What Dry January is
Dry January is a month off alcohol, run each year by the charity Alcohol Change UK. It began in 2013 with 4,000 people, and in 2025, 200,000 people took part around the world (Alcohol Change UK). The rule is simple: no alcohol for the 31 days of January. In 2027 that is Friday 1 January to Sunday 31 January.
What a month without alcohol changed in one study
In one study, 94 moderate to heavy drinkers stopped drinking for a month, and 47 others kept drinking. Among those who stopped, the median drop was 25.9% for insulin resistance, 6.6% for systolic blood pressure and 1.5% for weight, and two cancer-related growth factors in the blood fell as well (Mehta, 2018). It was an observational study, so it shows what changed in the people who stopped. It cannot prove that the month off caused every change.
Calories in what you skip
From the drink guide:
- A 500 ml beer at 5% has about 215 kcal. Seven a week come to about 1,500 kcal.
- A 150 ml glass of red wine has about 128 kcal, and white wine about 123 kcal.
- A 500 ml non-alcoholic beer has about 125 kcal, so each one you have in place of a beer saves about 90 kcal.
How to count your dry days
WaterChamp counts alcohol-free days in a row from the drinks you log, and any drink with alcohol resets the count to zero. Two stickers cover January: Dry Week at 7 days, which is free, and Sober Month at 30 days, a Pro sticker. On the free plan, Sober Month still counts your days; at 30 it shows as earned and unlocks when you start Pro. Each sticker shows your progress in days.
A day with nothing logged is no proof of a dry day, so the count allows only a few blank days: at most one day in five of the run, and no gap longer than a week. Logging your water or coffee every day keeps the count going. Non-alcoholic beer is listed at 0% alcohol, so it keeps the count too. If you set any drink's strength above 0%, even to 0.5%, it records alcohol and the count starts again.
Before and after January
To see what a usual night does to your blood alcohol, and when it is back to zero, use the BAC calculator. The beer and wine pages show how each one counts toward a daily water goal.
Questions
When does Dry January 2027 start?
On Friday 1 January 2027. It ends on Sunday 31 January.
What happens if I slip up?
Your count of dry days starts again from zero after a day with alcohol. Stickers you have already earned stay earned.
Does non-alcoholic beer break the count?
No. Non-alcoholic beer is listed at 0% alcohol, so logging it keeps your count of dry days. Check the strength on your own bottle's label.
How many calories does a dry January save?
It depends on what you would have drunk. One 500 ml beer a day for 31 days comes to about 6,700 kcal, and one 150 ml glass of red wine a day to about 4,000 kcal.
