Having a dry January? Your all-or-nothing thinking is a mistake | Masuma Rahim

Quick fixes such as abstinence and detox diets often do more harm than good - the magic bullet is appealing, but there's no such thing

'Tis the season to be abstemious. Christmas is over, most of us over-indulged, and now we need to recover. Enter the period of good intentions, characterised by a surge in gym-going and dieting before most of us fall off whichever bandwagon we jumped on and revert to our old patterns of eating and (in)activity, often with an added sense of guilt and failure. Happy New Year, indeed.

There's a lot of debate about the merits of enforced abstinence. Initiatives such as dry January may feel virtuous but they won't necessarily do a lot to help you understand your relationship with alcohol and the factors that influence your consumption. And, of course, there's the possibility that you'll feel so good about your teetotal month that you overcompensate for it in February. Two-thirds of those who participate in dry January report a reduction in consumption that is sustained six months later, but the evidence is not conclusive. We know that asking people how much alcohol they drink typically results in under-reporting by some 40%-60%. No wonder even the BMJ is asking, "Could campaigns like dry January do more harm than good?"

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