When the New Year rolls around this weekend, a phenomenon that's been gaining in popularity will take hold for many people who drink alcohol: dry January.
University of Minnesota Addiction Psychiatrist Dr. Sheila Specker says dry January was started years ago in England by a woman who wanted to improve her running. She says these days people abstain from alcohol for the month to not only improve their health, but also to check in with their drinking habits.
“Taking advantage of that opportunity to see if a person is able to do it, as in kind of challenging themselves,” says Specker. “Do they have a problem? Are they drinking too much? How hard is this, to not drink for a month?”
Another reason to try to keep it dry for a month? Specker says alcohol is a sedative so when it’s relaxing effects wear off, some people experience the opposite reaction and anxiety can take hold, a feeling recently coined in the New York Times as "Hangxiety."
“Alcohol is a sedative, so when it kind of wears off you get just the opposite reaction as what the substance does,” Specker explains. “So if the substance is initially calming, or seemingly calming, then when that wears off anxiety can take hold.”
A recent survey showed nearly 50% of dry January participants wanted to do it because they drank too much during the pandemic.
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