New Year's Sobriety

The turn of the year is when a lot of people announce they are done with alcohol, sometimes at midnight, sometimes as a plan for January. NIAAA treats that idea as two different problems. One is a month-long break that can help some people look at their drinking. The other is a sudden stop after prolonged heavy drinking, which can be medically dangerous. Mixing those problems up is how a resolution becomes an unsupervised withdrawal.

This page is the resolution and the month. The sober holidays guide is NIAAA's holiday myths, including the false hope that coffee sobers you up. The holiday relapse guide is SAMHSA's account of seasonal stress and loneliness. They are easy to collapse into one article. They are not the same question.

SmarterRecovery is a referral helpline. SMART Recovery is a different organization, a mutual-help program. A New Year's call to this line does not sign you up for that program, and it does not start a detox.

If someone is seizing, will not wake, or cannot breathe, call 911. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988.

Stop the dangerous version first

NIAAA's Rethinking Drinking page is blunt about a prolonged heavy pattern. If that drinking stops suddenly, the body can go into withdrawal that is painful or life-threatening. Symptoms can include nausea, a rapid heart rate, seizures, or other problems. The instruction is to seek medical help and plan a safe recovery. Doctors can prescribe medicines that make withdrawal safer and less distressing. The withdrawal guide lists the red flags. The home-versus-medical guide is why a bedroom is the wrong place to test those flags.

The same page says quitting is strongly advised in several situations: you have tried to cut down and cannot keep the limits you set; you have had alcohol use disorder or have symptoms now; a physical or mental health problem is caused or worsened by drinking; you take a medicine that interacts with alcohol; you are pregnant or might be. If none of those apply, NIAAA still says to talk with a doctor about cutting down versus quitting, using factors such as family history, age, past drinking injuries, and problems with sleep, pain, anxiety, or sexual function. It also says not to wait for a crisis or to "hit bottom." Earlier change is, in its words, likely to be more successful and less destructive.

A midnight promise does not sort you into the safe group. If the year behind you was heavy, the first call is medical, not motivational.

What Dry January is, in NIAAA's words

On January 9, 2023, NIAAA's director published a short blog on Dry January. He describes it as a time when people take a break from drinking and look at their relationship with alcohol. For some, it is part of a New Year's resolution to add healthier routines. A month, he writes, is long enough to see how drinking affects you physically and mentally, and to practice other ways of relaxing, seeing people, and handling stress.

The benefits he says many people experience are ordinary and specific: better sleep, waking without the fatigue, malaise, and upset stomach of a hangover, sometimes weight change because the alcohol calories are gone, better relationships, and money not spent on drinks. "Many people" is not "you will." The blog is describing what participants report. It is not a clinical trial result printed as a guarantee, and it is not a reason to skip medical care if stopping has ever made you shake or seize.

The suggestions in that blog are planning ideas, not a treatment protocol. He suggests noticing why you drink, whether that is fun, stress, or sleep, and thinking of a different way to meet that aim. Tell friends and family, and consider asking them to join. Have drinks on hand that do not contain alcohol. Have a polite "no, thanks" ready. As the month goes on, notice whether sleep or energy changes, and write the change down if it helps you continue. Have a plan for when January ends, because old patterns return easily, the way eating patterns do. The refusal guide is the sentence. The first 90 days guide is what happens when the goal is longer than a month. The relapse-prevention guide is skills over time. None of those pages is a substitute for the medical warning above.

The director's closing line is to listen if you feel better when you are not drinking or when you drink less. That is an observation he offers. It is not a diagnosis. The wider name for looking at drinking, including outside a January challenge, is on the sober curious guide.

February, and the guideline that changed

The 2023 blog told people who went back to drinking to stay inside the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. Those guidelines, as the blog stated them, limited adults who chose to drink to one drink or less on a day for women and two drinks or less for men, on any single day rather than as an average. The blog also said less is better, and that even small amounts carry risks, including some cancers and cardiovascular problems.

NIAAA's later basics article, for clinicians, cites the Dietary Guidelines for 2025-2030 and summarizes them differently. It says to advise patients to consume less alcohol for better overall health. It says not to tell people who do not drink to start for their health. It says there is no guaranteed safe amount. And it says some patients should not drink at all: people whose health conditions can be worsened by alcohol, people recovering from alcohol use disorder or unable to control the amount, people on medicines that interact, people who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, and anyone under 21. The gray-area guide is that "less is better" explanation. This page will not put the 2020 numeric caps back in circulation as if the later article had not been written.

The 2023 blog's avoid-entirely list matches that clinical list in spirit and adds driving or operating machinery, and facial flushing and dizziness when drinking. If any of those describe you, a challenge month is the wrong frame. Avoiding alcohol is the frame NIAAA already printed.

A hard month is information

The blog sends people who think they have an alcohol problem to the NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator, and the help box under it repeats that excessive drinking needs a medical plan because sudden abstinence can be life-threatening. Finishing thirty days does not retire that sentence. Drinking through the month does not either. Both results are something to tell a clinician.

FindTreatment.gov lists programs. SAMHSA's National Helpline is 1-800-662-HELP (4357). The about page says a call to SmarterRecovery is free to you and paid for by treatment providers. Call or text (800) 653-9376 if you want help finding an assessment or a level of care. The person on the phone cannot promise that January will hold, and cannot tell you that willpower is the same thing as medical detox.

If withdrawal includes a seizure, confusion, or trouble breathing, call 911. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988.

Additional Resources

Sources cited on this page:

• NIAAA Director's Blog: Participating in Dry January? Here are tips for success (January 9, 2023)
• NIAAA Rethinking Drinking: Should you cut down or quit?
• NIAAA Core Resource: The Basics — Defining How Much Alcohol Is Too Much
• NIAAA: Understanding Alcohol Use Disorder
• NIAAA: The Truth About Holiday Spirits
• SAMHSA FindTreatment.gov
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
• SmarterRecovery about page (referral disclosure)

Common Questions