The start of a new year always presents an opportunity to reset, take stock of your life and set priorities for the upcoming year. One of the most popular activities to help kick start this reset is Dry January. The challenge has gone from a one-month trial to a movement of people who are adopting a “sober-curious” lifestyle. This month in honor of Dry January we will be taking a look at how this experiment has transformed into a sobriety movement.
First, it’s important to understand what we are talking about. ‘Dry January’ began in 2013 as a health and wellness challenge by Alcohol Change UK. The challenge was started by a woman who saw positive health results after abstaining from alcohol consumption for 30 days while training for a marathon. It snowballed into a larger movement to see if more people could take the month of January as a moment to re-evaluate their relationship with alcohol – bringing widespread health benefits and helping those who may need to seek treatment for substance use to take the first step.
It took a few years for the challenge to become a trend but by 2023, at least 175,000 people signed up to participate in Dry January on the Alcohol Change UK website and 15% of U.S. adults, which amounts to more than 260 million Americans took the pledge. Many discovered that being social does not have to be directly linked to alcohol. Participants also saw positive health benefits like better sleep, losing weight, and overall improved health. Dry January has expanded from a month-long trial to a lifestyle movement called ‘sober-curious.’ The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines being sober curious, as someone who “focuses on a more mindful approach to alcohol consumption, examining how much, when, and why they drink alcohol.”
Here are some sober facts about alcohol use. The World Health Organization classifies alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen and states no level of alcohol consumption is good for our health. In addition, the U.S. Surgeon General recently called for all alcoholic beverages to carry a cancer warning label, citing that people who had one drink a day had a 40% higher risk of developing any of seven types of cancer compared to those who didn’t drink at all. Despite this, a majority of Americans still believe drinking in moderation is either good for your health or has no impact. The good news is that people are starting to understand the negative impacts of drinking alcohol with a new high of 45% of Americans saying drinking one or two alcoholic beverages per day is bad for one’s health.
It wasn’t until the rise of Dry January that the general population began to see the effects of no alcohol consumption including:
- Improved quality of sleep
- Weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight
- Overall better health and liver health
- Saving money by not purchasing alcohol for the month
These positive effects led many people, including celebrities and influencers, to promote a lifestyle that prioritizes balance and each person consuming alcohol at whatever level is best for them – whether that be the exact same, cutting back or cutting it out completely. The stigma and assumption around someone who doesn’t consume alcohol is typically that they don’t know how to have fun, but now that is not necessarily the case. Not drinking or someone who drinks occasionally is now more common, removing some of the judgement from this behavior. The rise in this lifestyle has fostered a supportive community for open discussions about alcohol use and encouraging treatment for addiction. Many people don’t seek care or help for substance use for fear of judgement, but Dry January has allowed many people to use a social media trend as a reason to address their relationship with alcohol and not feel alone in that journey.
People who live with substance use disorders are at a higher risk of also experiencing a mental illness, this is called having a co-occurring disorder. The rise of Dry January has also created an opportunity for many who may already be dealing with or are at a higher risk for a co-occurring disorder, to try and remove alcohol from their lives. The movement can be a first step for many to determine if they need professional help for substance use and address any pre-existing mental health issues.
Whether you are using Dry January as an experiment, as a challenge to do with your friends or as the first step to evaluating your relationship with alcohol, it is a great opportunity to try out a different lifestyle and see if it works for you. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance use, please visit the Stop Stigma Sacramento website, Sacramento County’s Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Services page, or visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration site to learn more about how you can seek help.