Sober Curious: Does Cutting Back on Alcohol Even A Little Bit Improve Health?

We’ve all heard that drinking is bad for your health, but that a glass of red wine can help you live longer. So what’s the deal?

Despite what you may have heard, the truth is that even small amounts of alcohol can cause long-term damage to your body, including an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, and stroke. However, there are some conflicting studies about whether just cutting back on alcohol will actually improve your health or if you need to practice complete sobriety from alcohol.

With more and more people talking about being “sober curious” and participating in one-and-done sobriety months like Dry December, you may even find yourself asking: Why does anyone ever choose to abstain from alcohol for a month?

It’s a question that hardly ever needs to be asked, except as we approach the end of a collective dry month.

It’s a common misconception that alcohol is good for you. The truth is that even small amounts of alcohol can cause long-term damage to your body, including an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, and stroke.

To answer that question, it’s helpful to know why people choose to abstain in the first place.

You’re likely to hear from a lot of people this month that “you can’t drink just one.” But is that true?

Well, it depends.

If you’re drinking for fun and socializing, then yes — you probably can drink just one. But if you’re drinking to get drunk, then no — you definitely can’t drink just one.

Most often, those who make the decision to stop drinking simply do so for health reasons — in other words, they want to improve their physical well-being by limiting their intake of alcohol. But there are also some who feel they have no control over their drinking and have vowed not only to give up drinking but also any form of alcohol or drug consumption whatsoever. This impulse to drink one after the other until you’re blackout drunk is something I am all too familiar with and a big reason why I and others decided to quit drinking…