After a December filled with lots of food and booze, a lot of people decide to take January off from imbibing, but experts suggest committing to a Dry January isn’t exactly the great idea some people think it is.
Yes, it’s true giving up booze for a month can have health benefits, like better skin, more energy and dropping a few pounds, but experts say it doesn’t actually do much to encourage an all over healthier lifestyle. In fact, most people are likely to undo all the good they’ve done once February comes, because they’ll quickly indulge in a a lot of drinking once January is over to make up for what they had been missing.
"Taking a break from alcohol can be a good opportunity to reflect on how much and how often you are drinking, and its impact on your health and wellbeing as well as your finances,” Ben Butler, spokesman for the UK charity Drinkaware, notes. “However, people shouldn’t think that cutting back or having a break from alcohol for a short while means that it’s OK to drink to excess over the rest of the year."
Experts note that instead of just cutting out booze for a month, folks should put their focus on cutting back on how much you drink overall. They suggest that if you’re drinking too much, try and set weekly limits on how much you consume.
ONE MORE THING! If you are still thinking of taclking a Dry January, at least one study says it IS a good thing to do. A study out of University of Sussex had 816 UK residents take part in a booze-free January and found that eight months later these people were drinking less on average than before the dry month. They had about one less day of drinking a week, had one less glass of alcohol when they did drink, and got drunk one less time each month.
Source: The Sun