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What to expect with your first drink after Dry January this weekend
With Dry January finally over, millions of Americans are no doubt nervously (or ferociously) having their first drink in over a month.
While the number of participants has seemingly decreased year on year, 2024 saw around 15% of U.S. adults signing up to do Dry January. Now, after 31 days of complete sobriety, some are stepping out for their first alcoholic beverage.
What to expect following Dry January and your first drink
After not consuming alcohol for a month, its natural to wonder how your first pint or bottle will affect you. Are you going to be absolutely fine? Are you going to immediately pass out? Has your tolerance gone down?
In 2019, Addiction expert Dr Paul McLaren told Huffpo that your first drink might make you more intoxicated than usual. However, he argued that your overall tolerance would not have changed so drastically after just one month.
Four weeks is a relatively short time for tolerance to change to a significant degree, he said. But this does depend on how much you drink, and how much you were drinking in December.
Drug and alcohol rehab counselor Alan Berki, LISW-S, urged people to ease back into drinking, if at all.
He told the Cleveland Clinic: When you take a break from drinking, your alcohol tolerance goes down.
If you do start drinking again, your tolerance wont be the same as it was before, so its important to gauge how much youre able to drink after a month of sobriety.
Why not just stay dry?
While completely giving up alcohol is not necessary to complete Dry January, you could continue with the trend and reap even more benefits. Our senior Lifestyle writer reported her findings over a month of completing Dry Jan and had some very positive results to share.
Counselor Berki further explained that benefits increase the longer youre without alcohol, espesically after 90 days when people seem to have significantly clearer thinking when it comes to their ability to process information and to recall that information.
Speaking to Alcohol Change, the group behind Dry January, a range of sober people shared their thoughts on progressing their relationship with alcohol.
It’s a good opportunity to reflect and plan your relationship with alcohol in the long term, Felicity said, while Vanessa urged, Try to ensure that Dry January isnt merely a handbrake that once you remove it youre straight back out of control. Think of 1 February as the beginning of your journey not the end.
Dry January participants are sharing their thoughts on social media
Lots of drinkers have flocked to social media in the last 24 hours to share their first drink of 2024. Some opted for Champagne, while others chose a cheeky cocktail. Some even chose a cold beer.
On Twitter, now known as X, one person wrote: First drink after #DryJanuary. Im watching the pretty bubbles&.
On this day, 2021 I broke #DryJanuary, another said on January 30. Pleased to say 3yrs later, I have both more hair and will power! My first drink will be a vodka martini this time.
Another person quipped: That first drink after dry January about to go so crazy. lol feel like an alcoholic saying this but a girl just need a good lemon droppp.
