I’d say it started about a year ago. The idea crept in after relentlessly hammering the snooze button and constantly skipping Mondays morning workout. “Was that really worth it?”

I’ve tried on a few occasions to make it through a month without a drop of alcohol. The first attempt was when we were newly married. My wife and I hosted a St Patricks’s Day party at our place and at the end of the month, we realized that we spent more on drinking in March than on groceries. Ouch. 

“Well, we’ve got to clean that up!” Classic snap decision. We lasted 10 days...tops. 

Numerous other attempts were tried after being embarrassed by acting foolishly, and some form of remorse washes over me. But none of them lasted more than a couple of weeks at best. 

My next legitimate attempt came last spring when attempting Whole 30. Our diet was already pretty clean. We were regulars with Time-Restricted Feeding and on a lower carb diet but, “Hey! Let’s give it a shot.” The big takeaway from that trial was food is supposed to be, at least somewhat, enjoyable. I understand the “food is fuel” concept, but food is also kinship, celebrations and holiday traditions. Munching on celery at your kid’s 7th birthday party sucks, no matter how much almond butter you put on it. 

The real inkling for change occurred last fall when we got a Sleep Number bed. Every podcast, magazine, research article, and talk show was touting how damn important sleep is and we were tossing and turning on a 10-year-old mattress. 

Time for a change. For us to really “eat our own cooking” we were going to invest in something we would enjoy. I mean, seriously, we sleep for a third of our day, people! 

We did some research and bit the bullet based on a client’s recommendation. The thing about Sleep Number, that not even our Garmin or Fitbit did, was give us a rating of the quality of our sleep. My wife and I are now in an endless competition to see who got a better night of sleep. 

“Sup? What was your sleep score? 81? 92, bro.” 

The sleep score is based on how long you are in bed, your restlessness and movement as well as your heart rate and breathing rate. I know what you are thinking. “Wait, your bed tracks your heart rate? What else does it track?” I’d love to petition the fine people at Sleep Number to find out. 

Back to the point, right away, something jumped off the page. Alcohol really, REALLY affected our sleep. Like, a LOT. My average sleep score is a 79 (above the national average, but not exceptional). One alcoholic beverage (ONE!) drops my sleep score by 10 points. My heart rate is elevated, my breathing rate is changed and I am more restless. Two glasses of wine or beer drop it even more. After big nights out or celebrations, I might as well be sleeping on the floor with pit vipers. 

All of that data was hard to ignore. If I were to tout to all of my clients the importance of sleep and I know how much one cocktail will set me back, what am I going to do about it? Data without action is just noise. 

So during Christmas break, a chain of small celebrations and a road trip vacation left me sleep-deprived. What better time to experiment? I had heard about Dry January and was pleased to find out there is even an app that helps with accountability. 

The Try Dry app is based out of the UK, but it gives you a daily prompt to answer a question. Did you stay Dry today? It also has some blog posts and encouragement along the way by gamifying your streaks and telling you how much money you are saving. 

Great. I’m in. So, in fact, that I don’t even have a beverage on New Year’s Eve. This is the first real test. Why? Drinking, like food, is a social event. I knew that if I am the only one there drinking flavored seltzer water while everyone else is toasting with champagne I would be an outcast. 

But guess what? No one cared. 

People care less about your actions than you think. It can be a real mental barrier to overcome, but people really only care about themselves. Ever been in a restaurant when someone dropped a big plate of food and made a giant cacophonous crash? Of course you have. That person is instantly embarrassed for having all of the eyes in the room suddenly shoot their way. How long does that person feel self-conscious compared to how long you care about it? They continue to think about it for hours and after a few seconds you're going back to your meal and have already moved on. 

The same goes with drinking. If you think people are waiting for you to break out and be the life of the party and they won’t have a good time without you, it’s just not the case. 

If you pick out a real WHY it is easier to quit than you think. Willpower is like a muscle. The more you train the easier it is. In fact, after a while, telling people “NO” makes you feel kind of bad-ass. “Hey, you want a beer?” “Nah, I’m good.” The other person moves on and you get to relish in a small victory. My WHY was self-experimentation. How good can I feel if I drop out of this habit? And I found my answer.

I, like a lot of people, will roll into Monday morning with a fair amount of self-loathing. I exercise and eat clean all week just get to the weekend and self destruct. I step onto the scale. SEVEN POUNDS?! HOW CAN YOU GAIN 7 POUNDS IN 2 DAYS? 

I used to automatically attribute this to water weight from booze. I found out during my Dry January experiment, that alcohol was not to blame. Each weekend, I would substitute some of the calories from booze to some form of highly processed food. Same result. Monday morning water weight. Lesson learned. It is not just the alcohol that causes big cyclical swings in weight. I was eating like an asshole, every weekend. 

The Chief's historic run to the Super Bowl coincided with Dry January, and I tend to associate football games with beer. Why? I’m not sure. It doesn’t really make the games that much more enjoyable, but old habits die hard. And that’s the thing. There is always something and never the “Perfect Time” to start. “Well, I’d start in April, but my Uncle’s birthday is that month and you know how I like to party on Arbor Day.” Holidays, vacation, sporting events, concerts, whatever. They’re always just around the corner. The bigger question may be, do you really have to drink to enjoy these events? If the answer is yes, that may require some reflection and answers that I can’t help with. 

Just to experiment, I went to one of the larger liquor stores in town and was happy to find a pretty sizable selection of Non-Alcoholic beer and wine. Some of it was actually pretty good. I could get the same enjoyment of drinking a beer but not have the alcohol wreck my sleep. I pointed out to some friends that were drinking Michelob Ultras that by the end of the night, we would be about the same level of inebriation and I would sleep like a champ that night and be 40 calories per beer behind them. 

So check out an NA beer or wine, or find a nice Mocktail at a bar or restaurant. There are more options now than ever and this movement is picking up steam. I did get back on the wagon (off the wagon?) during the Super Bowl and guess what. Slept like crap and skipped my workout the next day. 

So I am still using the app 8 weeks into it and limiting myself to 1 day a week of alcohol consumption. That seems like a big step for me. But it wasn’t the app, Whole 30, pangs of guilt or embarrassment that pushed me to try out this experiment. It was my desire to feel better, sleep better to prove to myself I could do it. 

If you have questions about my experiences or want to share some of your own, drop a comment below. I’d love to hear them.