I stopped drinking for a month… I wasn’t prepared for the dramatic effect it had on my body
Thousands of Brits will undertake a Dry January this month, giving up booze for a month in the interests of their health.
Participants could zThere are dramatic changes in their bodies, according to the experience of one man who has already completed the challenge.
American YouTuber Jordan LoNigro became a teetotaler for 30 days in 2019 after noticing he had drunk more than usual and had a “48-hour hangover” after St. Patrick’s Day.
In a video documenting his experiences, he said one of the ‘amazing’ changes he had seen was losing 4.5kg – about three-quarters of a stone – in just a month.
“I have officially lost 10 pounds simply by not drinking alcohol for a month,” he said in the newspaper documentarywhich has generated 1.8 million views.
He added that going alcohol-free gave him much more energy and also freed up time for hobbies such as making music, exercising and reading.
‘I feel like I have a little more energy. “I feel a lot less sluggish than normal,” he said.
‘I’ve been more creative. I definitely haven’t woken up with a hangover on the weekends, so I’ve used my time to my advantage and just been more productive.”
Mr LoNigro said his 30-day no-drinking challenge had an “amazing” effect not only on his body but also on his lifestyle.
He especially enjoyed the absence of hangovers.
“If I drink too much I get really bad hangovers accompanied by really bad anxiety,” he said.
‘I feel miserable and anxious all day and don’t want to leave the house.’
Another obvious benefit he highlighted was a boost to his wallet.
“It’s pretty simple when you go out to eat and even if you just have one beer, that adds five to six dollars to your meal, and if you save that over the course of a month, you’re saving money,” he said.
However, he added that going alcohol-free had not been without its challenges.
“The most challenging thing for me this whole month and that is the social life,” he said.
“When you give up alcohol and you stop the activities that involve drinking, you don’t want to put yourself in those environments so you stay home, just chill and don’t really interact with people too much,” he said.
He cited special occasions such as birthdays and visiting family filled with “drink after drink after drink” as particularly challenging points of his 30-day marathon.
Mr. LoNigro added that while he wouldn’t completely eliminate alcohol from his life in the future, he would become “a little more aware of when I drink and how much I drink.”
It is believed that around 200,000 people will take part in this year’s Dry January.
The NHS recommends that people drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week – the equivalent of six pints of beer or six medium glasses of wine – spread over at least three days.
However, one in four adults in England report drinking above this level.
Brits are also among the continent’s biggest drinkers, ranking third in alcohol consumption.
British women specifically came in second for binge drinking, with a quarter doing so, beaten only by their Danish counterparts.
In contrast, British men came fifth in Europe, with 45 percent reporting ‘heavy episodic drinking’ in 2022 data.