Can you stay booze-free for 31 days? That’s the challenge of Dry January, an annual charity event organized by Alcohol Concern. But the real challenge is, can you cut back on alcohol for more than a month? Published by Hypnosis in London on 04 January 2016, written by Malminder Gill.

Since 2013, thousands of Brits have joined the Dry January challenge and given up alcohol for a whole month. Last year, over 2 million people joined the challenge with the aim of reaping the health benefits of quitting alcohol and donating money to charity.

Despite the claims that the event had helped participants in losing weight, getting better sleep, and cutting back on expenses, there are people who doubt the effectiveness of the sober month. In fact, believe it can pose a problem to those who are alcohol dependent.

The health risks associated with too much alcohol consumption has long been recorded. Heavy drinking increases your risk of liver cirrhosis, anemia, cancer, heart disease, and dementia. You don’t have to cut back alcohol completely, just reduce your intake as that there are some health benefits to it.

Whether you believe in the cause and effectiveness of sober month or not, you have other options if you want to cut back on alcohol for good. Here are some of them:

Write down your goal

According to a study, those who put their goals into writing are more likely to accomplish them than those who don’t. So, write down your goal of curbing your drinking beyond Dry January. You may also want to write down why you want to cut it back. Doing this can serve as a reminder whenever you get off-track.

Set your drinking goal

Aside from writing down your goal, it’s also important to set limits to how much you’re drinking. It should be below the recommended guidelines: 2-3 units a day for women (not more than the standard 175 ml glass of wine) and 3-4 units a day for men (not more than a pint of strong beer).

Eat before you drink

Eating before drinking, especially foods high in protein, can slow down the effect of alcohol in your body. People who eat before drinking will hit a peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in 1 to 6 hours compared to ½ to 1 hour of those who don’t eat before drinking.

Space your drinks

A trick to cut down alcohol consumption is using drink spacers. These are non-alcoholic beverages taken between drinks. You can have water, soda, or juice in between your alcoholic drinks. These drink spacers can help slow down your alcohol consumption.

Keep a drinking diary

Keep a drinking diary for a month. You can write in here information such as what and how much you drink as well as where you had it. This will give you a better idea of your alcohol intake, identify triggering situations, and consequently, help you come up with better ideas to cut back on drinking.

Try hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is a safe and relaxing way to help you cut back on alcohol intake. Studies have shown that it’s an effective way for behavioral change. So whether you wanted to quit smoking, sleep better, lose weight, or curb drinking for good, I can ensure you that hypnosis can help you.

When helping clients cut back or abstain from alcohol drinking, I combine hypnotherapy for wine and alcohol and NLP coaching to help them achieve their goal. When you book a session with me, you can expect a free telephone conversation to discuss your issue, an initial appointment, homework tasks to be assigned in between appointments, subsequent appointments with evaluation for success, and recorded sessions you can listen to over and over again.

There’s nothing wrong with drinking alcohol as long as you know your limits. If you’re having a hard time hitting your goal in cutting back on alcohol, then I can help you with it. I am certified hypnotherapist who can help you with behavioral change, be it in alcohol drinking or other areas of concern.

To book your session or for hypnotherapy questions, you can contact me through this page.

Image: Ken Hawkins