In 2023, 230 million people committed to Dry January, a popular annual resolution that began in 2011. People instinctively recognize the harmful effects of alcohol via headaches, sleep disturbances, nausea, and poor decision-making. The American Cancer Society recommends consuming no alcohol for the best chances of prevention. But we’re not really listening.
Trends such as Dry January and Sober October falsely assure us that we don’t drink too much. But the body keeps the score, and alcohol-related deaths continue to rise year after year. Domestic violence incidents are drenched in it, and such intimate partner violence is the leading cause of death for pregnant women in the United States.
What would happen if the millions who launched 2024 with healthy intentions kept it up past Jan. 31? There are over 140,000 deaths from alcohol in the U.S. each year, and more than 10,500 people die from drunk driving incidents. Hundreds of thousands suffer from chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and liver disease — all significantly exacerbated by alcohol.
Were people to curb their drinking entirely, millions of lives would be saved. Cigarettes, once publicly praised and accepted, are key in this discussion. When the dangers of smoking came out, cigarettes were quickly demonized and far less popular, leading to a decrease in people dying from lung cancer.
Big Alcohol is the new Big Tobacco. Dry January is the new Tobacco Free Initiative.
The answer is not to outlaw alcohol. It’s to educate people on what it’s actually doing to their bodies — and to enlighten the public on how alcohol destroys families and communities a little bit at a time. There are over 24,000 Al-Anon (support for family members of alcoholics) groups worldwide. Your drinking problem doesn’t just affect you.
Unfortunately, the main source of information on drinking often comes “largely” from the alcohol industry itself, said Mark Bellis, director of policy, research, and international development at Public Health Wales.
It’s true: Often, the alcohol industry is connected monetarily with research done on the benefits of alcohol for the body. Yet, every time a new study advocates the pros of red wine, thousands of women post articles declaring their approval of such a “healthy” lifestyle. By this measure, they’re making great health choices — wink, wink.
But the joke’s on them. Thirty years ago, Big Alcohol shifted strategies to target women, and it worked partially because companies discovered women were willing to pay up to 13% more for the same product in feminized packaging.
“The industry at the time said they were for entry-level drinkers and people who don’t like the taste of beer: read–young women,” said David Jernigan, who studies alcohol marketing.
And it went like this: Alcohol use disorder and deaths due to excessive drinking in women skyrocketed. Men have typically struggled most with alcohol addiction, but with women closing the gender gap, family and bodily destruction has increased significantly.
Yet you’ll still see promo events such as “Wine and Yoga” from fitness studios or even “Pastors & Pints” out of churches. Not everyone who drinks has a problem with it. The problem is, you never know who will (or secretly does). And we do know that everyone who drinks is pouring ethanol, the same thing we put in our cars, into their bodies. They have the freedom to do that, but why would they want to?
So I ask again, what if we went beyond Dry January? What if we considered why we do Dry January in the first place? And why is it so hard to get through a month without alcohol? Could it be because it’s an addictive substance?
There’s no question that alcohol is harmful to the body and is a leading cause of death. Burning to death slowly is still burning. We’re just not willing to put out the fire because it’s warm and comforting for the moment.
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Three years ago, I gave up alcohol for good. In that time, I’ve recognized the destruction this substance wreaks on families and bodies of every origin. My grandfather died of liver failure. My mother-in-law destroyed her life with both alcohol and drugs. A friend accidentally killed someone in a drunk driving accident. I know a woman who was paralyzed for the same reason.
We’re chopping our lives short, inviting wreckage and disease into our bodies. If Dry January is good for 31 days, why not make it part of your lifestyle for good? We know for a fact it can only be a net positive for your life.
Ericka Andersen is a freelance writer living in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the author of Reason to Return: Why Women Need the Church & the Church Needs Women.