to the quantity of alcohol you drink.

“Having this time to pause in-between drinks will can help you course of whether or not you might be the truth is craving extra or if you happen to truly really feel drained and as if you’ve had sufficient. It additionally simply slows down your ingesting usually, so over the course of an evening, you’ll robotically drink much less this manner.”