Taking a break from alcohol for 30 days, often referred to as "Dry January" or a similar commitment, can lead to a variety of positive changes in your physical and mental well-being. This article explores the potential benefits of abstaining from alcohol for a month, including weight loss, improved sleep, and reduced risk of certain health conditions.
Introduction: Why Take a Break From Alcohol?
Many people participate in “Dry January” and take the month off from drinking alcohol to reset after the holiday season. If you need a break from alcohol, going alcohol-free for a month or more can bring about many physical and mental health benefits.
Whether you're a social drinker, someone who occasionally indulges, or someone who consumes alcohol more regularly, a 30-day break can offer a chance to reset your habits and experience potential health improvements.
Individual Benefits Vary
“The benefits can vary from person to person depending on how much of a change from their baseline behavior this is,” Rekha B. Kumar, MD, medical director of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, told Healthline.
Kumar explained that someone who drinks minimally but abstains from alcohol for a month “might feel a sense of control over their health or feel a sense of accomplishment from achieving a set goal.”
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Meanwhile, others who drink heavily “might notice more pronounced physiologic effects, such as more mental clarity, better sleep, weight loss, and feeling the ‘detox’ sensation, in addition to achieving a set goal,” she noted.
Dasgupta said for social and moderate drinkers, participating in a month-long break won’t make much difference to their bodies. However, for people who exceed recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, he said staying away from alcohol for a month can reap changes.
“Studies show that even if you drink in excess once a month, it increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke,” Dasgupta said. “My warning is not for the people who drink in moderation. It’s for the people who drink too much.”
Potential Health Benefits of a 30-Day Alcohol Break
Whether you drink moderately, frequently, or excessively, taking a month off from alcohol can help your body in the following ways.
1. Liver Repair
Cirrhosis of the liver (severe scarring of the liver) can occur over time in those who drink excessively.
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“It doesn’t happen in a day, but for anyone who drinks in excess, which again is more than two drinks a day for men, and one a day for women, there are fatty changes in the liver, so when you stop drinking, those changes are reversible, and the liver can become normal again,” said Dasgupta. Because the liver is a tolerant organ, he said positive changes can occur within weeks of going dry.
Kumar added that in the absence of alcohol, “the liver can focus on its other jobs, such as breaking down other toxins produced by the body, metabolizing fats and excess hormones that need to be broken down.”
2. Reduced Risk of Heart Disease
Alcohol is metabolized by the liver and an enzyme called dehydrogenase. However, when you drink in excess, the enzyme gets saturated and is metabolized by a different enzyme.
“When it’s metabolized by this different pathway, it produces lots of free radicals which is known to oxidize bad cholesterol (LDL), and when the LDL is oxidized, it deposits on the carotid arteries forming [blockage],” said Dasgupta.
“Drinking one or two glasses of wine once or twice a week has some health benefits, especially for men over 40; it reduces risk of cardiovascular disease… for women you can get those benefits anytime, it’s not age-dependent,” Dasgupta said. Still, newer research from 2023 suggests that no amount of alcohol is protective against all-cause mortality. In addition, some racial and ethnic groups may face greater health risks from alcohol consumption than others. For instance, Dasgupta cited research he conducted on the relationship between genetics and alcohol misuse. He noted that people of Chinese and Indian descent do not benefit from drinking alcohol due to a genetic reason that isn’t fully understood.
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For anyone concerned about heart health, Dasgupta recommended decreasing alcohol intake and increasing physical activity, which also raises good cholesterol.
3. Decreased Cancer Risk
The Department of Health and Human Services lists alcohol as a known human carcinogen in its Report on Carcinogens.
The report states that a person’s risk of developing alcohol-associated cancer increases with the more alcohol they drink regularly over time.
Alcohol consumption has been linked to multiple cancers, including: head and neck, esophageal, liver, breast, colorectal.
Data from 2013 published in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that about 3.5% of cancer deaths in the United States were alcohol-related.
Some research suggests that even moderate drinking may raise cancer risk. A 2024 study published in JAMA Network Open found that moderate drinking had no benefit for older adults and raised cancer and disease-related mortality risk.
4. Weight Loss
Excess alcohol consumption may cause weight gain, which means that cutting out alcohol could lead to weight loss for some people. While alcohol is high in calories, and wine, beer, and mixed drinks add sugar to one’s diet, Kumar said that simply cutting it out may not always help you lose weight.
“Again, depends on what the baseline alcohol consumption is,” she said. “If heavier drinkers remove alcohol for a longer period of time, they might see weight loss, improvement in body composition, less stomach fat, improvement in triglycerides (one of the fat particles in the blood),” she said.
Depending on the person, Kumar said she sometimes suggests cutting back on alcohol to lose weight. “I have recommended completely eliminating alcohol for weight loss as a trial for some patients who have optimized all other aspects of their life (diet is pristine, exercise is maximal, sleep is adequate, stress is managed) to see if they are particularly sensitive to the weight gaining effects of alcohol,” Kumar noted. “For instance, many women around menopause report gaining weight from alcohol much easier than they did prior to menopause.”
However, if you’re banking on a month-long break from alcohol to help you lose weight, Kumar said it’s not your best bet.
“I would suggest cutting back on several things rather than completely eliminating to avoid feeling deprived, which can lead to rebound eating/drinking and weight regain,” she said.
5. Improved Brain Function
Dasgupta said the best people to avoid alcohol always are those under 21 years old, and not just for legal reasons.
“There’s a reason why the legal age of drinking is 21 years. Teenage and college drinking is a huge problem. It can cause memory loss and interference with brain development. For college students, being dry is the best thing to do,” he said.
The same goes for those with alcohol use disorder or a family history of it.
6. Better Sleep
While many think drinking alcohol before bed will help them nod off and stay asleep, it’s quite the opposite. Research shows that drinking large amounts of alcohol before bedtime leads to decreased sleep onset and disrupted, poor quality sleep later in the night. For those with alcohol misuse and dependence, the conditions are connected to chronic sleep disturbance, lower slow-wave sleep, and more rapid eye movement.
The First Month: A Timeline of Changes
The first month after you stop drinking is one of the most challenging months because you may experience the detox stage, where your body may go into alcohol withdrawal if you have a physical dependance. Even if you do not have a physical dependance, if drinking alcohol was part of your normal routine, it may be a difficult adjustment period.
Days 1-7: Initial Withdrawal Symptoms and Adjustments
The initial 24 hours alcohol-free can bring on a slew of emotions, from scared to empowered to defeated. Many people go on a drinking binge the night before they quit drinking, meaning you may also be experiencing a hangover - without the option of having a drink to help mitigate some of the symptoms.
Physically, you might start experiencing acute withdrawal symptoms the next day, including: headaches, bloating, the “shakes”, nausea, anxiety, cold sweats, alcohol cravings, mood swings.
Although acute alcohol withdrawal symptoms may seem like no big deal, they can be quite severe and even life-threatening. This is why seeking professional help and undergoing physician-monitored detox is so important to keep you on track and safe.
The second day can be even harder than the first because a lot of the motivation may have worn off, especially if you spent day one dealing with a hangover on top of withdrawal symptoms.
On day two, your alcohol cravings may worsen. This is an important time to seek support from family and friends and find a treatment program if you haven’t already.
According to the National Library of Medicine, around day three, it may become particularly difficult to sleep, thanks to problems like night sweats, insomnia, and other frequent sleep disturbances that occur as your body adjusts to life without alcohol.
Don’t worry. Better sleep is coming. But your body needs to adjust to its alcohol-free routine first.
Once you’ve made it to day four, you may realize some of the physical symptoms of withdrawal start to subside.
But some of the more intense symptoms of post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) can arise, such as: difficulty focusing and remembering things, irritability, anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, intense cravings, increased sensitivity to stress.
Many people who take out alcohol from their routines consider day five of sobriety as a turning point, reporting better sleep and reduced symptoms.
Unfortunately, cravings are usually still present at this point. Now is an important time to lean on your support system and recovery tools.
Sleep should start to improve around day six. Social anxiety may be at an all-time high as the weekend approaches, and you may have forgotten how to socialize or be in social settings without having a drink.
Good work, you’ve made it one week without alcohol - that’s no easy feat, and you should be proud of yourself. Of course, as with any major milestone, you may instinctively reach for a glass of wine to celebrate.
But don’t give in to temptation, as your recovery journey is just getting started.
Weeks 2-4: Improved Health and New Habits
Most people start to feel a huge difference at the start of the second week after they quit drinking. This is when the symptoms of withdrawal should start to disappear, mental health improves and clarity returns and physical improvements are noticeable too, such as weight loss, clear skin, reduced bloating, and increased energy.
Heavy drinkers who have been drinking for decades may still experience symptoms of withdrawal at this point.
Unfortunately, cravings persist for most people during the second week.
By the end of the second week, you can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the worst is over - even for people experiencing the most severe symptoms.
During week three, you should not be experiencing any more symptoms of withdrawal. Cravings should also finally start to subside.
Healthier habits for a healthy lifestyle that you have been working on may start to feel like second nature at this point, and you may even have started to replace your nightly bottle of wine with seltzer, tea, water, or another refreshing alcohol-free drink.