The festive season is full of joy, presents, food, and for most, a whole lot of booze. But now the new year is here, and the famous dry January is in full swing, you might be wondering how on earth you are going to resist having a drink for a whole month, or more. We know that having a little tipple can be super fun, especially when you get to see your boss let loose at the Christmas party. But giving up alcohol doesn’t mean the party has to stop. There are many great benefits of sobriety, from saving money to increasing your health. So, if you’re determined to give it a go, we’re here to help you with how to survive dry January, and how to go sober for a month (or two!).
How To Get Started
The first step to going sober is to get rid of everything and anything filled with booze. If you know you have good self-control, you can keep bottles that you know won’t tempt you and throw away the rest. If you don’t have the heart to just throw them away, you can store bottles at the very back of your cupboards or even in your loft.
Make a plan on what you will do in situations that may usually involve alcohol. Whether that’s choosing to drink an alcohol alternative or even just saying no, once you decide what you will do, you can create the mindset of staying sober for when the time comes, and someone offers you a drink.
Try Alcohol Alternatives
Think of other drinks you will enjoy instead of alcohol. There are some fantastic alternatives out there for popular favourites. From Gordons 0% gin or even 0% alcohol beer. If a cocktail is more your vibe there are some delicious mocktail recipes, you can try out at home that are just as good as the real deal! Some of the classics are easily made into mocktails. Try a virgin Bloody Mary, it’s the exact same just miss out the vodka, or a virgin Pina Colada, coconut cream, and pineapple juice, just forget the rum.
There are also some tasty soft drinks out there for you to enjoy! Have you tried the Trip CBD drinks yet? These are not only completely delicious but also help to encourage you to keep calm and reduce your stress levels, with the ingredient of CBD (cannabidiol) the non-psychoactive compound that you find in hemp plants, your endocannabinoid system in your body, becomes more balanced allowing your stress levels to decrease and lower your anxiety. Don’t forget about the traditional softies such as Lemonade and Coca-Cola.
How To Go Clubbing Sober
If you are a night owl who loves to party, you might think that ditching the drink means staying at home and not going out. You couldn’t be further from the truth. Clubbing can still be super fun when you’re not drinking.
If you have a group of friends you tend to go out with, see if they are also doing dry January. It can be easier if there are a few people going sober too. Stick with a group that aren’t drinking so you don’t feel like an odd one out. However, if you are the only one don’t let that put you off. Everyone around you will be drinking, dancing, and not paying attention to what you’re doing. So, it’s highly unlikely people will even notice you’re not drinking alcohol. There will always be an alternative for you to drink, so you can still have fun, with the added bonus of not having a hangover the next day!
Not only is clubbing sober much healthier for you, it’s cheaper too. Alcoholic drinks are far more expensive than soft drinks, plus if you want to you can drive home, saving on that extortionate taxi fare.
What to do instead of drinking
Another way to help you quit drinking is to fill in the gaps and keeping busy when you would most often be drinking. If that means signing up to the gym so instead of heading home and cracking open a beer, you can hit the gym. Whether that’s straight after work, or early in the morning so you have something to wake up for.
You can also meet up with friends in the morning instead of the evening. If you are used to heading out in the evening for a drink with your friends, bring that meeting closer and go for brunch or even breakfast, so you can switch up a cocktail for a coffee.
Heading out for a walk and getting more fresh air will help you take your mind off craving a drink. Especially if you go for an evening walk, instead of sitting in the garden having a drink you can explore your local areas while getting a bit of exercise!
The health benefits of staying sober
Knowing how to give up alcohol can lead to so many health benefits. The first huge benefit you will see when you stop drinking, and probably the most obvious one is that you won’t get hangovers anymore. The sickness and headaches associated with drinking will be a thing of the past. You may find after a heavy drinking session you get an overwhelming sense of anxiety, but by dropping the drink you will wake up feeling, refreshed and not so fragile.
If you are heavily drinking on a regular basis, the chemicals in your brain that are very important for your mental health can be interfered with. Even though you might feel relaxed after one drink, alcohol does contribute to feelings of anxiety or depression. If coming home from a tough day at work is met by having a glass of wine, or beer to help unwind and relax, you may want to look at alternatives you can try to help you relax. Our Innermost Relax Capsules contain active ingredients that help to reduce your stress and anxiety as well as improve your quality of sleep. There are also some fantastic apps you can download that you can help you to relax and unwind from your potentially stressful day.
By cutting out alcohol you can also improve your energy levels and help with getting better sleep, you should find it easier to wake up in the morning and reduce how sluggish you may feel during the day. Drinking alcohol disrupts the REM stage of sleep (rapid eye movement) which is important to have a quality level of sleep. Disrupting this with alcohol will leave you tired the next day, no matter how much time you were in bed for!
There are further longer-term benefits to not drinking. By cutting out your consumption, you reduce your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and higher blood pressure as well as liver disease and gut health problems.
Sober October
Now you know how to do dry January, this can help you further along the line. If you find it easier to quit drinking when there’s a lot of media and other people getting involved, then you can keep your eye out for Sober October. Another month of quitting the drink and staying sober. But if you don’t want to wait that long then there are some great support services that can help you seek support in your drinking.
Don’t forget to keep up the good work and fill in the gaps of when you would usually drink. There are plenty of activities you can do without involving alcohol. For example, joining the gym can help to break a routine of heading home and having a drink, or giving you something to get up for in the morning so you’re not tempted to drink the night before. So now, you know how to go sober, how long will you go for?
