Reading before you start: does Dry January actually work?

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: everything about Dry January.

After all those liters of wine, champagne, and beer during the holidays, an alcohol-free January – also known as ‘Dry January’ – doesn't sound so crazy after all. But what does it really yield?

Well, quite a lot, experts tell us in The Wall Street Journal. According to Richard de Visser, a professor of psychology at the University of Sussex, after an alcohol-free month, you are less likely to reach for the bottle again.

Moderation
De Visser studied 857 people who participated in Dry January. A small group experienced a rebound effect and drank more after the experiment than before. Overall, participants drank less in the six months following their alcohol-free January than they did before, and they also got drunk less often. This applies to both the people who managed to stick it out for the entire month (two-thirds of the group) and those who stopped earlier. However, the ones who persisted saw more results.

Good for the waistline
Not only that: other studies show that your liver functions and blood pressure are significantly better after an alcohol-free month. On average, participants lost one to two kilograms, felt less tired, slept better, and improved their concentration.

Tips
By the way, you don't have to be afraid of drinking only sparkling water for a whole month; there are plenty of delicious alcohol-free options: kombucha for example, or homemade iced tea, or how about almdudler? Prefer non-alcoholic wine? These are the favorite alcohol-free wines of top sommeliers. You can trust them blindly. Cheers!