Are you thinking of trying Dry January?
Here's one good reason: It could do wonders for your sleep.
Drinking alcohol is linked to negative health outcomes, prompting U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy on Friday to issue an advisory that alcohol labels should now carry a cancer risk warning.
Reducing your intake, even for a month, may have benefits for your health.
In studies over the years, researchers have surveyed people who did Dry January and other sobriety challenges to find out how a month of abstaining from alcohol affected their health. They have found that better sleep is consistently one of the most common benefits that people experience. Saving money is the other top benefit that people report - which might also help you sleep more easily at night.
For many regular drinkers who try Dry January, the improvements in sleep often come as a surprise. That's because alcohol is a sedative, which means that it can help you fall asleep faster at night. Having alcohol in your system can also cause you to experience more deep sleep during the first part of the night.
But alcohol is a double-edged sword for the following reasons:
-- As your body metabolizes alcohol, you'll experience more light sleep, which will cause you to have more arousals and awakenings throughout the night.
-- Alcohol relaxes muscles, including the muscles in your throat that keep your airway open. Drinking makes your airway more likely to collapse while you're asleep, leading to snoring and disrupted breathing. This is especially the case if you have obstructive sleep apnea or another sleep disorder. Even moderate drinking can worsen your symptoms.
ALCOHOL CAN LEAD TO WORSENED SLEEP QUALITY
It's not just evening-drinking that can ruin your sleep. Studies show that consuming alcohol early in the day can also increase your likelihood of experiencing insomnia at night.
In one large study published in March, researchers analyzed data on the relationship between alcohol consumption and sleep habits in 383,000 adults. They found that even low levels of alcohol consumption were associated with poorer sleep quality, including a higher likelihood of snoring, staying up late and difficulty getting up in the morning.
The end result of having alcohol in your system when you fall asleep is that you're going to experience more fragmented sleep and worsened sleep quality, said Michelle Drerup, the director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center.
"Alcohol changes our sleep architecture, and it disrupts the way we go through the normal phases of sleep," she added. "People will say, 'Oh I slept really hard for three hours but then I kept waking up and I couldn't get back to sleep throughout the rest of the night.'"
HOW DRY JANUARY CAN IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH
A number of studies have examined how sobriety challenges impacted people's health, finances and well-being.
In one large analysis published in the journal Psychology & Health, researchers recruited 4,232 adults and studied them before and after they took part in Dry January. They found that all the participants had increases in their well-being, and that those who successfully completed the challenge had the largest improvements.
A majority of the participants reported that they experienced better sleep during Dry January and that they had more energy and saved money. Almost 40 percent of the participants said they lost weight.
Another study looked at 1,330 adults who took part in an annual month-long sobriety challenge called "febfast." It found that 52 percent of people reported saving money, roughly 41 percent said their sleep improved, and 38 percent said they lost weight.
Cutting back or taking a break from alcohol can have other indirect effects on sleep as well. If you wake up feeling more energized, you'll have more motivation to exercise, eat better, and engage in healthy behaviors that promote better sleep, Drerup said.
"It's kind of a cyclical effect," she added.
A SEMI-DRY 'DAMP JANUARY' HAS BENEFITS, TOO
Studies have found that even if you can't do an entire month of abstinence, just reducing the number of drinks you have each week can lead to sleep and health improvements. There is even a semi-dry annual event called "Damp January" for people who want the health benefits of cutting back on alcohol without giving it up.
That is what Julie Ciardi, 50, an entrepreneur in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., discovered firsthand. She had been curious about doing a sobriety challenge but decided she did not want to give up alcohol. So she cut back from having a glass of wine every night to having one glass of wine on Fridays and two glasses on Saturdays. She used a mindful drinking app called Sunnyside to help her track her alcohol intake and to motivate her to stick to her limit.
Before she cut back, Ciardi had nightly sleep problems. She would wake up at 2 a.m. feeling anxious, her heart racing, and she'd have trouble falling back asleep.
But now she finds that she sleeps peacefully on the nights when she hasn't been drinking. She wears an Oura ring, a health and sleep-tracking device, which shows that she gets more deep sleep when she's sober. She also wakes up feeling more energized and alert. The benefits have been so great that she's now considering slashing her alcohol intake further.
"I'm a pretty healthy person," she said. "I exercise every day and try to eat right. But I had my head in the sand about alcohol and its effects on my sleep and my health."
6 TIPS TO HELP YOU START DRY JANUARY
1. Think about why you drink and what activity you're going to replace it with. Some people drink because they find it helps them relax. If that's the case, consider replacing alcohol with other activities that will provide stress relief, like exercise, meditation, going for a walk or calling friends. "It will vary from person to person, but you have to figure out what it is that will help you calm down without reaching for the alcohol," said Dawn Sugarman, a research psychologist in the Division of Alcohol, Drugs, and Addiction at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts.
2. Use an alcohol reduction app such as Sunnyside or Reframe. Whether you're doing Dry January or Damp January, these apps can help you customize your plan, send you daily reminders and track your alcohol intake.
3. Come up with a plan for social situations. If you're used to drinking with friends and acquaintances, think about what you're going to say if they ask why you're suddenly not drinking. "Dry January has become so popular that you can say, 'Oh I'm not drinking this month,' and people will usually accept that," Sugarman said.
4. Do it with a friend. Sign up for Dry January on the Alcohol Change UK website and download the free Try Dry app on your smartphone. In studies, researchers found that people were more likely to succeed at Dry January if they had social support or tracked their progress through the app.
5. Find alternatives to alcohol. There are now a wide variety of nonalcoholic wines, beers and spirits that you can use as substitutes for alcoholic beverages. Many bars and restaurants serve them, and they can be especially helpful if you feel pressure to drink in social settings.
6. Get extra help if needed. People who are heavily dependent on alcohol should consult a doctor before taking part in a sobriety challenge because severe alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous, Sugarman said. Some signs of withdrawal might include nausea, irritability and shaking.