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Dry January
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<p>The Dry January challenge is a campaign developed and delivered by UK charity <a href="/facts/Alcohol_Change_UK/b21SRUdl">Alcohol Change UK</a> where people sign up to <a href="/facts/Teetotalism/p1Ufy5Kr">abstain from alcohol</a> for the month of January. The term "Dry January" is a <a href="/facts/Trademark/B23H8IS0">registered trademark</a> with Alcohol Change UK and was first registered in 2014. </p><p>The campaign was first delivered in 2013 by Alcohol Concern (now called <a href="/facts/Alcohol_Change_UK/b21SRUdl">Alcohol Change UK</a>). Emily Robinson started an international Dry January campaign when she joined Alcohol Concern in 2012, after giving up alcohol in January 2011 to prepare for a half marathon she noticed the benefits and that people were interested in her experience. While others may have had a month off <a href="/facts/Alcohol_(drug)/IeK2fVd5">alcohol</a> in January, Robinson was the first person to turn it into a campaign and trademarked Dry January for Alcohol Concern. Around the same time Nicole Brodeur of <i><a href="/facts/The_Seattle_Times/NDbXsb3k">The Seattle Times</a></i> wrote a column on her first Dry January motivated by a friend who had done the same for several years before. The first reported Dry January was in 2008 by Italian-American businessman Frank Posillico in Huntington, New York. </p><p>In its first year, 4,000 people signed up for the Dry January challenge and it has grown in popularity ever since with 215,000 people globally signing up to take part in 2024. The Dry January challenge was endorsed by <a href="/facts/Public_Health_England/ECRcUKGE">Public Health England</a> in 2015 leading to a large uptake in numbers and steady increase in participants year on year. Research by the University of Sussex published in 2020 found that those signing up to take part in the Dry January challenge using Alcohol Change UK's free Try Dry app and/or coaching emails were twice as likely to have a completely alcohol-free month, compared to those who try to avoid alcohol on their own in January, and have significantly improved wellbeing and healthier drinking six months later. </p>