How much can Dry January improve your health?

NINA MOINI: Well, for a lot of us, though, the first month of the year is a time for new goals, new beginnings. It's also a time where many people choose to reset their relationship with alcohol. You or someone you know might be participating in what people call Dry January, a month-long effort to be sober.

It's been a popular health trend in many countries for at least a decade, but the practice has roots that extend as far back as 1942, when the Finnish government created a campaign called Sober January as a propaganda blitz to raise readiness during World War II. I never knew that. So joining us now to talk about the health benefits of Dry January is Dr. Christopher Wall, the Chief Medical Officer and a psychiatrist at Prairie Care. Thanks for being here, Doctor.

CHRISTOPHER WALL: Thank you, Nina. I'm happy to join.

NINA MOINI: Well, it is that time of year. A lot of people are wanting to make that promise to themselves. How do you talk to patients, I'm curious, about how alcohol generally affects our mental and physical health?

CHRISTOPHER WALL: Yeah, alcohol has a complex relationship with us, doesn't it? It can certainly bring people together in social events, but it can also do some damage, both in terms of what it does to us physically, but even some of the emotional effects. So having an opportunity to discuss Dry January and the opportunity to reset how we approach alcohol and how we're functioning off of it is really a fantastic thing.

NINA MOINI: I'm curious if you had a patient who was looking into this. From a psychological standpoint, it's really hard to meet any of our resolutions. And we know that alcohol is a lot of places that we all go. Would you have a recommendation to somebody who's trying to take on a month's worth of a behavioral change? Do you say, journal or set markers or reward yourself. What would you say to people who might find a whole month just really intimidating?

CHRISTOPHER WALL: Yeah. I think, when we look at it as a month, that can be intimidating. But when we look at it one social event at a time, it becomes a little bit less overwhelming. And I think Dry January has really set us up to have a social approval or opportunity to do things as a group, to say, hey, let's give this a try.

And for those we care about, those we hang out with, I think now being able to say, I'm going to have a mocktail instead of an alcoholic beverage or a dirty soda can actually be kind of fun and particularly fun if we can take some attention to how we feel when we're doing this one day at a time and starting to feel the effects of sobriety consistently.

NINA MOINI: And piggybacking off of what you're saying, does one month make a pretty significant difference for people? What do you see over the course of one month? Is that enough of a time to really-- to reset your health?

CHRISTOPHER WALL: I think absolutely yes. And not only in the short term can people start seeing improvement in sleep, in mood, in energy, but for those that complete a Dry January, for example, there's good research that suggests that, even six months later, the vast majority are having an improved moderation in drinking and health choices.

NINA MOINI: And this is interesting. Earlier this month, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called for a new label on alcoholic beverages to warn Americans of the risks between alcohol and cancer, just one of the risks, I suppose. And in his argument, he noted that alcohol consumption is to blame for nearly 1 million preventable cancer cases over the last decade. This seems like it was a strong way to come out. What do you think people should take away from this news, and what do you think it says about our country's trajectory with alcohol?

CHRISTOPHER WALL: Dr. Murthy is to be applauded for standing up and saying, hey, if you're going to do it, at least have some informed consent or informed awareness of what this can do. And in psychiatry, I think we're all about that. People get to make choices. But if you're making a choice, and you weren't aware of the potential damage it could do from a cancer perspective, and now you are, I think it might change opinions and give people an opportunity to avoid these preventable cancers.

NINA MOINI: From your perspective, I wonder what you think about this, that another recent study shows that Generation Z is drinking less alcohol than previous generations. So these are people born after, like, 1996, I think-- younger people. So what can we glean from some of these different patterns among generations, from your perspective?

CHRISTOPHER WALL: I think that there has been an increasing trend of a community building awareness of each other and health trends, I think, a lot of times, propagated through social media. Obviously, social media can bring isolation, but it can also bring these sorts of trends that can let us choose other things, choose different types of connecting, rather than traditional, for example, alcohol use. So I think this is a generation to watch, that's for sure.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And some people will replace a substance with a substance. They'll say, well, I'm not drinking this month, but I'm going to do cannabis- or THC-infused drinks. Obviously, people are free to make their own decisions. But I wonder what you think about having other substances in your system while you're doing a Dry January from alcohol?

CHRISTOPHER WALL: Yeah, that sounds a little bit more like a Damp January than a Dry January. And I think the THC-infused drinks are new to market, and everyone has a different response. The responses to THC is quite different from one person to the next, and the beverages have different levels of content.

So I think it goes away from the idea of Dry January to see how you're doing emotionally and physically off of a substance like alcohol or other substances. So I don't know that replacing one with the other is really the intention. But again, people are free to make choices, but hopefully they can be informed.

NINA MOINI: And for moderate or heavier drinkers, there can actually be health concerns with trying to quit alcohol cold turkey. And I wonder what you would tell people who are interested in becoming sober for Dry January, or in general, to perhaps consult with their doctor, but to not jump into something and to think about, perhaps, why that is?

CHRISTOPHER WALL: Right. I think social drinking or low-risk drinking, Dry January lines up perfectly with re-evaluating and resetting. But for those with a family history of significant addiction or their own struggles with heavy use, a quit-cold-turkey approach can actually be dangerous because the brain and the body get used to having a certain amount of alcohol, which essentially then resets in a significant and sometimes dangerous way if, all of a sudden, that chemical is no longer there. So that's where medical experts and hospital systems and detox centers really should be a part of that quitting process.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. Really, really good pointers. Thanks for being with us, Doctor. We appreciate it.

CHRISTOPHER WALL: Yeah, thank you for having me.

NINA MOINI: That was Dr. Christopher Wall, Chief Medical Officer and psychiatrist at Prairie Care.