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?

Dara Laine Murray
7 min readNov 14, 2022

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?

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

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…

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Dara Laine Murray
Dara Laine Murray

Written by Dara Laine Murray

Multi-passionate sobriety writer on Medium. Day job: Director of Research at a nonprofit. Stories = sober + stats. Editor: https://medium.com/modern-sobriety

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