Dry January has become a thing. It’s a good thing. But I’ve got an idea that works better, at least for me. I keep records.
There’s plenty of research to show that drinking can lead to all manner of harm to your body and mind. It can increase your chance of getting cancer. It can hurt your sleep, which in turn can harm your health in a lot of ways. And, of course, it can provide you the courage to confront Uncle Harry under his MAGA hat at Thanksgiving dinner, something that you may regret (despite the fact that you were right) the next day. In Wisconsin we pretty much lead the nation in drinking and driving, owing to the Northern European stock and the wide selection of rural bars.
And the most recent studies suggest that there is no level of safe drinking. So anything that gets us to cut back, or even just to think about it a little more, is a step in the right direction.
While I’ve never participated in Dry January, I’ve been pursuing another strategy for the last several years. It’s simple. I count my drinks. I just write down the number of drinks I’ve had each day in my calendar. It’s just one of a number of things I keep track of, like how many miles I’ve walked or biked, number of words I’ve written that day, etc.
I set a goal for the year and break that down by month. So, for example, the general recommendation from doctors was to limit drinking for men to no more than two a day (one a day for women), so reducing that to 1.5 per day, to be on the safe side, yielded 540 for the year or 45 per month. Every month I would shoot for 45. If I missed my mark I’d reduce future months’ quotas to get me back on track.
I’ve been lowering that number steadily and this year the goal is an average of one per day, or 366. (It’s a leap year.)
I think this might work better than Dry January for a lot folks for a couple of reasons. One is that it’s just hard for a lot of us to go an entire month without a drink. And when you set a goal and mess it up there’s sometimes a tendency to throw up your hands and just forget about the whole project. That’s why I’ve been reducing my goals steadily, but not dramatically, for years.
The other problem is that it might give you license to drink as much as you want the other 11 months. The sober January will benefit you, but you can actually end up doing more damage if you figure you can make up for it the rest of the year.
The other thing to keep in mind is binge drinking, which is defined as five or more drinks per day for men. It’s actually harder on your body to go seven days without drinking and then to have five in one evening. Better to have the seven one day at a time.
Finally, it makes sense to take the kind of drink into consideration. Spirits are much harder on your body than wine and beer. I limit hard drinks to a third of my overall consumption and, frankly, even that’s probably too much. I’ll work on bringing that percentage well under goal.
Anyway, just an idea I thought I’d share from the YSDA Wellness Desk.
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 
I generally enjoyed the thrust of this one, your method is similar to my own I usually do one day a week with zero drinking and try to limit myself to no more than 2 a day the rest of the week.
I would also note, though, that some of those studies are a bit suspect and there is evidence for some health benefits for moderate drinking. I would also note that many of the same people now down on alcohol are the same ones pushing for legalized marijuana and other drugs (I’m for Legalization btw) and marijuana has almost the exact same negative health effects profile as alcohol yet somehow it is “medicinal”. My point is there seem to be agendas at work lately on the substance front and part of that is shaming alcohol use while promoting other drug use. It smacks of intellectual dishonesty.
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Yeah, I agree. But I think there’s no question that reducing alcohol consumption (without going all-out prohibitionist) is a good thing for personal health and for society. I’m amazed to read about people getting their fifth, sixth, etc., DWI’s in Wisconsin. How many times did they drive drunk and not get caught? I used to think the answer was tougher drunk driving laws and I still think we should get tougher, but I’ve come to see that problem as a much broader public health issue.
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I agree it is an issue and I wish moderation of vices was more common. I just hate it whenever something is demonized and “sound science” gets used as a weapon. It is particularly galling when paired with the push for marijuana legalization and its treatment as a miracle substance by those same people.
Is it too much to ask that people just argue on the merits instead of making up data to suit an agenda?
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I don’t believe marijuana has same negative effects as alcohol, especially in regards to impaired driving and liver disease. But…it would be interesting to see if marijuana impaired driving has any significance in States that have legalized it. There are likely to be unintended consequences of legalizing it either way.
Get ready for MDMA and synthetic psilocybin as well. Recommended reading: Michael Pollan’s “How to change your mind”. Locally, check out Usona Institute.
As for drinking in moderation I’ve realized it doesn’t work for me. I drink about once a year.
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It’s not really a matter of belief. Just go look up what the federal government currently has to say about Marijuana and its side effects. Also, I’m quite certain you eat an edible or smoke a joint and drive down a highway you will be an impaired driver. Marijuana may not do anything to your liver but if you smoke it it certainly affects your lungs and will cause cancer as smoking anything will do. Finally, go look up the air quality issues in areas they grow and dry marijuana on an industrial scale such as Santa Barbara county California.
I agree it’s no worse than alcohol but it certainly is not better and people should admit that. The harms and “danger” just comes in a different form.
As I said I’m for legalization I’m just sick of people claiming Marijuana and other substances are miracles when in fact like alcohol and Tobacco they are vices.
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Also wanted to add the negative health effects of marijuana go way down if taken as an edible.
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Not true, it just shifts them away from the lungs that’s it and the smoking isn’t the only harmful part samhsa.gov/marijuana. This is exactly what I mean, people think it’s some kind of wonder drug and it’s not.
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I enjoyed the thrust of this one and your method is similar to my own. I do one drinkless day a week and then try to limit it to no more than two a day the rest of the week.
I would note that there is evidence of health benefits to moderate alcohol consumption even in the studies that now call it “unsafe”. Additionally, one should be skeptical of those who are now down on alcohol but promoting legalization of marijuana and other drugs. Marijuana has a nearly identical set of negative side effects as alcohol yet it is being promoted as “medicinal”. I’m for legalization but I want people to be more honest about it. It seems intellectually dishonest to promote one and be down on the other. It seems more like an agenda than sound medical science. And often times it is the same people promoting marijuana and other substances while claiming all drinking is “unsafe”.
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This is a well thought out strategy. There is lots of data around “dieting” that suggests the reason people most often fail is because they try for 100% adherence, which inevitably leads to failure, which usually leads to scrapping the whole diet. A better strategy is the one you’ve laid out.
Personally, I don’t drink much anyways, and pay close attention to how much I drink since my family on both sides has a long line of alcoholics (I suppose that makes me a true Wisconsinite?). I usually average about 6 drinks/month, but I recently decided to take a new approach: I will only drink on days where I’m not responsible for any childcare the next day. Luckily, I’m the world’s biggest fan of lemonade, and I’ve happily found that some of the best bars that I enjoy visiting also supply some of the best homemade lemonade you can buy. I’m happy to put back a couple of delicious lemonade and have no hangover.
May we all drink a little less each year. A smart goal.
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Not to be too big of a troll but you can have two beers and not get a hangover or much more than a mild buzz if that. Additionally, lemonade is full of sugar and we all know the negative side effects of too much sugar ingestion. My point is if we are going to start quibbling there are downsides to everything including lemonade, soda, and tap water from unclean water sources. Smoked meats cause cancer and drinking hot liquids supposedly does too. It’s all dumb. Want to reduce drinking and driving? Here is a sensible reform: stop selling cold single serve cans at gas stations.
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And plenty of people have lived to 90 plus years (my own grandparents included) having a drink a day. I don’t think the same could be said of anything you smoke as a method of ingestion.
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You’re hurting the Wisconsin average and reputation.
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