Henry Bunny. And welcome to the Sober Friends podcast and I am welcoming you to dry January. All of those of you who have decided you want to take a. Little break. From alcohol. Now a little bit. About dry January, if you. Don't know, and a lot of people do. It's a popular trend of abstaining from alcohol. For the first. Month of the year. And it's not just a fad. It's a science backed way to help. Improve your health. Your mood and your productivity. According to a recent Washington Post poll,
and. For everything. That I'm citing. Here, we'll. Put a note in the show notes that you can find this for yourself. According to a recent article from The. Washington Post, people who take. Part in dry January report lower blood pressure, better sleep, more energy. Clearer skin and weight loss. They also save money. Reduce stress. And gain a sense of achievement. In this episode, we're going to explore. The origins of Dry January. The challenges and. Tips for sticking. To it, and the long.
Term effects of. Reducing alcohol consumption. if you're curious about Dry January, if you're already doing it. We'd love to. Hear from. You. Follow us on. Instagram. Facebook threads at Sober Friends Pod or the website Sober Friends. Pod NBC.com. Where you. Can sign up for. Our newsletter or reach out. Via email. I love to. Hear from you. Make sure you are leaving a. Review on Apple Podcasts. Tell us what you think. So a lot of you may. Just have heard the term dry January. It's like New
Year's resolution. It's just something that has happened. Don't know where it came from. It's just something that people do. It actually is something pretty well-organized. So I'm going to tell you about the. Origins of Dry January. And we're going to take. A look at the. History. The evolution, the the annual challenge of going. Alcohol free for the first month of the year. How did it start? What's its impact? And how millions of people found success.
In dry January. So this is all from alcohol change UK dot org dot UK. It's the group that started dry January. It all began in 2011 when Emily Robinson signed. Up for her first half marathon in February. She wasn't a fan of running, so she decided. To quit drinking in January. To make. The training easier. She noticed that she lost weight. She slept better and had more energy for the run. But she also noticed something else. Everyone was curious about her experience. In giving up
alcohol for a while. So the following year, Emily joined Alcohol Change UK. It's a. Charity that aims to reduce. Harm caused by alcohol. She repeated her dry January. In this time. Even more people wanted to talk to. Her about. It. She realised that. This was a great opportunity to start different conversations. About the benefits of taking. A break from drinking. Especially after the festive season. Inspired by Emily's story. Alcohol Change UK launched the. First official dry
January campaign. In 2013. So this is going to be only the. 11th year and it feels like dry January has been around forever. They invited people to join the challenge and see how it affects their health and wellbeing. They partnered. With Dr. Richard De Visser, an. Alcohol behaviour change. Expert from the University. Of Sussex, to conduct. A survey. On the participants. He found that six months after the campaign, seven out of ten people had continued. To drink. Less. Briskly. Than.
Before. Almost a. Quarter of the people who were drinking. At harmful levels before the. Campaign were now in the low risk category. The campaign sparked a debate about the usefulness of giving up alcohol for a month. Could it really make a difference in the long term? Some skeptics argued that it was just a gimmick. Or that it could. Lead to. Binge drinking afterwards, but. Evidence suggested otherwise. In 2014, an. Article in The New
Scientist. Reported that. A month without alcohol could have positive effects on the body as well as on the mind. Professor Kevin Moore, a liver expert from the University College. London Medical Centre, said, quote, What you have is. A pretty average group of British people. Who would not consider themselves. Heavy drinkers. Yet stopping for a month. Alters liver. Fat. Cholesterol and blood sugar. And helps them lose weight. If someone had a. Health product. That did that all in
one month. They would be raking it in. End quote. Dry January. Continued in. Popularity and reach with more and more. People, organisations and media outlets joining in and supporting the movement. In 2015, Alcohol Change UK. Partnered. With Public Health England. And created their first ever dry January radio advertisements. In 2016. They created a dry January app and 14. Thousand people used it. To track their progress. And motivate themselves. Major pub
chains also responded. To the demand by stocking non-alcoholic. Beer during January. Research from. Royal Free Hospital confirmed the benefits of a month off the booze. For the concentration sleep, blood sugar, blood pressure and liver. I came in too. Late for dry January. I got sober in March of 2014. If I had waited to get. Sober. And I saw there was an app. Like the Dry January app. A kind of game of Gamify is. Quitting drinking. This is likely a way I would have gone. I would have. Been
very interested. In it because the app itself would have walked me. Through. I've used the app. I used. It last year to. Just check things out, even though I knew it. Wasn't going to drink. But it would have been something to help motivate me and it would have given me a jumpstart. Into a recovery program. I was not going to just get sober. With just one month of being dry. But it is something that would have at least given me a head start and made me feel a lot better.
By 2017. A YouGov survey showed that over 4 million Britons. Plan to give up alcohol in. January. In 2018, 40,000 people signed up. To take part in Dry January. Via the app and daily emails. Independent research by the University of. Sussex showed. That dry January help. People. To drink more healthily year round. In 2019, Alcohol Change UK. Launched Try Dry a. New app that allows. People to track their drinking throughout the year. Not just. January. This is also an app. If I was just
getting sober. That would have really helped me. I would try and track my drinking because I was concerned about it. I was constantly doing tests online to see if I was an alcoholic. I do believe that these apps could be very helpful. And if you're just starting out. If you're just thinking about. Dry January or. Thinking about being. Sober. Curious Man, I think this is such an awesome thing. The dry January now. Has become a global phenomenon with millions of.
People from different countries and cultures taking part every year. It's also inspired other campaigns such as. Sober October, No drink, November. Fed Fests. I know there's also a dry July. There seems to be some type of dry theme. If you were to go on Instagram. Every month, hey, any time that. There is an opportunity. To get on the bandwagon to. Change your relationship. With alcohol, that's a really good thing. And this is really help the way people think and relate to
alcohol. It's opened up new. Possibilities for a healthier. And happier life. So let's take a moment here to talk about the benefits. Of dry January for physical. And mental health. Dry January can have. A positive impact on your body in many ways. For an. Example, a study by. The University. Of Sussex found that people who completed. Dry January had lower blood pressure, cholesterol. Liver fat levels, as well as. Improved insulin. Resistance and glucose. Regulation. They also reported
better sleep. Mood concentration and memory. Another study by. The University of. New South Wales found. That dry January could. Reduce alcohol dependence and. Cravings and increase. Self-control and confidence. So dry January. May sound simple, but it's not easy. Many people face social. Pressure. Temptation. Boredom or. Withdrawal symptoms when they try to quit. Drinking. That's why it's important to have a plan and a support system to help you succeed. Here are some
tips from. Other experts to help make dry January easier and more enjoyable. Set a clear goal and track your progress. You can use the app. Like dry January or drink Aware. To monitor your alcohol intake, calories, money and health benefits. You can. Also share your. Achievements and challenges with others on the app or via social media. Find alternate. Outdoor activities. And drinks. Break the habit in different ways. I remember years and years ago. When I quit smoking, I had to
find different places. Different ways to drive. Different activities to do. To kill time. Different ways. I was in college at the time. Different ways to walk to my class because the walk and the. Cigarettes. Had come hand in hand. So you got. To try different hobbies, sports. Games to keep you busy and entertained. You can also experiment with non-alcoholic. Drinks such. As mocktails, smoothies. Or herbal. Teas. you can find. Some. Recipes and ideas on websites like the.
Temper or Club Soda. Seek support and. Motivation. You don't have to do this alone. You can join a community of like minded people. Who are also doing Dry January. My good friend Jill. Tietz is doing. Dry January with her sober community. You can. Find groups. On. Instagram, Reddit. Facebook, Tik Top. You can also ask. Your friends, your family or co-workers to join you or support you on your journey. This might be also a time that you might want to jump in and try an open meeting and AA.
Remember an. AA meeting. You're only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking, and in January you're desiring to be dry. For the month. You can listen to podcasts, you can read books, you can watch videos that inspire you to stay. Sober and dry. January is not just. A one off challenge. It's a catalyst for change. Research shows that people who. Do dry January tend to drink less. And. More. Responsibly. Throughout the year. Even if they don't stay completely sober. A study
by the. University. Of Sussex found that people who did. Dry January in 2018 drink less frequently. Less heavily and less harmfully six months. Later compared to those. Who didn't. Another study. By the University of Bristol. Found that people who. Did dry January in. 2019 had lower alcohol consumption. And fewer binge drinking. Episodes 12 months. Later compared to those. Who didn't. If you decide. To drink again after dry January, you should do
it gradually and carefully. You should follow low risk drinking guidelines from the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, which recommend no more than one drink per day per woman or two drinks per day for men. And no. More than four drinks per occasion for women and. Five. Drinks per occasion for. Men. If you are already drinking a lot. More than this, it might be.
Worth the. Thought that removing alcohol from your life is a really good idea, because I look at that and that's kind of the upper limits of moderate drinking. And to me that's a small. Amount of drinking. One of the reasons that I don't drink any more, it's. Just. Easier. Not to do it than. To measure out. Okay, I can have two drinks today, but no more than five on an occasion. All things that you should. Consider if you're in that place after dry January, you are looking to
bring. Alcohol back in. You should avoid. Drinking. On an empty stomach, mixing alcohol with drugs or medications. Or driving after drinking. If you are on an antidepressant or an anti-anxiety medication, you absolutely. Shouldn't drink. At all. It could affect. You in a really. Bad way and something you should. Talk to your doctor about. You can use apps. Like Drink Aware or drink less. To help. You track and reduce your. Alcohol intake. You can also
seek professional help or. Join a support group if you have trouble controlling your drinking or. If you think you have alcohol use disorder, that's going to be all for today. And dry January. We hope you learned a little. Something new and useful about this popular and beneficial challenge. To recap, we talked about the. History and purpose of Dry January. The benefits for. Your health and. Wellbeing, the challenges and. Tips for doing.
It, and the long term effects, and how to maintain a healthy. Relationship. With alcohol after January. How are you doing. On Dry January? Is this something that you're thinking of taking up? Have you done it in the past? Do you pre-date Dry January. And you're just going to stay sober anyways? We want to hear from you. How is your experience if you did this? What did you gain and lose from it? Do you have any tips. Or advice for others who want to try dry January? Let
us know. Leave a comment. Send an email. Or reach out via. Social media. You can find us on the social platforms threads. Instagram, Facebook. At Sober Friends. Podcast. You can. Go to our. Website. Sober. Friends podcast. There's a. Link right. There. Matt at Sober Friends Pod dot com is my email. I read everything. I'll respond. Back. I'd love for you to leave a message or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Give us some stars on Spotify. All right.
Next week. We're going. To talk a little bit about how to stay in the moment and some tips from. The perspective. Of people who have gone through AA that might help. You through dry January. I hope you're going to stick with. The Sober Friends. Podcast through this month to help get you. Through and change your relationship. With alcohol. All right. Until next week. Bye, everybody.