Some of us will remember when Dry January was first proposed. But a quick poll of friends and family finds the concept already misty in many minds. Despite an awareness slump, Dry January remains a going concern, though not as big as it once was…
The majority of folks drink within the recommended limits. And the experts
agree, Dry January offers ‘no clear potential’ for them to stop drinking.
The Dry January campaign was started in 2013 by Alcohol Change UK, a charity focused on reducing alcohol harm,” ABC News reminds us. “For the past several years, the initiative has proved popular in the United States and other countries too.”
Awareness slipping
As popular as ABC insists the observance may be, I’ve noted a marked decline in media attention to it since the COVID Crisis tapered off.
More than one confidante I confabbed with over the concept recently offered an: “It seems like a great idea,” Sister Erin summed up the general concensus. “But it’s aimed at changing one’s attitude toward alcohol through introspection. And a month probably isn’t long enough for that to work.”
Good point. And some experts agree…
Recommended consumption
Current official recommendations in most Western jurisdictions for alcohol consumption cite two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women. A standard ‘drink’ contains one ounce / 29.5 ml of 40 percent-by-volume beverage alcohol. That’s one shot of spirits, one 5 oz. / 150 ml glass of wine, or one 12 oz. / 355 ml serving of beer.
“Many people are in denial about their drinking and hazardous drinking, and if they try to stop and are not able to, it really points out to them their weakness,” opined Dr. Fulton Crews, Director of the Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina. “If they can’t stop for a month, they [should] realize that they have a problem.
“Either that, or they do it,” Crews added. “And they realize it’s not that hard for them.”
My take
Dr. Crews said he is, “not sure there would be any observable benefits,” for the majority, who drink within the recommended limits. And, “I don’t see any clear potential for a moderate drinking person to stop drinking,” as a result of taking part in Dry January, he concluded.
I’m inclined to agree. It’s struck me more than once that some folks I know, who push the limits of the ‘moderate drinker’ definition, would take the idea of stopping drinking for a month as a dare – dare I say, ‘bar bet’ ? – rather than viewing it as a real challenge to examine their drinking habits.
Nevertheless…
A 2020 study found that, of those polled who said they took the Dry January pledge in 2019, 70 per-cent actually completed the challenge successfully.
And a 2015 study conducted in the UK found that people who participated in Dry January still, “drank less often, had fewer drinks when they did drink, and were drunk less often six months after Dry January was completed,” ABC reports. And 8 percent reported they were still dry six months later, according to Public Health England and the British Medical Journal.
But those results don’t change my mind that there’s been a general decline in public awareness of Dry January over the past half-decade or so. And I have to wonder where the ‘success rates’ might stand if more folks started the year with the program higher on their priority lists…
~ Maggie J.