Should You Go Dry For January?

Woman discovers whether giving up alcohol for a month can really improve your health.

- Natalia Lubomirski

Dry January has become as much of a new Year trend as signing up to a gym membership or waiting desperately for your first post-Christmas paycheque. over 3 million of us take on this alcohol-free challenge each year. and while four weeks of sobriety may boost our bank balance, can short-term abstinence really boost our health? we’re here to find out…

The impact of alcohol

The horrendous hangovers should be enough to make us realise that excessive drinking isn’t good for us. But many of us are still downing more than the 14-unit limit every week –that’s equivalent to six pints of average-strength beer or seven medium-sized glasses of wine. According to the Offce of National Statistics, 2.5 million people drink more than 14 units of alcohol in just one day.

Drinking regularly can seriously impact our health, even shortening our lifespan by 1.3 years if we regularly drink above the UK weekly limit. ‘Alcohol has an effect on every part of your body and the list of conditions it can trigger is limitless,’ says nutritional therapist Claire Barnes. ‘Some people will react immediately, suffering from heartburn, as the alcohol relaxes the sphincter muscle at the top of the stomach. While other effects, such as malabsorption of nutrients and the creation of disease-causing free radicals can have a long-term damaging effect.’