Do you find the Dry January challenge too difficult? Try Wet January

To start the new year, some indulge “Dry January” (Dry January), a challenge that was born 10 years ago in Great Britain and which consists of not drinking alcohol for the first month of the year. Purposeful? Take back control of your consumption and see the health benefits of stopping. However, despite good resolutions and willpower, some people fail. A beer with an appetizer, a glass of wine in a restaurant… Temptation is everywhere. Some are more attracted to moderation than deprivation, and then some choose the alternative.wet january”, as reported The Washington Post .

Translated as “wet January”, this change involves a significant reduction in alcohol consumption. “The goal is not to encourage people to stop drinking altogether, but to help them control their consumption,” he emphasizes. Washington Post Richard de Visser, psychologist and author of research on benefits dry januarysigned in January 2019 for the University of Sussex, England.

Moderation as the key to success

So the concept is a solution to developing a healthier relationship with alcohol. His guidance is simple: drink only on special occasions and cut down on the number of drinks you normally drink. So, in practice, we allow ourselves to drink alcohol during a wedding or birthday and stop at one drink if we are used to having two or three.

If some see it as a parade of drunkards to counter the alcohol-free operation at the beginning of the year, as mentioned in the newspaper in January 2023. Set free , the fact remains that temporary abstinence has a short-term beneficial effect on health. “Most of us are aware of the dangers of alcohol consumption – seven different forms of cancer, liver disease, mental health problems – but we are less aware that reducing consumption has immediate positive results,” recalls psychologist Richard de Visser. Washington Post.

In a previous article, Michael Naasilla, president of the French Society of Alcoholology, told us that abstinence or reduction in alcohol consumption leads to an overall improvement in quality of life. It particularly mentioned “beneficial effect on blood pressure and sexual function”. Not forgetting the resulting weight loss, given the high calorie content of alcoholic beverages, “seven per gram,” Michael Naasila noted.

Recall that according to the Public Health Agency and the National Cancer Institute, it is recommended not to exceed two glasses of alcohol per day for women and men, and up to ten glasses of alcohol per week. However, the figures on the consumption of alcohol by French citizens are alarming. According to Santé Publique France, France is among the most consuming countries in the world and ranks sixth among the 34 OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Each year, 41,000 deaths are attributed to alcohol, including 30,000 for men and 11,000 for women. Alcohol is also the second leading cause of cancer in France.