Page 31 - BBC - The Scientific Guide to a Healthier You

DIET

D oing a ‘Dry January’ has become

increasingly popular over the last
few years and I’ve known quite a
few people who have done it. Dry January is an
IS DRY called Alcohol Concern. Alcohol Concern’s
idea being driven, among others, by a charity

website states that the reasons for doing a Dry
January include: “enabling you to take control
of your relationship with alcohol” and “driving
JANUARY it, what does it do and how can we reduce the
a conversation about alcohol: why do we drink

harm it can cause?”
It says that the potential benefits include
better sleep, improved skin, weight loss,
WORTH end” and saving money (according to Alcohol
having “an amazing sense of achievement at the

Concern the average person spends £50,000 on
booze in their lifetime).
This all sounds terrific. So when
IT? ahead of the game and giving ‘Dry November’
BBC Science Focus asked me if I fancied getting

a go, I thought, “why not?”. I enjoy a bit of self-
experimenting and one of the advantages of doing
it in November is that there are only 30 days in that
month, so that’s one less day of total abstinence.
After an alcohol-infused festive season,
I’m not, and have never been, a heavy drinker.
many people try to stay off the booze Even at medical school, where there was a
culture of heavy drinking among certain groups,
throughout January. But can you really PHOTOGRAPHY: NICK BALLON WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO THE HEREFORD ARMS KENSINGTON LONDON I hardly ever drank more than two or three

UGG CP[ JGCNVJ DGPGƂVU CHVGT LWUV pints in a single session. Once alcohol hits
my brain I have about an hour of uninhibited
a month of sobriety? fun before I go into a slump. Drinking doesn’t

make me good company. Nonetheless I have
words by DR MICHAEL MOSLEY
got into the habit of drinking most evenings,
mainly red wine, so I thought it would be an
interesting challenge.
I started by logging everything I drank for
a couple of weeks in the lead up to November,

and it worked out at around 20 units a week. 5

BBC SCIENCE FOCUS MAGAZINE COLLECTION 31