Whether you may have completed a sober month to begin the new year, evidence supports the reduction of alcohol from our diets no matter the time of year
Illustration by Sage Blackwell.
For some of us, the anticipation and excitement at the beginning of the new year may have faded, and we are back to our regular habits. To push ourselves toward better habits and start the year strong, many adults participate in “Dry January.”
“Dry January” is a month-long foray into teetotalism, the practice of completely abstaining from alcohol. The commitment usually follows the booze-heavy wallop of New Years Eve, where many partygoers are known to enjoy themselves in excess.
However, a dry month does not have to be exclusive to the start of the year. Some people commit to a Sober October, while others can adopt their own variations, such as Maltless March, Austere August, or Just Juice July.
Whether you regularly partake or might have gone a bit hard recently, a dry month is a way to reset and reevaluate your relationship to alcohol — one of the most common and readily available intoxicants in our culture.
Alcohol is often thought of as the “social lubricant” that people rely on while getting together with friends and loved ones, or simply to “blow off steam.” To an extent, the conscious consumption of alcohol can serve a purpose, and can be part of a reasonably healthy social life. But in recent years, research on alcohol’s profound impact on the long-term health of even casual drinkers has begun to reveal its real costs.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen — a substance that can cause or increase the risk of cancer — since 1987, placing it in the same category as tobacco, processed meats, radiation, and asbestos. Alcohol has been linked to causing at least seven different forms of cancer, including the colon, breast, and multiple components of the gastrointestinal tract.
According to Statistics Canada, heavy drinkers were previously defined as men who consume more than five units of alcohol on a single occasion at least once a month, and women who consume more than four. For context, a single unit of alcohol in Canada is defined as 1.5 oz of distilled spirit (40 per cent), 12 oz of beer/cider/cooler (5 per cent), or 5 oz of wine (12 per cent). Since January 2023, that number has been reduced to as few as two units per week, with higher levels linked to increased long-term health complications.
Heavy alcohol use results in poorer sleep quality, increased risk of anxiety and depression, as well as broader impacts on the body’s organs and its ability to process toxins. Any less alcohol in your regular diet will have health benefits for you.
It is important to note, however, that for anyone who consumes alcohol frequently or may be struggling with severe alcoholism, quitting abruptly can be dangerous and lead to immediate health complications. Dr. Eric Andrew Collins, an assistant professor in the School of Health Studies at Western University, wrote in an article on Dry January and consumer willpower earlier this year that “attempting abstinence” for heavy or chronic users “is essentially asking the driver to stop their speeding car with worn-out brakes.”
Given how prominent drinking culture is, whether in North America or in our own city (Victoria News reported in 2021 that Victoria had the highest concentration of restaurants, pubs, and bars per 1 000 residents in Canada), many people remain reluctant to accept that consuming alcohol, even in “reasonable” amounts, can have serious consequences.
As a former liquor sales manager of mine said, “I’m here for a good time, not a long time.” Though many, if not most, don’t share this sentiment, it reflects the normalization of a certain attitude towards alcohol and health outcomes in drinking culture, where regular drinking is not just seen as reasonable, but preferable.
There has yet to be a significant cultural shift to convince most consumers to change their habits, but there is growing evidence that young people are consuming less alcohol than ever before. A 2024 Statistics Canada survey found that sales of alcohol declined by 3.8 per cent to 2 988 million litres in 2023–2024,the largest volume decline ever recorded since the agency began tracking alcohol sales in 1949.
The same survey found that on average, Canadians of legal drinking age purchased the equivalent of 8.7 standard alcoholic beverages per week in 2023/2024, down from 9.2 the previous fiscal year.
Similar trends were found by the UVic-based Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR)’s BC Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Monitoring Project, which recorded a decline in per capita sales of pure alcohol (ethanol) for people aged 15 and older, for the third consecutive year, from 8.82 litres in 2022/23 to 8.0 litres in 2023/24 — a drop of 0.82 litres per person.
According to their report: “This represents the lowest level of per capita ethanol sales since we started monitoring per capita alcohol sales in BC in 2001/02, and also the largest single-year drop we have seen since beginning our monitoring.”
Even on our own campus, researchers at UVic are involved with promoting alcohol awareness and reducing the negative health impacts on Canadians. Recently published research aims to reduce alcohol related cancers with a combination of methods such as minimum unit pricing and cancer warning labels on containers.
If you’re curious about cutting back your own intake, strategies include “zebra striping,” or alternating between non-alcoholic beverages and boozy drink throughout an evening. Many liquor establishments offer non-alcoholic beers as well as zero-proof wines, spirits, and cocktails, making this strategy a fairly accessible one.
Ultimately, alcohol and its prevalence are unlikely to leave our culture anytime soon. In the meantime, it is important to recognize when drinking has gone from moderate to excessive, to support ourselves and one another in efforts to reduce or quit alcohol use, and to make choices that minimize its impact on our lives.
