Further Reflections on Dry January
A Q&A with Jeremiah Gardner of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
NOTE: This was published for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s monthly Recovery Advocacy Update. If you’d like to receive our advocacy emails, subscribe today.
Why do people participate in Dry January? What are the benefits to health and relationships? What benefits might there be for the culture?
New studies and surveys show 15% of US adults participated in Dry January last year, including roughly 7% of emerging adults — the population that tends to drink the most. Oft-reported health benefits include weight loss, better sleep and increased energy. Some studies show even short-term abstinence can have a positive impact on cardiovascular risks, liver function, cancer risks, sleep and other health factors as well.
I think what people are finding is that no matter your relationship with alcohol, you generally feel better without it.
A lot of folks find themselves able to be more present for their family and friends. Cost savings are a factor too
For all of these reasons, some people end up continuing their abstinence and moderation beyond January. One study showed that roughly half of emerging adults participating in temporary alcohol abstinence challenges like Dry January continued to drink less afterward, and 15% reported that they remained abstinent afterward.
I think more people have problematic relationships with alcohol than we realize. But the stigma of having addiction or alcoholism keeps a lot of these problems uncontemplated and unaddressed. People just keep progressing until it’s severe, the problems mount, and they have no other choice but to get help. It’s like waiting to eat better until you have a heart attack.
Dry January and the broader Sober Curious movement are making it OK — no stigma attached, and even a bit cool — to address alcohol use earlier in the progression of one’s use. That’s something we’ve always needed, and now we have a cultural frame for that.
By normalizing sobriety, we’re also making the world more comfortable, safe and inclusive for people who are in sustained recovery from addiction to participate in social activities with others.
What does it mean to be sober curious?
Sober curiosity is about experimenting with sobriety or taking intentional breaks from alcohol for the health benefits. Sometimes, it may lead one to pursue a more lasting, long-term sobriety, and other times it’s just an intermittent break or a pattern of intermittent breaks.
Dry January is actually the origin of the Sober Curious movement. It started as a challenge among folks who felt they’d partied a little too hard over New Year’s weekend. And now it represents this larger trend toward exploring sobriety for a time or forever, and for any reason.
Why may participation in Dry January have been down a bit last year (15% compared with 19% in 2022)?
Hard to know for sure, but it may be a sign that more people were stressed and struggling in 2022. Could also be that there are fewer drinkers overall. For example, the share of millennials — the generation that drinks the most frequently — who drink has declined (by 7%). Could also be that fewer people see a need for the “challenge” of Dry January, as they’ve already adopted some of the habits of moderating or abstaining.
One important note for context, though: while participation may be down, it’s still quite high. One analysis found that 72% of participants from the previous year participated again. That means folks are finding some perennial value in the benefits of a monthlong break from drinking alcohol.
There are also now other sober months like Dry in July and Sober October. All told, 22% of drinkers say they plan to take a monthlong break from drinking alcohol at some point in the year. And roughly 30% say they plan to drink less.
These are all positive trends. And we’ll have to see what this year brings.
Are New Year’s resolutions/goals in general a good idea? Do they work?
There’s never a bad time to set goals and ambitions. There’s also nothing magic about the new year, other than perhaps our fresh outlook. I encourage anyone looking to change aspects of their life to start now, whenever now is.
Is there a tendency for some to overdo goals this time of the year, and lose track of them? Yes. No matter when you’re setting goals, you want to make sure they’re specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound — something you can focus on, achieve and build upon. Having too many goals or resolutions can be overwhelming.
It also helps to break down goals. Rather than lose 50 pounds by the end of the year, for example, folks might want to start with losing 5 pounds by the end of January. Or, focus on the means to the end — like getting outside and walking at least three times a week in January.
Some might stall out or have setbacks. That’s not the time to move on. It’s part of the process and a time to recommit.
Lots of people choose to change their relationship with alcohol and other drugs this time of year. Some or motivated to seek professional care. Many others try on sobriety more informally too, as part of Dry January.
Let’s resist the urge to be cynical about Dry January or new year’s resolutions and goals of any kind. Make goals now, make them anytime you are motivated. Make ones you can really focus on. Enlist the help of others — family, a group of friends, a mentor, maybe even a therapist. We truly are healthier together. And don’t be discouraged if you have setbacks. That’s often part of the process.
How does taking a break from alcohol differ from recovery?
Recovery from alcohol use disorder is a path most often chosen by people who have struggled to take breaks from alcohol and have developed a diagnosable illness addressed most effectively by sustained abstinence and engaging in a process of personal growth.
People who are sober-curious may function pretty well even when they’re drinking. People with addiction, on the other hand, often need sobriety to function well.
However, it’s a blurry line. Some people experimenting may actually have a mild or moderate alcohol use disorder. And some may have a severe substance use disorder that becomes illuminated by the difficulty of sustaining their experiments with sobriety for the intended time.
Mocktails and alcohol-free drinks of all kinds, as well as venues even, are a growing trend? What positives do you see in that? Is it for everyone?
Many organizations and brands are now specifically targeting, serving and contributing to the sober-curious movement.
We’re seeing more alcohol-free beverages on restaurant and bar menus, and more advocacy to shift attitudes and perceptions from sobriety as an antisocial or Puritanical choice, to a healthy and cool one instead.
One benefit is inclusivity — making social environments a more comfortable place for people who don’t drink or rarely drink — which is actually about half the population.
The other benefit is simply showing that social fun doesn’t need to involve getting buzzed or loaded. That’s a positive for everyone.
A note: people in recovery aren’t generally the ones most interested in mocktails or N/A beers. Some love them, but others are wary of drinking things that look like the beverages that used to cause them so many problems, in the same kind of environment. For some, especially those early in recovery, that can be a triggering. So for anyone who is in recovery, it’s worth considering the context and why you might want N/A beverages or not want them.
A lot of people may fear that giving up alcohol will make it difficult to have fun and socialize. I can see how mocktails can help for some people. But what else do people in recovery turn to for fun, relaxation or coping with daily stresses?
The short answer is — everything you can imagine. Go to concerts and sporting events. Go dancing. Travel. Go out to eat, or to the movies. Hike, ski, kayak, hang out with family or friends — you name it.
The question of what fun is there in sobriety is one people who are struggling with alcohol often ask themselves. And it’s sometimes because they’ve never done normal fun stuff without drinking. The nation is in a similar situation — we associate everything social with drinking. But when we’re sober, we find out pretty quickly that fun things don’t require alcohol at all. And that’s part of what Dry January and the sober curious movement are helping to reveal.
What does the latest research say about alcohol? We used to hear it’s healthy in small amounts — do researchers still believe that’s true?
No. After decades of confusing and sometimes contradictory research, the picture is becoming clearer: Even small amounts of alcohol can have health consequences. For example, there is emerging evidence that drinking small or moderate amounts can contribute to greater risk for cancer and some forms of cardiovascular disease. And risk starts to go up well below levels where people would think, ‘Oh, that person has an alcohol problem.”
In its newest recommendations, the World Health Organization said “No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health.”
How does someone know they’re drinking too much?
The initial signs of a problem are often slight changes in behavior, social demeanor and/or emotional reactions. For example: you might spend longer ours outside of the home, avoid intimacy, or isolate within the home. While initially those changes may be subtle, over time the avoidance of contact can become a pattern. Physical changes might be slurred speech, slower reaction times, excessive tiredness, or blunted emotions. You might also find yourself becoming a little louder, a little more outgoing, and a little more socially interactive under the influence of alcohol — as it may lower your social inhibitions.
Over time, behavior changes associated with increased alcohol use may become more pronounced. You may notice a deterioration in self-care like grooming, exercise and sleep, decreased pursuit of activities and hobbies, increased missing of appointments and commitments, or an inexplicable shortage of funds. You may even catch yourself minimizing them or attributing them to something other than substance use.
All of this, it turns out, is really hard to recognize in oneself. Which is why family, friends and co-workers play such a big role.
Clinically speaking, “alcohol use disorder” has mild, moderate, and severe classifications. In other words, it’s on a spectrum, with many shades of gray. Where you fall within this span often depends less on how much you drink and more on why you drink and what happens when you do.
- Do you always tend to have more than you planned?
- Are you drinking because it’s the only way you relax, or can fall asleep, or deal with stress?
- For some people, alcohol becomes their only tool for dealing with difficult emotions. And that’s something to take a good look at.
- Do you ever suffer from blackouts or “brown-outs” when you kinda remember what happened, but you’re vague on the details?
- How do you feel inside about drinking? Does it lead to regrets, secret keeping, any divergence between your values and your actions?
- Does it impact your family life, work or overall health?
- What happens if you quit drinking for a while? For some people, that may just give the liver a welcome break, but for others, some unwelcome feelings might rush in, or even physical symptoms.
These are the types of questions someone might want to ask themselves. We also have assessments available at HazeldenBettyFord.org.
Most of the conversation during Dry January is about alcohol. But opioids, marijuana, cocaine, mental health — they’re all in the news, and it’s all related in some ways — is that right? How so?
The vast majority of our residential patients at Hazelden Betty Ford are addicted to multiple substances, and also have co-occurring mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, etc.
The common denominator is risk. People with higher risks for misusing substances generally have higher risk for misusing any kind of mood-altering substance. And they tend to have higher risk for mental health concerns, too.
We spend too much time trying to figure out which came first — the substance use or mental health issue — but what actually came first was the risk for both.
Risk factors include age of first use, family history of substance use and or mental health concerns, prior trauma, a variety of social determinants, etc.
When it comes to addiction specifically, we too often get caught up in addressing one drug in isolation. We talk only about alcohol. Or we talk only about marijuana. Or we talk only about opioids. While there are unique aspects to them all, when it comes to problematic use, you really have to think about them together.
And with mental health and substance use disorders co-occurring as often as they do, it doesn’t make sense to talk about them in isolation either. If you improve one you likely improve the other; if you neglect one you likely affect the other in a negative way.
