Image Credit – Piqsels
January. Miserable, grey and a time for motivational resolutions. Eat less, read more, go to the gym more. Amongst this mixture of typical resolutions one has often stood out.
Dry January is when somebody resolves to not drink alcohol for the first month of the year after their Christmas and New Year excesses. Public health authorities in the UK have even jumped on the back of this health kick. However, a survey by the British polling company YouGov has found that less and less people are taking part in the detox.
Of all those polled by the survey only 14% said they would be participating in Dry January. This is down by over 10% since the survey last year. Does this mean everyone will be getting hammered every day of January? Will every pub and club be rammed full of drunken revellers?
Perhaps not. It appears that people’s alcohol consumption is going down more generally. An increasing number of people are deciding to not consume alcohol at all. In the same survey 33% of people state they ‘never drink’ alcohol. This might mean that less people are choosing to have a ‘dry month’ and are just drinking less when they do decide to indulge.
The health benefits of having a month off the booze have been questioned. Some believe that people drink more heavily once they have had their month of healthy living. However, some studies have suggested that people tend to drink the same or less for the rest of year. These studies have been complicated by the fact that lots of participants drop out during the month. What lightweights.
It does seem that less people -especially the young- are drinking less than those in the past. Whilst there is nothing wrong with the occasional heavy drinking session, it appears the best way for people to reduce their drinking if they wish to is to spread it over the whole year. This could provide more health benefits than just opting for one month completely cold turkey. Also January is such a depressing month – maybe a few drinks could make it slightly more bearable, as this tweet shows:
If your unconvinced by the health benefits of drinking less, read this story for some evidence.
