Here’s Exactly What Happens to Your Body During Dry January

Listen, fad diets and detoxes are lame. But the Dry January tradition, which got its start in the UK in 2012, is actually pretty legit. For starters, it comes right after most of us are at our worst (or best, depending on how you view downing bottles of wine, champs, and NYE tequila shots). So a lot of us are in need of a break, as are our livers. Plus, there’s basically zero evidence that drinking is a healthy activity that all of us should be doing to improve our longevity. Then there’s that whole “going out is hella expensive and my bank account still hates me for playing Santa to myself last month” thing. Reducing your ragers is scientifically correlated with an increase in future vacation funds (not really, but should be, right?).

All of this is to say that if you choose to participate in Dry January this year, I support you on this journey. And to encourage your efforts, I’ve compiled this comprehensive list of things that happen to your body when you stop drinking for a whole-ass month.

P.S. Try Dry from the Dry January O.G.s tracks how long you’ve gone without a drink (like a FitBit, but all you have to do is nothing). From there, it calculates how much money you’ve saved. Genius.

You’ll live life without hangovers.

Obviously, no booze means no morning-after hangover. And there’s actual science that says the key to not having a hangover is to not drink enough to be hungover. That means no nausea, vomiting, or headaches. And you’ll also avoid all the stuff that comes with it, like impulse-buying family-sized bags of Flaming Hots (though, tbh, they’re good sober too) or cancelling that $35 spin class.

Everyone’s going to ask how you got your skin so good.

Alcohol acts as a diuretic by suppressing vasopressin, a hormone responsible for keeping you hydrated by helping your kidneys reabsorb water. And when booze shuts it down, that leads to endless pee parties. So until you replenish lost fluids (usually by downing Gatorade the morning after), your skin can look saggy, sunken, and as tired as you feel, says Mary Stevenson, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Dermatology at NYU Langone Medical Center. Ditching cocktails altogether will also help reduce the appearance of large pores, puffiness and redness.

You’ll feel super energized all the damn time.

Whooping it up spikes the sleep-inducing chemical adenosine, but a study from the journal Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that alcohol reduces your overall sleep quality by lessening the amount of time you spend in deep REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, or the cycle responsible for dreaming.

So girls’ night out sans margs leads to less mid-cycle disruptions and better sleep patterns, says Timothy Wilens, MD, Chief of Adolescent Psychiatry and Co-Director for the Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. You’re also less likely to suffer from sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, he adds. All very good things.

You’ll feel less puffy.

Losing the easy-to-metabolize carbs in alcohol means less acid reflux and bloating, says Robert Brown, MD, Clinical Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine. Not to mention the money you’ll save on antacids and gas relief aids.

Your anxiety might calm the hell down.

Back in 2018, Thomas Kash, PhD, a professor of pharmacology at UNC school of medicine told Cosmopolitan that hangxiety is a real thing and that it stems from two biological processes. First, drinking triggers the release of a neurotransmitter called GABA, which makes nerve cells calm down. At the same time, your marg suppresses glutamate, a neurotransmitter that has the opposite effect. As alcohol leaves your body, Gaba’s calm vibes fade. And to make up for being MIA, glutamate goes into overdrive. That whole thing means your hangover is complimented by hella anxiety. Without a drank, you stay your chill self.

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