A month without alcohol: what happens to your body

• A month without alcohol lowered blood pressure and weight and improved insulin sensitivity.
• Six months later, Dry January participants drank less often and less per occasion.
• Benefits appeared even in people who did not finish the month.
• Plan how to keep the changes going afterward.

What the research shows

A month of abstinence. In a UK study, 94 moderate to heavy drinkers stopped drinking for a month and were compared with 47 who continued. Those who abstained saw improvements in insulin resistance, blood pressure, weight and levels of cancer-related growth factors (Mehta et al., 2018).

Dry January. In a survey of more than 850 Dry January participants, alcohol use six months later was lower than before the challenge: fewer drinking days, fewer drinks per day and less frequent drunkenness. Even those who did not finish the month reduced their drinking, though less (de Visser et al., 2016).

Cutting back also lowers blood pressure (Roerecke et al., 2017).

How to do a month without alcohol

1. Pick a start date and tell friends and family.
2. Remove alcohol from your home.
3. Plan alternatives for situations where you usually drink.
4. Track how you sleep and feel.
5. At the end, decide how you want to drink going forward.