'Dry January' can help stay healthy, save money all year: Study

Taking part in ‘Dry January’ challenge, which involves abstaining from alcohol for the first month of the new year, can help people regain control over their drinking and spending, as well as boost health, a study has found.

Researchers from the University of Sussex in the UK took data from over 800 people who took part in Dry January in 2018.

The results showed that Dry January participants were drinking less in up to August. They reported that frequency of being drunk dropped from 3.4 per month to 2.1 per month on average.

“The simple act of taking a month off alcohol helps people drink less in the long term: by August people are reporting one extra dry day per week,” said Richard de Visser, from the University of Sussex.

“There are also considerable immediate benefits: nine in ten people save money, seven in ten sleep better and three in five lose weight,” he said.

“These changes in alcohol consumption have also been seen in the participants who didn’t manage to stay alcohol-free for the whole month - although they are a bit smaller. This shows that there are real benefits to just trying to complete Dry January,” said de Visser.

The research showed that 88 per cent saved money; 70 per cent had generally improved health; 71 per cent slept better; and 58 per cent lost weight.

De Visser’s findings come from three self-completed online surveys: 2,821 on registering for Dry January; 1,715 in the first week of February; and 816 participants in August.