Dry, Damp, or Back to Normal Drinking?
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With Dry January receding in the rearview mirror, you may be wondering exactly what to do next—keep the dry spell going, cut back from your normal intake, or return to drinking as usual, starting with that glass of wine you reflexively pour when you get home from work. Here’s something new to factor into your decision: a slew of recent studies showing that even light to moderate drinking is worse for our cognitive and physical health than previously thought. A study from the University of Pennsylvania using data from 36,000 people showed that just one drink a day was associated with reduced brain volume, and in 50-year-olds, increasing from two to three drinks a day was the equivalent of three and a half years of brain aging. “Minimizing alcohol as much as possible is going to provide the most benefit for people,” says Brooke Scheller, a doctor of clinical nutrition and author of How to Eat to Change How You Drink.
More sobering news: The amount you drink may also be linked to the levels of nutrients your body absorbs from food. “The effects of alcohol on nutrient deficiencies is well-studied,” says Scheller. “Alcohol has an effect on levels of B vitamins, including folate and B12, which are critical for mood and energy. It’s a vicious cycle—we drink because we're feeling anxious or depressed, but it’s depleting many of the nutrients that are really important for mood.” She adds that vitamin D, magnesium, and zinc deficiencies are also associated with depression and mood imbalances, and these levels are also impacted by regular alcohol consumption.
Read on for more ways alcohol impacts your health, and advice on how to recalibrate.
First, reflect on your January
After finishing Dry January, write about the experience. “Before people race back into drinking, it’s important to stop and reflect on what you’ve learned,’ says Scheller. “It’s very easy to just say, ‘Okay, I did it. February’s here; I’m going back to my old habits.’” Jot down how it felt, both physically and mentally: what was hard or easy; and what was going on when you struggled or slipped.
If it was manageable, think about pausing for a little longer. Sarah Hartz, MD, PhD, a physician scientist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, studies the health impact of alcohol and other drugs on the body. She points out that by ditching the booze for a month, you’ve “broken a habit, and you should be able to start noticing the impact of breaking that habit on your body.” Maybe you slept better or lost a few pounds. Perhaps you had fewer headaches and more energy. One British study showed that people who took part in Dry January showed improved blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as a 40 percent reduction in liver fat.
Consider staying dry
Per the newest research, this is by far the healthiest choice. You don’t need to worry about missing out on heart health benefits from that weekend glass or two of red wine: The latest research suggests that the negative health effects of alcohol negate any minor benefits (and you can get some of the benefits of red wine from red grape juice instead). Hartz was the first author on a large study that concluded that even light drinkers were 20 percent more likely to die prematurely than non-drinkers. In the study, light drinking was defined as one to two drinks, four or more times a week—which aligns with the CDC’s current guidelines of one drink or less a day for women (two or less for men).
“We used to think that having a few glasses of wine a week was good for us, but we can fairly definitively say it’s not now,” explains Hartz. “We still don’t know just how bad it is for us, but we certainly shouldn’t be drinking them under the assumption that it’s good for us.”
If you’ve committed to sticking it out but still get an after-work hankering, Scheller recommends looking at your diet. “People often struggle during the witching hour,” she explains. “But oftentimes, they’re simply hungry. They have low blood sugar because they haven’t eaten since lunchtime, or they had a high-carb snack in the afternoon. Alcohol cravings are often linked to low blood sugar, so stabilizing these levels is key.” Her advice? Increase the amount of protein you consume throughout the day, with a particular emphasis on a high-protein midafternoon snack. Remind yourself that cravings mostly disappear after 20 minutes.
Stay damp, but be smart about it
If the thought of long-term sobriety is overwhelming, you can see big improvements in your health just by drinking less. Studies have shown that cutting back can reduce blood pressure and lead to better cardiovascular functioning. In one notable study, reducing alcohol consumption by 30 percent was associated with 44 percent fewer sick days over a two-year period.
“I would focus on a ‘less is more approach,’ rather than having an absolute cutoff,” says Hartz. “It’s important that when we choose to do things that are risky, we do so deliberately and not inadvertently. We choose to do things that we know are not good for us, but we do them anyway. There’s often pleasure associated with these things, and pleasure is good for our health. ”
So that leaves us with more intentional drinking, or knowing exactly how your intake affects your health:
One to two drinks a week: According to Scheller, this is the sweet spot if you don’t want to quit entirely. “At two drinks a week, alcohol is generally insignificant in someone's life, and that’s really the goal,” she says. For context, Canada’s 2023 government guidelines state that adverse health outcomes are associated with drinking more than two drinks a week, while (sorry) the WHO’s 2023 guidelines say there is no level of safe alcohol at all (in their words, “risks start from the first drop”). Their latest guidelines include data suggesting that half of Europe’s alcohol-attributable cancers are caused by light or moderate drinking, and a reminder that alcohol is classed as a Group One carcinogen (the same level of cancer-causing toxin as asbestos, tobacco, and radiation). Most soberingly of all, they state that the ethanol in alcohol “causes cancer through biological mechanisms as the compound breaks down in the body, which means that any beverage containing alcohol, regardless of its price and quality, poses a risk of developing cancer.”
Three to six drinks a week: At this level, your risk of several cancers, including breast and colon, increases. Try and spread these drinks out over the week, and avoid having more than one drink a day, if you can. (Remember: The CDC’s one-drink-a-day rule is just that. It’s not meant to be averaged over the course of a week.)
More than seven drinks a week: This might not sound excessive, particularly as it could fit into the CDC’s one-a-day guidelines. But at this level, your risk of heart disease and stroke increases, and continues to increase with each drink you have. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism labels drinking more than four drinks on one occasion—or eight over the course of the week—as “heavy drinking,” and notes that drinking at this level increases your odds of developing liver disease and alcohol use disorder (as well as experiencing car crashes, medication interactions, and other dangerous outcomes). Long-term drinking at this level also puts you more at risk of developing memory problems, depression, and dementia, according to the CDC.
To keep track of what you’re drinking, try an alcohol-reduction app like Reframe or Sunnyside. Adding more dry days to your week or cutting back on the amount you drink in one sitting are good ways to curb your overall alcohol intake—or consider becoming a special-occasion drinker, like Cheryl Strayed.
If you take anything away from your Dry January, it will, hopefully, be a heightened awareness of your drinking patterns. According to research from the UK’s University of Sussex, 82 percent of those who took part in the month said that participating had caused them to think more deeply about their relationship with alcohol. Eight months later, the majority were still drinking less than before they did it. (Just in time to reset with Sober October!) “Taking part is really an opportunity to notice the kind of negative effects alcohol is having on your body,” says Hartz. “Then you can be a little bit more selective when you do decide to drink.”
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