“My personal view is the same all or nothing mentality that got me into drinking,” says Dawn Comolly, a sobriety specialist and founder of the Sober Fish online community, who quit alcohol in 2016 and has never looked back.
Whatever version of Dry or Damp January, February and March you’re doing, the experts have plenty of tips for avoiding – or at least reducing – your alcohol intake in the month(s) ahead.
The latter happens because, when we drink, alcohol overloads the brain with dopamine, otherwise known as the “feel-good hormone”, and so when we quit, dopamine levels dive.
There are also proven benefits to your long-term physical health, says Pam Healey, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, which offers an online liver screener at britishlivertrust.org.uk.
“There can be a lot of benefits to reducing, and I don’t think we talk about this enough,” says Stephanie Chivers, an alcohol coach at Women Who Don’t Drink.
