Newsletter Vol 2 No 1

Plenty of people celebrate the New Year with Champagne at midnight and a hangover the next morning. But whether you’re rethinking your relationship to alcohol or just looking for a change, maybe you want to kick off the year with Dry January instead.

The popular sobriety challenge has a simple goal: Give up alcohol for the first 31 days of the year.

Research has shown that alcohol, even in small amounts, is bad for yoru health. It can lower the quality of your sleep, impair sexual function and increase your risk of developing certain cancers and other diseases. In the United States, alcohol-related deaths more than doubled between 1999 and 2020.

Experts say that even cutting back your alcohol intake in small doses can provide health benefits. Here’s what to know if you want to try Dry January this year.

Making a sudden switch to sobriety can be daunting, but a few strategies can help you get the most out of the challenge.

One of the easiest ways to hold yourself accountable for the month is to tell others about your goal. You might also consider making a plan for what you’ll be doing in the moments when you would typically be drinking. If you often pour a glass of wine before bed, for example, try a soothing cup of tea in its place.

Quitting drinking can deliver numerous physical and mental benefits, such as better sleep, clearer skin and more energy throughout the day.

These benefits will depend on how much and how frequently you drank before, said Danielle Dick, a professor and director of the Rutgers Addiction Research Center. If you are a regular drinker, a sudden change in your habits might make you feel irritable or depressed before you start to feel better. For people who drink less heavily, you may wake up feeling more rested after just a few days of sobriety.

If the upsides of a monthlong break from alcohol are alluring but you’re not ready to commit, consider trying Damp January. Experts say that making an effort to drink less without abstaining entirely may be a more sustainable option for some people — and it can still bring health benefits.

By deciding, drink-by-drink, when you want a mocktail instead of a cocktail, you might even feel “a sense of greater control” over your drinking than if you give up alcohol altogether, said Richard de Visser, a professor of health psychology at the University of Sussex who researches alcohol use.

Nonalcoholic beverages have become the fastest-growing sector of the alcohol market, and there are more and better choices than ever before.

The main harmful ingredient in beer, wine and spirits is the alcohol — so once that’s been removed, the health risks associated with booze pretty much disappear.

For some, Dry January can be a starting point for re-evaluating the role alcohol plays in their lives. If you find yourself wanting to make a change, experts suggest starting by taking note of how much you’re drinking, and considering the pros and cons of that consumption.

Addiction Psychiatrist, Dr. Lauren Grawert, writes that, “a Damp January approach prioritizes reduction, flexibility, and harm reduction over purity. Fewer drinking days per week. Lower total weekly units. Alcohol-free weekdays. Switching from spirits to beer or wine. Avoiding binge thresholds. Pairing alcohol with food and hydration. These changes are often far more achievable — and crucially, they still confer significant, meaningful health benefits: improved sleep, lower blood pressure, reduced liver strain, reduced cortisol levels, fewer mood fluctuations, and decreased risk behaviors.

From a clinical standpoint, Damp January does something powerful: it preserves self-efficacy. Patients can succeed, build momentum, and learn about their patterns without the emotional crash of perceived failure. For many, reduction becomes the on-ramp to abstinence later. For others, it is a sustainable endpoint that meaningfully improves health and functioning.

We already take the same approach with most other health interventions in modern medicine. Any amount of exercise is better than no exercise. Some reduction in blood sugar is better than no reduction in blood sugar. And, so on.”

And, in addition to weight loss, dry and damp January, there’s another popular New Year’s resolution in town: the digital detox. Some people are aiming to reduce overall screen-time or social-media use. Others want to carve out regular no-screen days or time periods. A survey by the digital-wellness app Opal found that 33% of 1,306 users said reducing screen times and being more present was their top New Year’s resolution, compared with 28% who aimed to lose weight. Even teens are voicing a desire to reduce screen time. A Boston Children’s Digital Wellness Lab report cited results from a survey of more than 1,500 teens and found that 63% said they use their phones too much and 47% said they used apps or tools to manage phone use. It may be time we all cut down. There are growing signals that it is bad for our mental health, especially among adolescents and young adults. A recent study in JAMA Network Open found that when young adults did a social-media detox for a week they had a reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as less insomnia.

If you want to try for a digital detox or would just like to reduce your phone use, here are some tips:

Don’t go cold turkey. If you’re averaging multiple hours on social media, it’s not realistic to go to zero. Start with a goal of limiting or restricting your use by a certain amount.

Use your phone to set screentime limits or cut-off times. Your phone can help you reach your goals. If you need harder barriers, try an app.

Create tech-free zones or times. Start by charging your phone outside of the bedroom and avoiding use an hour before going to sleep. Avoid phones at meal times. Put your phone in a different room.

Replace time spent on social media or screens with other things. That could be anything from real world-socializing, to exercise, to going to bed an hour early. You can even use your phone to call a friend instead of doom-scrolling for an hour.

Don’t blame yourself for your behaviors. “The way technology and social media is designed, it’s very hard to keep track of time,” says Dr. Sajita Setia, a physician in Auckland, New Zealand, who conducts research studies on screen time and mental well-being, particularly in children. “It’s not about will power; it’s not about self-control. We can never win against tech.”