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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. January is something of a reset month, right? For a growing number of people, it also means dry January, a full 31 days without alcohol. What started as a public health campaign in the UK has taken on a life of its own here, especially as new research continues to challenge old assumptions about alcohol and health. Allie Volpe is a correspondent at Vox, and one of her projects now is a five-part newsletter course very relevant to the conversation we're about to have with her.

Here's how that project is described on Vox.com, "Whether you just want to complete a successful month without drinking or you're hoping to reevaluate your relationship to alcohol altogether, we're here to help. Welcome to Even Better's Guide to Drinking Less. In this five-part newsletter course, I'll bring you expert-approved tips and tricks to guide you through 30 days without alcohol and enjoy it, too. We'll learn about the social and ritualistic aspects of drinking and what to do when you just want a glass of wine to wind down after a long day." If you want to sign up for that, it's Even Better's Guide to Drinking Less. Allie Volpe joins me now. Allie, welcome back to WNYC.

Allie Volpe: Thank you so much for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, if you're making this a dry January for yourself, how's it going? Why did you want to cut back? What do you notice about your body, your mood or your social life, 12 days in? 212-433-WNYC. We can also take some calls from people who work in bars or restaurants with wine and cocktail menus. Do you go about things differently now that dry January appears to be taking off? Is it affecting your business? Is it affecting kinds of interactions people have as maybe they order more mocktails or Club Soda or whatever? 212-433-WNYC, call or text. 212-433-9692. This is not new. We've talked about dry January for a number of Januaries already on the show. Is something really shifting in America's relationship with alcohol as a result?

Allie Volpe: Yes, I think people are starting to really interrogate their relationship with alcohol. It starts with Gen Z. Overall, it seems that Americans seem to be cutting back on their drinking. According to a July 2025 Gallup survey, 54% of American adults said they consume alcohol, which is the lowest share since Gallup started tracking drinking behavior in 1939. We can compare that to the late 1970s, when over 70% of Americans said they consumed alcohol, and it's a pretty big jump.

However, according to recent reporting by Reuters, the volume of drinks hasn't changed much since since, again, the mid-1970s. Americans are on average still consuming 10 to 12 drinks a week. Instead, the drinks market research firm IWSR, who did this research, pointed to financial constraints for a potential downturn in drinking. People simply can't afford booze like they used to. I think there's two things playing here. There is the generational divide. There's been a lot of reporting on younger folks who are not drinking as much.

Then there's the health aspect. People might be taking a closer look at how drinking affects how they feel. You don't want to wake up groggy or with a hangover. Then there's also the financial part of it that like this stuff does cost money when maybe you could drink tea or coffee, and it doesn't cost as much, except if you get a fancy drink, it does cost a lot.

Brian Lehrer: Here's a dry January participator. Stephen in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Thank you for calling in, Stephen. Hi?

Stephen: Oh, hey, great. Thanks for taking my call, Brian. I want to have a vote of it being a very positive experience for me. I've tried it a few years now, and it's overall, it's helped in a lot of different facets of my social life, both with my family. Lots of improving of communication with my spouse and my son. That's all driven by better sleep and just feeling more focused and less foggy, all of those things.

Brian Lehrer: Sounds like it might continue into February for you.

Stephen: Yes, I think that is a challenge, generally, it's a really good way to start what could be more of a longer-term way to deal with some of the issues around consuming, and honestly, sometimes over-consuming. It is a good jumping-off point. I think it can be a challenge to take that next step and choose to be really a sober person. That's a whole other conversation, I think.

Brian Lehrer: Stephen, thank you very much for being that open about your thing. Murgatroyd in Nyack doing dry January for the first time, I see, Murgatroyd. Right? Hi. You're on WNYC.

Murgatroyd: Yes, for the first time, I don't think I've not had a drink more than 2 days in 20 years or something.

Brian Lehrer: How's it going?

Murgatroyd: So far so good. It's been a week.

Brian Lehrer: Why'd you decide this year to do dry January?

Murgatroyd: Because I found my alcohol intake creeping up over the last few years from a couple of glasses of wine to three to six daily. I thought it was time to try a reset and hopefully have a more healthy relationship with alcohol. The month was over. [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Thanks for calling. Maybe saying it out loud helps reinforce it. Allie, Dr. Oz, who's now a public health official in the Trump administration, as we know, suggested that a drink shared socially might have benefits because social connection itself is good for us. How do you think about that statement?

Allie Volpe: Yes, I think it goes back to our personal relationship with alcohol, and that's what experts have told me. I mean, there's, again, research and hundreds of years of history that show that alcohol is perhaps a social lubricant, and it helps us feel more confident or connect with other people better. If you feel that you are relying on that to be in social situations, maybe you take a look at why you're relying on that in the first place, and can interrogate exactly the role that alcohol plays in those social situations.

I think every once in a while if you have a beer to loosen up with coworkers after work, again, I don't think there's that much wrong with that. Yes, there's been some anecdotal reporting about how people are concerned that because young people aren't drinking as much, they are missing out on these social opportunities. Again, it is really, really personal. People's relationship with alcohol, their relationship with interacting with other people, social anxiety, that's certainly on the rise.

I think if you're relying on it as a crutch to interact with other people, again, maybe you take a step back and think about your relationship. Yes, if you're just loosening up a little bit and it's not too problematic, I don't think many people would have an issue with it.

Brian Lehrer: I think we have a caller on this social interactions aspect. Charles in Fort Greene, you're on WNYC. Hi, Charles.

Charles: Hi. Good morning. Yes, I mean, I've been doing dry January, and I think one of the reasons why I wanted to do it, because it felt like so many of my social interactions with my friends just became drinking at different places around the city. I think it's been really positive for me. I think because I'm not drinking, it's actually just opened up more space to engage in deeper conversations with my friends, and then also just like try more things around the city.

I think when I was younger, I played a lot of sports with my friends, but now that we're in our late 30s, we don't do that as much. Going to the bar was easy, but now that we're not doing that, I think it's been really great. I think I've just gotten a lot more out of my social life because I'm more tuned in and present.

Brian Lehrer: Charles, thank you very much. Well said. Do you have tips in your course, Allie? Like if alcohol is standing in for relaxation or connection, in particular, how can people replicate those rituals without drinking?

Allie Volpe: Yes, like Charles mentioned, really taking stock of how you used to connect with people, or maybe that you are using bars as a crutch. What I found really helpful is to think back on the social situations that you enjoy and that you really connect with people. Like, where are you feeling really connected with your friends? What are you doing? How do you feel like you're having fun? Oftentimes, alcohol is a backseat to that. You might be at a bar having a really great conversation with people you love. You can replicate that exact scenario in another place that is not a bar, or even if it is a bar, one that has low ABV or mocktail options.

Oftentimes, it is the form of connection that we're craving and not so much the alcohol. It is very ritualistic. If you are used to getting dinner with your friends and having a bottle of wine, that becomes really entrenched in our routines, and we can remove that. Again, there are tons of non alcoholic options these days. If you do like the taste of it, the feel of it, like of a glass in your hand, you can very easily make that swap. If that's something you're not interested in, again, it's taking the core of what that social interaction is and just moving it into a different environment.

Brian Lehrer: Let me sneak in one more call here on a certain substitution in the modern era that some people may be engaging in. Heather in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Heather.

Heather: Hi, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. Yes, I'm a very lightweight when it comes to THC and cannabis, so I have to be careful, like my dosing. Once I got it down, I cut alcohol out for January. I'm doing California Sober January.

Brian Lehrer: What is what does that mean? California Silver January.

Heather: California sober is-- it can mean, from my understanding, is one of two things. One is you just do weed. That's your only drug. Cannabis gummies, whatever it is. Some people extend that to beer or wine. What I've done is I'm not drinking in the house. I take a gummy at night to go to sleep. On the weekend, if I'm watching movies, I have a little smoke. Then--

Brian Lehrer: I got you. I misheard your word. It's California sober. I guess that involves using Cannabis. We've got 30 seconds. Allie, you've come across this before, I imagine.

Allie Volpe: Oh, definitely. Yes. That's been a rising trend over the last decade or so. Yes, it is a good alternative for people who want to feel a little head rush, a little calm, but don't want to drink.

Brian Lehrer: There are plenty of people who do too much cannabis.

Allie Volpe: Right. I mean, we all have our vices. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: Our vices on voxes in particular, vox.com. Allie Volpe, correspondent at Vox, joining us from book leave, actually. You can still sign up for her five-part newsletter course on vox.com, it's called Even Better's Guide. They have the series, Even Better's Guide to Drinking Less. Allie, thank you so much.

Allie Volpe: Happy to be here. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: That's the Brian Lehrer Show for today. Thanks for listening. Thanks for participating, and stay tuned for All Of It.

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