PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Many people will participate in Dry January, where they ditch alcohol for the month.
Let's face it, many of us have been toasting and putting back a few drinks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, a behavior that definitely can have an effect on the human body.
“It can really stress your liver,” KYW Newsradio medical editor Dr. Brian McDonough said. “By getting the alcohol out of the diet for that period of time, it can really help you out.”
Dry January started as an initiative in the United Kingdom in 2012 and has grown in popularity here in the U.S. ever since.
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Dr. McDonough said the health benefits of the one-month reset are evident, so going the month alcohol-free is worth a shot, especially since many people have been drinking more than normal dating back to the beginning of the pandemic to kind of “get through it all.”
“The start of the year, combined with the fact that people probably have not really been sacrificing for a while, it's a perfect time to do this. But from a health standpoint, it's really important,” he said.
“I think this year more than most, dry January is a great idea because it can help to more or less change your expectations and let you know you don't need this. You might just be drinking out of habit.”
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He said that habit can also show up on your waist line, since alcohol packs on unwanted empty calories.
Dr. McDonough also says that it’s okay if you break your streak, but go back to it. Either way, you’ll have consumed less alcohol for the month, and your liver will thank you.
“If you only make it 12 days in January before you have a glass of wine, but then you go another 14 days in January without a glass of wine, essentially you've had two glasses of wine," he said. "In 26 days, big picture, your body doesn't know about the resolution.”