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Financial concerns have overtaken health as the primary motivation for Britons to move dry januaryA charity has revealed.
Alcohol Change UK reports that 17.5 million people intend to start the New Year with a month of abstinence from alcohol. Liquor,
While 21 per cent cited saving money as their main reason, followed by 20 per cent who gave priority to better health, 15 per cent of participants cited weight loss as the motivation.
Additionally, 11 percent of drinkers expressed a desire to enhance their mental health and well-being or boost their physical fitness.
Dr Richard Piper, chief executive of Alcohol Change UK, said: “Given the current pressures on our personal finances, we’re not surprised to find that saving money is the biggest motivator for taking a break from alcohol in January.
“People are often shocked to hear estimates of how much the average drinker spends on alcohol, which our research shows is more than £62,000 over a lifetime – that’s a lot of holidays, more than a brand new car or a bigger chunk of our mortgage.
“Even on a day-to-day basis, our drinking habits tend to escalate, and we can easily spend more money on alcohol than we’d like – often without really noticing until we step back and take a break.
“In fact, many members of our community who are actively changing their relationship with alcohol are surprised by how much money they are saving in a short period of time, or in other words less than what they were already spending on alcohol.”
Researchers found that a total of £1.55 billion has been saved since 2018 by drinkers who used the charity’s Try Dry app along with other online tools and groups to take part in Dry January.
A closer look at the data from the app, which tracks units consumed, calories and money saved while enabling drinkers to log dry days and receive tips, found that drinkers had cut their alcohol consumption by 258 million units.
This is approximately 129 million pints of average strength beer or medium glass of wine, which is equivalent to approximately two units per drink.
They also avoided 16.2 billion empty calories—equivalent to about 80 million 200-calorie chocolate bars.
A survey of 2,000 people conducted by Censuswide also found that around 31 per cent of drinkers in the UK said they were worried about the long-term harm caused by alcohol consumption.
They also felt that alcohol could have a negative impact on their appearance, fitness, sleep and physical health and 52 percent of drinkers said they had taken steps to control their intake in the past year.
Public Health Minister Ashley Dalton said: “It is fantastic that millions of people will be taking positive steps towards better health and well-being in the New Year.
“As we work to build a healthier nation through our 10-year health plan, initiatives like the Dry January challenge remind us that prevention starts with the choices we make every day, and evidence shows it can lead to lasting change.
“Whether improving sleep, boosting mental health or saving money, taking a break from alcohol can make a real difference to our lives.”
The NHS website states that regularly drinking more than 14 units of alcohol a week puts you at risk of harming your health.
The number of units in a drink is based on the size of the drink and its alcohol strength.