VERIFY: Yes, participating in Dry January does help most people drink less during the year

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With the start of the new year around the corner, many people may be considering making resolutions. For some, that means cutting out alcohol. With the Dry January challenge, people avoid drinking alcohol for the entire month of January. But when it’s over, are people grabbing the bottle because they haven’t had any alcohol for a month? Or does Dry January really help curb alcohol cravings?

Does participating in Dry January actually help the majority of people drink less during the year? 

Yes, participating in Dry January does help most people drink less during the year. 

According to the National Library of Medicine, the Dry January challenge started in the U.K. about 10 years ago. It’s aimed at people who want more control over their alcohol consumption. 

“Those positive feelings, sleep and the rest and the weight loss, all of it makes people feel like, hey, I don’t feel like going back to this,” Kohli said. 

So does a month of not drinking help people lower their consumption overall? According to a study by the University of Sussex, it does. Eight hundred people took part in the Dry January study in 2018. The results showed that come August, participants were still drinking less. On average, drinking days fell from four days per week to three. 

“What dry January does is it doesn’t make you sober for the rest of your life it makes it, so you understand control, you know your triggers, and you understand how good you feel when you are not drinking a lot,” Kohli said. 

Kohli told WCNC Charlotte, on average, people will lose about 4-and-a-half pounds in a month if they don’t touch alcohol and add to that the fact that people are generally getting more sleep, saving money, and feeling less anxious says all that helps make people want to keep going.

“It gives you back that control so that you are not a victim of what you are drinking, but you’re in control and get to decide how much you drink,” Kohli said. 

Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.