Why Brits do Dry January as millions set to to take 31-day break from alcohol

Financial concerns have surpassed health as the primary motivation for Britons embarking on Dry January, a charity has revealed.

Alcohol Change UK reports that a staggering 17.5 million people intend to begin the new year with a month-long abstinence from alcohol.

While 21 per cent cited saving money as their top reason, closely followed by 20 per cent prioritising improved health, weight loss motivated 15 per cent of participants.

Additionally, 11 per cent of drinkers expressed a desire to enhance their mental health and wellbeing or boost their physical fitness.

Alcohol Change UK’s chief executive Dr Richard Piper said: “Given the current pressure on our personal finances, we’re not surprised to see that saving money is the top motivator for taking a break from alcohol in January.

“People are often shocked to hear estimates of what an average drinker spends on alcohol, which our research suggests is more than £62,000 over a lifetime – that’s a lot of holidays, more than a brand new car or a big chunk off our mortgage.

“Even on a day-to-day basis, our drinking habits add up, and we can easily find ourselves spending more money on alcohol than we’d like – often without us really noticing until we step back and take a break.

“In fact, many members of our community who are actively changing their relationship with alcohol report being surprised by how much money they’re saving in a short period of time, or in other words just how much they were spending on booze beforehand.”

A total of £1.55 billion has been saved since 2018 by drinkers who used the charity’s Try Dry app along with other online tools and groups to take part in Dry January, researchers found.

A closer look at figures from the app which tracks units drunk, calories and money saved while enabling drinkers to log dry days and get tips, found that drinkers also cut their alcohol consumption by 258 million units.

This is around 129 million pints of average strength beer or medium glasses of wine which amounts to approximately two units per drink.

They also avoided 16.2 billion empty calories – which is equivalent to around 80 million 200-calorie chocolate bars.

Some 31 per cent of UK drinkers said they had concerns about the long-term damage their alcohol consumption might be doing to them, a survey of 2,000 people carried out by Censuswide also found.

They also felt that alcohol may be negatively affecting their appearance, fitness, sleep and physical health and 52 per cent of drinkers said they had taken steps to manage their intake in the past year.

Public health minister Ashley Dalton said: “It’s fantastic that millions of people will be taking positive steps towards better health and wellbeing in the New Year.

“As we work to build a healthier nation through our 10 Year Health Plan, initiatives like the Dry January challenge remind us that prevention starts with the choices we make every day, and the evidence shows it can lead to lasting changes.

“Whether it’s improving sleep, boosting mental health or saving money, taking a break from alcohol can make a real difference to our lives.”

Regularly drinking more than 14 units of alcohol a week risks damaging your health, the NHS website states.

The number of units in a drink is based on the size of the drink and its alcohol strength.