Need Extra ‘Dry January’ Motivation Right About Now? Expert Advice on How to Keep Going

A new year, a fresh start — and for many, a break from drinking alcohol.

Approximately 1 in 5 of U.S. adults take on a challenge known as “Dry January”: committing themselves to not drinking for the first 31 days of the year. Some do it for the health benefits that come with drinking less, others as a promise to their loved ones, and some just do it to change up their drinking habits.

But breaking old habits can be hard. Alcohol Change UK — the London-based organization that trademarked the Dry January name — surveyed 54,000 British people who took on the challenge at the start of 2019 and found that just 51% stayed completely dry the whole month. A much bigger number of people — roughly 90% —stayed dry for at least 22 days.

Taking a month off from drinking may not resolve serious alcohol use disorders, but it can help people put themselves back in charge of how much they’re drinking, said Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry at Stanford University who studies addiction. “

As we reach the month’s halfway mark, it might be right about now that you’re finding yourself running out of steam to keep up your own dry January. If you’re looking for some extra motivation to keep going, read on to hear expert insights about the life benefits of staying the course through Jan. 31 — and beyond — and how to maintain your willpower.

• Jump straight to: 4 ideas for finding your dry January motivation once again

Think of what you’re gaining

“Drinking can sneak up on people,” Humphreys said, adding that while someone may wake up and not have a plan to drink that day, spontaneous opportunities — like catching up with a coworker over a few drinks — can pop up very easily. “Dry January is about saying, ‘Don’t slide into this. Think about it. Decide what you want to do,’” he said.

Instead of seeing this month as a moment without something — namely alcohol — it can be helpful to think of it as a moment where you’ve gained something pretty unique: an extended period of time to reflect on what life is like when you are drinking.

“Some people report that these dry periods can help them understand their relationship with alcohol or notice the impact their alcohol use has had on their life in different ways,” said Glenn-Milo Santos, professor at UC San Francisco, who conducts research on alcohol use and interventions to address alcohol use disorders.

“They might identify areas in their life where alcohol had an outsized effect or impact than they wanted to on their job performance or their relationships with their family, friends or partner,” he said.

(Speaking of performance, according to Alcohol Change UK, the concept of Dry January originated in 2011 with their former deputy CEO Emily Robinson, who back then decided to give up alcohol for a month before her half-marathon. The benefits of cutting back on drinking were so significant for Robinson that she would later pitch the idea to the organization.)

You can also use this month to figure out how you want to drink for the rest of the year. Do you want to just drink on the weekends or on special occasions? When does it make sense for you to turn down that extra drink?

“A dry period can serve as a dry run for people’s long-term alcohol reduction strategy,” Santos said. “It can help people hone in on the skills that they use to navigate situations where there’s alcohol present.”

Your body has already noticed some changes

Multiple studies show that an extended break from alcohol can help folks sleep better, exercise more and even lose weight. For some people, dry periods have even helped bring down their blood pressure.

Chief among the medical benefits: The health of your liver, the organ that processes your alcohol intake. “When you abstain from alcohol, your liver starts to heal itself,” Santos said. “That’s something that people won’t notice — but your liver will.”

Each day that you don’t drink is another opportunity for your liver to heal from the effects of alcohol. The liver is one of the few organs in the body that is able to replace damaged tissue with new cells and has shown a remarkable ability to heal itself within short periods of time, but certain factors — like alcohol — limit this ability.

“Even if you’re drinking once or twice a week, it’s possible that you might be consuming alcohol that is potentially reaching harmful amounts,” Santos said. And “five or more drinks on a single occasion for men, and four or more drinks on a single occasion, for women: that elevates your blood alcohol level to harmful amounts to your body.”

Less alcohol is probably helping you make healthier food choices …

We also tend to cut back on other things when we’re not drinking, Humphreys said — what he called the “2,000 calorie glass of wine.”

Alcohol can “somewhat sap our self-control for super fatty types of things,” he said.

“You wouldn’t eat the double fudge forest cake at the restaurant, but then you have a glass of wine and think, ‘Ah, let me have that double fudge cake’,” he said.

… and benefiting your wallet too

As anyone who’s ever checked their credit card statement after a night out with friends, drinking — especially mixed drinks like craft cocktails — can be an increasingly expensive proposition. (Not to mention that expectations around tipping have also shifted since the pandemic.)

Two weeks in, you can now check how much you’ve been able to save in 2026 already by not drinking.

By comparing your expenses from this month to last month’s, you may gain extra motivation to keep going with your dry January — and you may even want to buy something nice for yourself or a loved one at the end of the month with what you’ve saved.

4 ideas for finding your dry January motivation once again

Remind yourself why you’re doing this

Whether it’s changing your diet, going to the gym or even learning a new language, everybody struggles with big behavior changes, Humphreys said. “You should not kick yourself for that.”

He recommends thinking carefully about your original motivations for taking on dry January and writing them down somewhere, if you didn’t initially start on Jan. 1. “Part of the struggle is when we start thinking, ‘Why am I doing this? This is a pain’,” he said. “That’s when you go back to your motivation.”

Draw on nearby support

You can share these motivations with your family or friends so they can also understand how much this means to you — and support you by planning activities that they know you enjoy that are also alcohol-free. “We all need encouragement, because behavior change is so hard,” Humphreys said.

Something else to consider: reach out to folks you know who are also taking an alcohol break. “Having both the support and the accountability of somebody else doing the same thing is really helpful — and keeps each other honest,” added Humphreys. “It’s so much easier if you have fellow travelers.”

Be conscious of triggers

As you reflect on what life is when you do drink, something else you can ask yourself: What situations, feelings or places make me want to drink?

“Maybe you had a long day, and you’re tired, or had an argument with somebody,” Humphreys said. “Or some people get very hungry, and their self-control wanes, and they want to consume something.” Even walking around town could be a trigger, he said — like passing a liquor store or running into friends at your favorite bar.

San Francisco ranks near the top of nationwide lists for most bars and dance clubs per capita, and most of the Bay Area — except for Alameda County — has a larger percentage of residents who binge drink than the national average of 15.5%.

So when alcohol is so easily available, it’s especially important to be conscious of what our triggers are, Santos said. “If you track these things, that could also provide you with some actionable steps,” he said. “You can make a plan to try to avoid those situations.”

Know it’s OK if you do miss a day

If you do end up drinking, that doesn’t mean your dry January is completely over, Humphreys said. “You can just start again tomorrow.”

“And if you make it 28 or 29 out of the 31 days, and that’s better than you usually do, I would still say that you didn’t get everything you wanted, but you did make a change,” he said.

How to seek professional support and community around drinking

If you’re really struggling to keep your promise and stay motivated, this could be a good time to check in with someone you trust — like a doctor or mentor — to understand how alcohol is impacting your life, Humphreys said.

“If you find that you’re repeatedly drinking in situations that cause some harm to you or people that you care about, and you know that, but it’s just hard to stop,” he said, “that’s usually the sign that you have a drinking problem.”

“And that doesn’t mean you’re at the alcoholic end,” he said, “but you’ve got a problem because you’re doing damage to yourself, your marriage, your kids, or your coworkers, and you keep doing it because you prioritize drinking that much.”

The good news: If you want to make a long-term change to your drinking habits, there are a lot of ways to do that in the Bay Area. You can join a peer support group like SMART Recovery, Women for Sobriety or Alcoholics Anonymous. The San Francisco-based nonprofit HealthRIGHT 360 also offers support groups that specifically serve women, Asian Americans and the LGBTQ+ community.

Some groups also focus on moderation management for folks who want to keep drinking but in a healthier and controlled way. But what’s most important is finding people with whom you can talk about these challenges, Humphreys said.

Then, “you’ve got other people on the same journey,” he said.

Another option you can ask your primary doctor about is naltrexone: a medication approved by the FDA to treat alcohol use disorder. “Naltrexone works by blocking the opioid receptors and by doing so, it reduces the pleasurable effects that you experience from drinking alcohol,” said Santos, who has researched how the medication changes the way people drink. “It also reduces people’s craving for alcohol.”