Dry January: The ultimate science-backed guide to finally giving up alcohol

Dry January: The ultimate science-backed guide to finally giving up alcohol

Need help getting through the month? Science can help.

Credit: Krisanapong Detraphiphat

Published: January 1, 2025 at 9:00 am

Lots of things can make us question our relationships with alcohol. It might be a louder-than-expected crash of glass when you take out the recycling, or the shock of seeing your bank balance after a night out with friends. Maybe it’s the hangovers – once dispatched with a walk, a shower and the impunity of youth – that now require multiple pharmaceuticals and the skills of an exorcist. 

Whatever the trigger, more people than ever are having similar thoughts. “Is this actually working for me?” “Wouldn’t I be healthier if I drank less?” “Where could I go on holiday if I save what I spent on booze?”.

Research shows that Gen-Z in particular (roughly speaking, people born between 1997 and 2012) are drinking less than previous generations. A 2024 YouGov poll found that 39 per cent of 18–24-year-olds abstain completely, while 44 per cent regularly or occasionally opt for no- and low-alcohol alternatives. Not that the sober-curious movement is just about young people.

The charity Alcohol Change UK found that one in four Brits started 2024 wanting to reduce the amount they drink. Last year, more than 175,000 signed up for Dry January via the same charity’s website and thousands more are believed to have taken part in Sober October. It’s a trend that’s been growing slowly for a generation. 

“Over the last 30 years, we’ve seen a reduction in alcohol consumption among younger age groups,” says Dr Melissa Oldham, a behavioural scientist at University College London (UCL) whose work focuses on interventions for alcohol reduction.

“People start drinking later and when they do start drinking, they tend to drink less. There are also more young people who don’t drink at all than in previous years.” 

A group of friends cheers drinks in a bar
Fewer and fewer young people indulge in the same drinking habits as their parents - Credit: Alamy

Theories abound as to why people are choosing to drink less – you may even have debated them around a pub table. Economic pressures in recent years have played a part. There are also more no- and low-alcohol drinks on the market, many of them more flavoursome than the zero-per-cent options on shelves just a few years ago.

Among Gen-Z, the reasons are more diverse. There’s an element of rebellion, of not wanting to do the same things as older generations. There are also stats to suggest that Gen-Z opts for other drugs and other ways of socialising. Some also suggest that for a generation which has grown up with smartphones, there’s a reluctance to get drunk when it could be recorded and posted to social media.

It’s a cocktail of factors, but the upshot is simple. “There’s been a shift in attitudes and the value that alcohol is perceived to have in people’s lives,” Oldham says. “People value other things and are more aware of the harms of alcohol.”

What's your poison?

In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a sobering statement (during Dry January), which stated that there’s no such thing as a healthy amount of alcohol. Published in the journal The Lancet Public Health, the WHO reminded us that alcohol is a toxic, carcinogenic, psychoactive substance that can create dependency.

It’s tempting to think that the health risks of ‘moderate’ drinking amount to a beer belly and a liver that occasionally has to work a little harder than usual. In truth, some cancers become more likely with less than a drink a day. The same is true for anxiety and its effects on brain function – even alcohol’s supposed benefits for heart health have been exaggerated or misunderstood completely.

A close-up shot of a human liver showing the damage caused by cirrhosis, which often results from excessive, long-term alcohol consumption
Fears of liver damage have contributed to the reduction of drinking - Credit: Getty Images

“There’s no clear line between regular, harmful and dependent drinking,” says Lauren Booker, an addiction counsellor and associate at Alcohol Change UK.

“The reality is that more than 10 million of us [in the UK] are drinking alcohol in a way that can cause harm to our health – yet many people consider harm from alcohol to be something that only affects a minority of people with alcohol dependence.”

The good news is that there are instant health benefits when you reduce your alcohol consumption or take an extended break from it.

“Physically, a month off alcohol can lead to lower blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes risk, as well as lower cancer-related proteins in the blood,” says Booker. “It also boosts your immune system and gives you more energy, better sleep and brighter skin.”

What are you (actually) having?

If you’re questioning your relationship with alcohol or want to reduce the amount you’re drinking, the first thing to do is understand exactly how much you’re consuming in the first place. Your best guess is probably wrong.

Multiple studies and surveys have found that people underestimate how much they drink, some by as much as 40 per cent. We also overestimate what other people drink, giving us a false sense of what’s ‘normal’. Prof David Nutt thinks a little self-knowledge is required.

“People should know and value their alcohol consumption – in terms of the number of units per week – in the same way they know and value their weight or their waist circumference or their cholesterol or blood pressure,” he says. “It’s a vital variable in your health.”

There are numerous apps with built-in unit calculators that make it easy to track what you drink. “And we know from many aspects of mental health that monitoring is a way of improving, because you’re taking control,” Nutt says. “It also gives you a chance to reflect. ‘Did I really have six drinks last night? What a pointless waste of money!’”

Prof David Nutt sat in front of a bottle of his drink Sentia
Prof David Nutt advocates a responsible approach to alcohol consumption - Credit: Alamy

UK guidelines recommend drinking no more than 14 units a week (about six pints of beer or six 175ml glasses of wine), spread over three or more days with no bingeing and at least two or three days when you don’t drink at all.

Many of us don’t understand how insidious binge drinking or habitual drinking can be. It’s easy to open a second bottle of red over a steak dinner, or for a quick pint to spiral into an crazy night out. The catch is, it’s not just a capital-H hangover that you’re risking.

“If you double your alcohol consumption you tend to increase the harms fourfold. It’s non-linear and a lot of people don’t realise that,” Nutt says. An expert in addiction and neuropsychopharmacology, Nutt once lost his job as the UK government’s drug tsar after claiming that LSD and ecstasy were less harmful than alcohol. That was in 2009, but he’s still clear on the dangers of drinking.

“Be very cautious of having an attitude of, ‘I don’t drink except on a Friday night.’ If you cram your units into one night or two, the levels of alcohol and peak toxicity are higher, you get a worse hangover caused by inflammation in the brain, which is not a good thing. And the other thing is, when you’re drunk you’re vulnerable. You do stupid things like drive your car or put yourself in a position where you get beaten up.”

Come up with a plan

Human beings, whether we’re drinking alcohol or not, are creatures of habit. Behaviour change of any kind is difficult. So, if you want to reduce the amount you drink, don’t just wing it.

“The first step is setting a goal,” says Oldham. “It should be realistic and measurable: rather than just saying that you want to drink less, be more specific. Say ‘I’ll have less than six drinks a week’ or ‘I’ll have this number of alcohol-free days’.”

Being realistic is important, Oldham says. If you’re currently drinking 40–50 units a week, it’s unlikely that you’ll drop below 14 units immediately. “It can be disheartening if you’re always failing, so it might be worth setting an easier goal initially. Then, once you’re consistently meeting that goal, you can change it again. It kind of resets your baseline,” she says.

Write your goal down and share it with friends and drinking buddies. This should lead to less social pressure to drink when you don’t want to. If you often drink with your partner, cutting back together will be much easier than going solo.

Plus, a study from the University of Michigan earlier this year found that couples who have similar drinking patterns have happier marriages, and even live longer, than couples where one or both partners is teetotal.

Once you start cutting back, the next trick is maintaining your motivation and being aware of your drinking triggers.

“It can be quite hard to keep up the motivation for longer-term goals, like your long-term health. It’s not something that’s very rewarding in the short term,” says Dr Hannah Behrendt, director of health and wellbeing at The Behavioural Insights Team, a research and insights body that advises the government and private sector.

“In research we did, the top reasons that people cited for wanting to drink less were shorter-term: to save money and avoid hangovers.” One way to make this work in your favour is to create a positive feedback loop linked to a short-term goal.

"You could think about putting aside the money that you’re saving and treating yourself to something nice,” Behrendt says.

Next, get curious about your drinking cues. These are the subtle signs and triggers that lead to your next subconscious pour. Maybe it’s a glass of spritz when the Sun comes out or a cocktail at the airport to steady any pre-flight nerves. They’re examples of habitual drinking and for some of us, they happen often – but that doesn’t mean we’re powerless against them.

A group of people cheers their drinks
It’s easy to get drawn into drinking just because those around you are. Being aware of the cues or triggers that tempt you to drink can help you resist the urge - Credit: Alamy

“It can be helpful to reflect on and note down your personal drinking cues,” says Booker. “By understanding what they look like for us as individuals, we become better placed to recognise them and respond to them, instead of reaching for a drink as default.”

Cravings are similar. Certain cues, such as getting good or bad news, or having a tough day at work, create an intense desire to drink. The thing to remember is that cravings don’t last forever and there are science-backed methods to overcome them.

“Some evidence suggests that the average craving lasts just six minutes,” Booker says. “Switching your attention to something else when a craving hits helps to break that mental connection. Another mindfulness technique is ‘urge surfing’, the process of perceiving the craving as a wave. Instead of fighting a craving, you observe the craving as it starts, builds, peaks and ends, noticing the feelings and sensations experienced in the brain and body until it passes.

“The idea behind these techniques is to interrupt the link between the craving and the drink. Over time, as new pathways are formed in the brain, cravings start to diminish.”

You can also beat those cravings in advance. Make a plan about what you’ll do in certain scenarios when it’s likely you’ll be offered a drink. In psychology, this is known as implementation intention. “What if someone offers me a third drink?” “What will I have when everyone’s raising a toast at the wedding reception?” Being ready for these means you don’t end up doing (or drinking) what you didn’t originally intend to do.

A new round

Of course, it’s not all about psychological self-trickery. Some of the most effective ways to lower your alcohol intake are practical. Switching to lower-strength versions of any drink reduces the amount of pure alcohol swilling around your system.

‘Zebra-striping’ does the same thing, potentially halving the alcohol you consume by alternating between alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic alternatives.

“Behavioural science tells us it’s much easier to substitute a current habit for something else than completely stop,” says Behrendt. “Switching to lower strength or no-alcohol alternatives can be really helpful because the thing you’re switching to is similar, so it’s much easier.”

A man drinks a bottle of zero percent alcohol beer
More alcohol-free alternatives are appearing in shops and bars - Credit: Alamy

Research from Alcohol Change UK found that among heavy drinkers who are keen to cut down, 83 per cent of those who successfully did so cited no- or low-alcohol drinks to be an important factor. This is probably because it feels less restrictive – but also because the human subconscious is easy to outwit, Booker says.

“As an example, the psychology department at London South Bank University launched a fake pub on campus to observe students’ drinking habits. Students were given placebos in place of alcoholic drinks and findings suggested they worked just as well as the real thing for getting the students ‘drunk’.”

A fresh start

It’s possible that when you begin cutting back your alcohol intake, you may find it difficult, emotional or even overwhelming. If that’s the case, experts say it’s an indicator that your relationship with alcohol is unhealthy and you’re doing the right thing. You can seek further support from your doctor and available medical materials, but apps can be powerful aides, too.

Earlier this year, Oldham published a study that monitored the effectiveness of Drink Less, an app developed with colleagues at UCL. Designed with insights from behavioural science, it offers user-friendly ways of setting goals, monitoring your progress and exercising your willpower.

“We conducted a randomised controlled trial over three years and people either used the app or they used the alcohol advice page on the National Health Service’s website,” Oldham says. “Afterwards, we looked at people’s drinking and saw a reduction in alcohol consumption in both groups – around 37 units a week – but a bigger reduction in the Drink Less users.”

It’s proof that a potentially life-changing reduction in drinking is achievable, even if your goal is just to cut back rather than abstain completely. If you’re not aiming to go teetotal, Nutt says, it’s about getting to a place where you’re drinking mindfully and responsibly, but joyfully too.

“Never drink a drink that you don’t get pleasure from,” he says. “If you reflect back over a week of drinking, you’ll probably find that there were a number of drinks that you drank because other people were drinking or some other reason. And if you cut out the drinks that don’t really mean anything, that’s a really good way to start.”

Cheers to that.

About our experts

Dr Melissa Oldham is a behavioural scientist at University College London (UCL) whose work focuses on interventions for alcohol reduction

Lauren Booker is an addiction counsellor and associate at Alcohol Change UK. She has worked in the alcohol field for 18 years and was a member of the team that founded Dry January.

David Nutt is a neuropsychopharmacologist who specialises in the research of drugs that affect the brain. He is the founder of GABA Labs, a company that produces non-alcoholic drinks that target GABA receptors.

Hannah Behrendt is the director of health and wellbeing at The Behavioural Insights Team, a research and insights body that advises the government and private sector.

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