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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. And now we'll end the show by checking in on those of you participating in dry January. For those of you who don't know, that's the 31-day sobriety challenge to mark the new year. We want to know from those of you who've done it before, was it worth it in the long run?

Did it change anything for you in the long run? What did it do for your relationship with alcohol in general, if anything? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. You can also text that number if you are participating in dry January this year or have in the past. We read that up to 35% of US drinkers overall participate in dry January.

That's according to past surveys published by Morning Consult Pro. A central question here for those of you who have participated in dry January before is to share what you have gained from taking a month off from drinking and whether it made lasting changes for your relationship with alcohol.

212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. Do you even intend it to be that, or maybe this is largely for people who maybe have just had a lot to drink during the holiday period and now want to dry out for a while before going back to whatever your more moderate routine might be?

For some people, it is clearly a kind of New Year's resolution-related thing to get a better grip on your alcohol use in general. Has it been like that for anybody listening right now, and what can other people listening right now who may be going down the Dryanuary, as it's also known, or dry January, road for the first time learn from your experience?

212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. We saw one study by French researchers published in 2022 in the Harm Reduction Journal that found that successful participants were more likely to durably change their alcohol drinking habits. That is, if they stayed dry for all of January, then something durably changed. Has dry January changed your overall drinking habits throughout the year, and how? 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692.

A little history on this. It began as a campaign created and led by Alcohol Change UK more than a decade ago. It's really taken off in the US post-COVID, or let's say just in the last few years during and now post, what we consider the height of the pandemic, although there's plenty of COVID around right now. Early research is finding that there are some tangible health benefits to taking one month off from alcohol.

They include weight loss, lower blood sugar, better sleep, according to the University of California Davis Health Department. For those of you who've done it before, did you see any measurable health benefits, mental health benefits included? There you go. Quitting alcohol can make you feel worse in the short term.

We have also read in The New York Times, they said that's in part because alcohol decreases levels of stress hormones, making you feel calm as you imbibe, but after you've stopped, the hormones rebound and spike to higher levels than before. That's one of the reasons that kicking the habit if it is a destructive habit for you is difficult. Call in and talk about your past dry January experiences, whether it changed anything for you fundamentally with alcohol, and what listeners interested in dry January for the first time this year might learn from your experience. 212-433-WNYC. We'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your dry January experiences from past years and what others trying it for the first time this year might learn from you. Denise in Putnam Valley, you're on WNYC. Hi, Denise.

Denise: Hi. Thanks for taking my call.

Brian Lehrer: Sure. You got a story?

Denise: Yes. I did dry January last year for the first time, and I carried it over into February, and then started like a beer here and there. Beer is my beverage of choice. I had the habit of like two beers an evening. Now it did make a big effect on me. I have gone to one beer, maybe not, throughout the year. Doing it again.

Brian Lehrer: I guess you considered the amount of beer you were having originally a problem.

Denise: I'm in my 60s, and I'm slight and small, and even though I enjoyed it, I knew the habit needed to be curbed.

Brian Lehrer: Denise, thank you very much. Jeffrey in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jeffrey.

Jeffrey: Hi, Brian. Longtime listener and a huge fan. First-time caller.

Brian Lehrer: Glad you're on.

Jeffrey: I was calling to say that I often reassess my drinking habits, and I do a dry January every year. I did a dry October this year. So much of my life revolves around drinking, so it's just a nice time to stop and reflect. When I got back into drinking, I got drunker a lot quicker. It really did help reset all that for me.

Brian Lehrer: When you say life, some of it revolves around drinking, at what point does that become a problem for you or has it become a problem for you? Did it?

Jeffrey: I would notice that hangovers really kept me from other things I needed to be doing in my life. Just working and being alone at home and being hung over, it would just really inhibit your ability to get up and get on with your day and take on what you needed to get done.

Brian Lehrer: Jeffrey, thank you. Thank you for chiming in. We're not even going to get into in this segment the fact that the latest research, and there was a big report last year, is that no amount of alcohol is actually good for you. That old red wine, a glass and a half a day because of the resveratrol, I think the substance is called, is actually good for your heart, that's all been debunked. Now they say no amount of alcohol is good, but this is more a conversation for people who've, by whatever standard, been having too much to drink and used dry January as a launching point for changing that. Lauren, in Washington Heights, you're on WNYC. Hi, Lauren.

Lauren: Hi, Brian. Happy New Year. I'm a healthcare provider. Going into January 2020, we were already starting to really feel the stress. I, like a lot of people, was a wine at night kind of drinker, but then going into the stress of 2020, I found the alcohol was really starting to escalate, and it made me feel uncomfortable.

I did my first dry January, and then it wasn't that hard, and I felt kind of better, so I just let it go into February, into March, and to make a long story short, I never picked it up again. The health benefits have been wonderful. I've lost probably 30 pounds, and I found that it's easier for me to manage that same stress that I thought I was using alcohol for.

As a healthcare provider, I would encourage anybody to think about it through that lens that even though it may be a social activity, it's actually probably impairing your ability to manage stress and other things.

Brian Lehrer: You found that the structure of dry January, the fact that that was a thing that you could latch onto that month in 2020, was useful for you to start down that road.

Lauren: Yes, because it reminded me, it helped me to reassess and also, it gives social permission because so much of our social lives, there's alcohol involved, but it's easy to say, oh, I'm not drinking this January. Then people just forget that you're not drinking anymore. Also, now there's many non-alcoholic options. It's just give that permission and also that dedicated time where people expect you to reassess alcohol that I think really helped me.

Brian Lehrer: Lauren, thank you very much for your call. Anne in Lynbrook, you're on WNYC. Hi, Anne.

Anne: Oh, actually, my name is Maureen. Happy New Year, Brian. I got cut off saying my name.

Brian Lehrer: Sorry about that.

Anne: My husband and I are doing our first dry January in support of our son, who's starting to live a sober life.

Brian Lehrer: I think I'm hearing that this is emotional for you. I get it. You are doing dry January to support your son, who's the one who's really doing dry January for his benefit. Here we are on just the 3rd of the month. Is it something you've been talking about with him and starting to manage together? How's that going?

Anne: We haven't really spoken to him about it. He's not with us at the moment, but it's something that we will discuss.

Brian Lehrer: Maureen, good luck to you and your son. Ara, on Staten Island, you're on WNYC. Hi, there.

Ara: Hi, Brian. Big fan. Thanks for taking the call. I'm really enjoying this conversation, and I wanted to add a couple of comments. I started my first dry January in 2021 after the month of December when so many of us were affected in the pandemic. I really had a great experience with it. I did dry January, dry June, and dry September. Now I've given up on dry January because I feel like it just doesn't work in my life. I find that the dry months in June and September bookends my summer really well.

I wanted to throw that out there to some of your listeners and also offer that sometimes the dry month creates boundaries that are so hard for us. Don't start on the first if it doesn't work for you. If you've got some social plans the first weekend, and you want to start on the 4th and end on February 3rd. Pick a day that works for you. Take two days off in the middle if you have to because you've got something that's important to you. Having a glass of wine isn't going to ruin it, but it's in keeping with the whole lifestyle change. I just wanted to throw out that those have been really successful strategies for me, and I'm looking forward to the next dry June.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, it sounds like it's your own personal harm reduction approach. That is, the old way of thinking is if somebody has an alcohol problem, you have to abstain permanently no more alcohol ever. The harm reduction model says for any substance abuse disorder, cut down. Let's find a way for this to be manageable for you. For some people, that's going to be zero. For some people, that's going to be more than zero, but not a destructive amount.

I think that's what I hear you saying. If January 1st to January 31st sounds like too much of a leap to start out, then maybe start on the 5th and have two days off in the middle. Something that makes it doable for you. Yes?

Ara: That's the idea, correct. Because the boundaries are scary. Cutting out boundaries and anything that would prevent a person from taking this leap, I think, is the whole reason for the conversation. I really applaud you for giving people an entrée into this idea.

Brian Lehrer: Ara, thank you very, very much. We heard from Maureen in Lynbrook, who we wish a lot of good luck in being a supportive dry January person on behalf of her son. I think we're going to have the equal and opposite from Laurie in Westchester to close this out. Hi, Laurie. You're on WNYC. We've got about 20 seconds left in the segment for you.

Laurie: Sounds good. I'm starting my very first dry January with the support and encouragement of my two sons who are in college who have made the conscious decision to not drink at all. They do not drink in college. They have encouraged me to start on this dry January journey with the possibility of continuing in February. The research is compelling. I'm in.

Brian Lehrer: You're in. Boy, how unusual, or let's say, again, stereotype that people in college are the ones not drinking and encouraging you along. Laurie, thank you very much for your call. Thanks to all of you who called to help. This was a useful call-in that will help some other people considering dry January for the benefit of your own life. That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today, produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our daily politics podcast. We had Juliana Fonda at the audio controls. I'm Brian Lehrer. Stay tuned for All of It.

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