5 Ways to make your dry January work

I never had a drinking problem, truly. I did, however, have something of a hangover problem. Along with the pounding head, dodgy belly, and mental murkiness that an occasional drunken night proffers on the human body upon waking, the biochemical mess I was left in brought on pretty rough bouts of anxiety and depression for me. No doubt, plenty of you can attest to the mood fallout as well.

In the wake of a particularly gnarly holiday bender a few years ago I, like many, embraced a dry January, that became a dry February, and then I just kept the dryness going. A few hours of liquid fun was no longer worth an indefinite amount of time spent writhing in regret (youngsters take heed: hangovers last longer and longer as you age). Put another way, the juice was no longer worth the squeeze. So the juice had to go, at least for a spell.   

I've done sober Januaries, Octobers and Mays. Heck, I've done sober years. I'm now married to moderation but I still roll straight edge for months at a time because I just function and feel better when I do.   

Whatever your own reasons for putting down the alcohol instead of tossing it back this month, plenty of online sources can tell you how to tilt the odds in your favour — and I can back that up to tell you what's worked for me.  

Here are the best tips for staying dry this January or any month you think your liver could use a respite:  

Move, a lot

Not that you need another reason to workout, but I highly recommend filling your extra time with exercise.

Professor of psychiatry and human behaviour at Brown University and addictions specialist, Dr. Richard Brown, says exercise is an ideal substitute for alcohol indulgence. It's been shown to replace the mellow mood boosts that recovering alcoholics miss when they stop drinking. More crucially for anyone wanting to stay dry, Brown's study showed that regular exercise decreased relapses.

What's more, every extra minute of aerobic activity will ease your stress and up your dopamine and serotonin levels, all of which alcohol was presumably doing. It's a fine trade. Treat yourself to a runner's high instead — it's just as powerful as an opioid high and the "hangover" from a solid workout is miles more enjoyable than one caused by a bottle of, well, anything.

Mix up some mocktails

London restaurateur and writer Tugend Demir says don't frustrate yourself choking back flat water or seltzer while everyone is sampling Old Fashioneds. "Drinking mocktails is a great way to get through dry January, as you are still treating yourself to a luxurious drink, minus the calories and headache the next morning," he says. I agree wholeheartedly (and mouthedly). A dry Jan doesn't have to include the cocktail equivalent of gruel. Most bartenders worth their salt rim will be able to whip you up an impressive alcohol-free alternative that's proper tasty. Note that near beer works too if cocktails aren't your favourite. The real takeaway here is getting to enjoy the social ritual of sipping without the down-side.  

Mind your meals

This one is a tough sell but well worth mentioning. The foods we migrate towards are often triggers begging for an accompanying alcoholic beverage. Hot dogs and beer during the game, an assorted cheese tray with a nice port, a glass of rosé with your grilled salmon, whiskey and a donair (no judgment).

A paper from the Social Issues Research Centre shows we make automatic and powerful associations with certain drinks. To wit, should someone crack out a bottle of champagne on a random Tuesday you might ask what's being celebrated. Tuesdays are awesome but you'd likely expect a better answer than "it's taco night!"  

If a steak and a glass of red are destined to belong together for all time in your mind (as they do in mine), you may need to put steak on pause until February 1st as well. No one said this would be easy. Focus on healthy foods you love that don't conjure liquid longing.   

Clean house

Director of the Centre for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Fulton Crews has some pretty straight forward advice for really sticking to a full 31-day happy hour hiatus: "Try to avoid temptation by maybe putting all the alcohol out of the house." Cutting out alcohol was relatively easy for me once I got about a week or two into the program, but I definitely put the odds on my side by taking an official break from stocking my home bar. I just didn't want that part of my house to look inviting. Keep the house booze out of sight or see if a buddy can take the bottles off your hands (assuming he or she isn't also going dry this month).

Important aside: depending on how often and (how believably) you find yourself saying "I can stop anytime", you may benefit from a month of dry self-assessment. Crews thinks dry January is a "good idea", especially for those who suspect they may have a dependency and want to take stock. "Many people are in denial about their drinking and hazardous drinking, and if they try to stop and are not able to, it really points out to them their weakness," says Crews. Should that weakness become apparent to you this month, it's reasonable to start sharing your concern or ask for help.

Lastly, go easy on yourself

Barring a real substance abuse issue, dry January should be about challenging yourself to make better choices. No need to beat yourself up if the challenge doesn't go precisely as planned. Bar owner Derek Brown, and seven-year drynuary veteran, had this to say about slipping up and sipping a little sooner than you'd hoped for: "it doesn't matter." For Brown, dry January is "not a religion; it's a practice." And ideally an ongoing one. Two weeks off here, a week off there, it's all useful. This mindset works because it keeps you from getting hung up on the month or white-knuckling it when you really don't have to. I'll also quote Wilde here: "everything in moderation, including moderation." Stay focused but stay flexible.    

Besides, just the attempt to live a little cleaner for any period of time will put you on a healthier path for months to come. A 2015 study from the University of Sussex showed that even people who couldn't quite stay decidedly dry from January 1st to 31st were still drinking far less than they previously had been come June.

So, you know, just dry your best.

Marc Beaulieu is a Montreal writer, producer, performer, professional host and mental health advocate whose one true love is weird news.