Do it like J-Lo: Dry January means better skin, deeper sleep and more energy – start 2021 by giving your body a break from booze

Jan 5 , 2021

Jennifer Lopez is one celebrity who famously doesn’t drink alcohol for health reasons. Photo: @jlo/Instagram

Actress Rumer Willis and US talk show host Kelly Ripa both stopped drinking alcohol completely after trying a “Dry January”, the trending health kick which encourages people to give their bodies a break from booze for the first month of the year. Neither of the two had an abuse problem; they simply decided to try the regimen that began in the UK in 2013 and is now a global phenomenon.

“My decision to become sober wasn’t out of a need necessarily, it was more just that I did ‘sober January’ and I just decided to keep going,” Willis said of her new-found abstinence.

Ripa said she just didn’t feel the need or desire to go back to drinking after doing a dry January with some friends. “It felt great, I felt like I looked great,” Ripa said, though she had never been a heavy drinker.

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Feeling good, along with sleeping more soundly, increased energy and motivation, less anxiety, and clearer skin are among the widely touted benefits of taking a 30-day break from the sauce.

Anne Hathaway in the movie The Devil Wears Prada. Photo: 20th Century Studios

Jennifer Lopez, meanwhile, says she doesn’t drink alcohol at all because it ruins her skin. Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway and Korean actor Ji Sung both quit drinking after they had children to devote more energy to their families, while Korean actress and singer Yoon Eun-hye found her insomnia cured during a short period of abstinence, so she gave up alcohol completely. Tennis pro Andy Murray, whose former coach jokingly called him “the only Scottish guy ever who doesn’t drink”, went teetotal in his teens after a massive hangover so as to focus fully on his athletic career.

These purported effects of an alcohol timeout are based on science, according to journalist Hilary Sheinbaum, who found the experience so life-changing that she wrote a book about it:The Dry Challenge: How to Lose the Booze for Dry January, Sober October, and any other Alcohol-Free Month.

J-Lo’s glowing skin is not simply due to good genes. Alcohol is a diuretic and dries your skin, making it duller and causing more lines and wrinkles, Dr. Neal Schultz, a Manhattan dermatologist, explains in the book.

Jennifer Lopez – a famous teetotaller. Photo: @jlo/Instagram

Imbibing can also disrupt sleep, inhibit REM, and cause snoring and apnoea, according Dr. Thanuja Hamilton, a New Jersey-based sleep doctor.

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Dr. Richard De Visser of the UK’s Brighton & Sussex Medical School found that many people consume less alcohol after taking part in Dry January, drinking fewer days per week, and less on the days when they do drink.

And, like Willis and Ripa, some decide to stop drinking altogether. “Their experience of the benefits referred to above appears to convince many of them to give up completely,” Dr De Visser said. “This change is enabled by the fact that during Dry January, people have the opportunity to develop their skills and confidence.”

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Wellness

From Hollywood stars Jennifer Lopez and Anne Hathaway to South Korean actresses Ji Sung and Yoon Eun-hye, and tennis champion Andy Murray, many celebrities have given up alcohol completely – here’s why you should follow suit, for a month at least