HealthStyle

10 reasons to (& 1 why not to) go grog free for Dry July

That’s right – Dry July is just around the corner. So we thought we would share with you some crazy stat’s along with ten compelling reasons to participate and in fairness, 1 reason why you wouldn’t.

Alcohol has been around for 1000’s of years. It was consumed as a celebratory drink and for rituals on occasions. Like many things in today’s society, we tend to be over consuming. Alcohol, for many, has become part of our daily or weekly diet. And we know too much of good thing can have a negative effect on our health.

Some crazy facts:

1. It only takes 6 minutes for brain cells to react to alcohol.
2. Alcohol kills one person every 10 seconds worldwide.
3. Alcohol is not digested; it gets absorbed directly into the bloodstream
4. Alcohol can’t be stored as fat. It causes weight gain by forcing your body to metabolise the energy from alcohol first, thus pushing the chicken schnitzel to the back of the queue.
5. 4 stubbies has approximately the same energy as a meal. 4 stubbies a day = 7 extra meals a week.
6. Alcohol doesn’t make you forget anything. When you get blackout drunk, the brain temporarily loses the ability to create memories.
7. Over 30% of cancer could be prevented by avoiding tobacco and alcohol, having a healthy diet and physical activity.
8. Alcohol is a direct risk for mouth, stomach, liver and colon cancer (sites with the greatest exposure).
9. Beer was not considered an alcoholic beverage in Russia until 2013.
10. The strongest beer in the world has a 67.5% alcohol content.
11. Amsterdam pays alcoholics in beer to clean streets: 5 cans of beer for a day’s work, plus €10 and tobacco.

10 reasons why you should do Dry July

The biggest benefits people stand to gain from doing Dry July are:

1. A reduction in energy intake (depending on how much you drink)
2. A “reset” of the “booze” button – in other words it will reset your sensitisation to alcohol, which should result in you drinking less when/if you start again.
3. A period where there is no risk of dependency to alcohol.
4. Break the cycle: many who do Dry July comment on how “habitual” their alcohol intake was and that it often had nothing to do with a desire to drink and they didn’t miss it.
5. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for you (through saving) and for charity (if you register).
6. Reduce your risk of disease.
7. Gain more energy throughout your day
8. Break bad sleep habits. Alcohol before bed can mess around with the quality of your sleep.
9. Alcohol can have lingering detrimental effects on cognition even when you’re not drunk. Get Smarter but stopping the booze.
10. Balanced emotions. Consumption of alcohol can create mood swings and rapid changes in emotions.

And the reason why you wouldn’t do Dry July:

You didn’t read this in time & it’s now August which means you have 11 months to prep for next year.

Seriously though, we really couldn’t think of any reason not to do Dry July.