How you can keep January dry and your health benefits high

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Many of us have put forth an effort to better ourselves or even achieve a goal with a New Year’s resolution this year.

Some of us may have already even given up on that resolution, but one trend that has caught on over the past few years has been dry January, an effort to abstain from alcohol consumption for at least a month.

And if you are able to complete that month, you can actually expect to see some very great health benefits.

“One of the benefits that a lot of people see when they stop drinking, especially for that month or longer, is they might lose weight. So as long as they’re not replacing that alcohol with food. So, you know, increasing their calories that way they’re getting rid of some extra calories. So they might first see a little bit of weight come off depending on how much they were consuming,” said Med Center Health’s community wellness director Sarah Widener.

You could potentially also see improvements in things like your blood pressure, your heart rate and even your gut health, because alcohol is technically a poison.

But abstaining from alcohol can also greatly improve your liver function as well. Especially for those who have non-alcohol related fatty liver disease.

“If somebody has fatty liver disease, but it’s not alcohol related, it’s a nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. A lot of times we’ll see some of those markers improve. Because, again, they’re getting rid of those extra calories and those extra calories that alcohol is not converted to fat. But those extra calories we consume behind it are stored as fat,” Widener said.

While completing a goal of abstaining from alcohol for a month might feel good, and is good, it is important to remember that returning to unhealthy habits could reverse any progress that you may have made. So it’s important to remember to keep those healthy habits that you’ve created.

“One month off, and then right back to our old habits is not going to have a whole lot of benefit. Yes, your body is going to thank you for that month. But if you’re not continuing either to just only add back, you know, maybe a few drinks a month or really, watching how much you’re consuming throughout the rest of the year. There’s not a whole lot of benefit,” Widener said.

Abstaining from alcohol has also shown to have an impact when it comes to some cancers. Greatly reducing or abstaining from alcohol completely can decrease your chance of developing stomach cancer or breast cancer.