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7 min read<\/p>\n7 min read<\/p>\n
At least one study<\/a> shows that athletes tend to imbibe more than their peers, and cycling also tends to have a culture that embraces drinking<\/a>. So while you think about your New Year goals and healthy lifestyle habits to adopt in 2026, one that might reach the top of that list: limiting your drinking. You can easily start that habit by participating in dry January, or ditching booze for the entire first month of the year. With alcohol so ingrained in our lifestyles, sometimes taking a break helps us reassess our relationship with drinking<\/a> and stopping consumption might reveal some surprising benefits that go beyond a cursed hangover. To help you understand why dry January or any extended break from booze might benefit athletes, Bicycling spoke with medical experts to learn what you gain from ditching that postride brew for a month\u2014or more.<\/p>\n Related Story4 Dry January Benefits You Don\u2019t Want to Miss1. Improved Recovery <\/p>\n Your body needs a healthy dose of inflammation<\/a> in order to bring healing and growth factors to muscles so they can repair after a workout, says Christine Marschilok, M.D., family medicine and sports medicine physician at Main Line Health in Pennsylvania tells Bicycling. However, \u201calcohol<\/a> changes the balance of the normal inflammation process that occurs after exercise,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n When you exercise, you stress your muscles<\/a>, creating micro tears. As your body repairs those micro tears, inflammation increases. When you drink, the alcohol can interfere with that process, slowing down your recovery<\/a>. What\u2019s more, alcohol can also cause oxidative stress and interrupts protein synthesis, which messes with your ability to build muscle<\/a>. \u201cWe often see muscle atrophy in folks who use alcohol chronically,\u201d Marschilok says, and even less than two beers per day can negatively affect muscle protein synthesis<\/a>. Related Story<\/p>\n While some people think beer is a great postride recovery<\/a> beverage\u2014it has carbohydrates<\/a> after all\u2014alcohol consumption can interfere with recovering your glycogen<\/a> stores. The stored form of glucose or carbohydrates is called glycogen, and your body calls on it for fuel when you exercise. Alcohol, regardless of the type, can impair the recovery process by decreasing glycogen replacement.<\/p>\n Considering how you feel the morning after drinking, you probably know alcohol is also very dehydrating. If you\u2019re already dehydrated<\/a> after working out, and then drinking alcohol, you\u2019ll further deplete your fluid and decrease your body\u2019s ability to bring nutrients to your injured<\/a> muscles for recovery, Marschilok says.<\/p>\n On the flip side, when you stop drinking, your body can carry on its normal processes, like repairing and rebuilding muscles and allowing your body to restore the glycogen and fluid it needs to recover and perform again the next day. <\/p>\n 2. Better Sleep<\/p>\n Ditching that evening glass of wine or beer can have a positive influence on your sleep<\/a>, which in turn, can lead to better performance on the bike, says Akhil Anand, M.D., <\/a>an addiction psychiatrist who runs an inpatient alcohol detox unit and also does outpatient treatment for alcohol addiction at the Cleveland Clinic. Even if you think alcohol may help you fall asleep<\/a> faster, it won\u2019t help you stay asleep, Anand explains. Marschilok echos that alcohol impairs sleep, particularly your REM sleep, which you need for healthy brain development and emotional processing, according to the Sleep Foundation<\/a>. \u201cQuality sleep is incredibly important for healing and recovery,\u201d Marschilok says.<\/p>\n The problem with having alcohol before bed is that our body metabolizes alcohol with time and so the amount of alcohol in our system decreases throughout the night. Changes in the sedating effect of booze can affect sleep, Marschilok says, which is why you might feel tired<\/a> enough to pass out at 11 p.m. but then wake up at 4 a.m. and multiple times after. <\/p>\n Also, alcohol and its metabolites (or substances created during the breakdown of alcohol) can affect the neurochemical known as milieu, as well as the types of brain waves you experience during sleep that help you reach different stages of shut-eye. \u201cThis will affect your sleep architecture, often leading to decreased REM sleep, especially in the first half of the night,\u201d Marschilok explains. <\/p>\n Ditching those nightly drinks allows your body to get quality rest<\/a> and the stages of sleep that help you recover properly, so you\u2019re ready to ride tomorrow. Even a few drinks can lead to anxiousness, irritability, and that \u201changxiety\u201d (or alcohol-induced anxiety<\/a>) feeling the next day, which are likely a result of poor sleep quality<\/a>, Anand says. So cutting back altogether, like you do in dry January, will give you the most benefit.<\/p>\n Hilary Sheinbaum<\/a>, author of The Dry Challenge,<\/a> who has been doing the dry January challenge since 2016, says she typically notices changes in her sleep after eight to 10 days without alcohol. \u201cInstead of sleeping four to five hours each night, I sleep seven to eight, and as anyone who gets a full night\u2019s rest knows, my mood and everything else in life is more upbeat and feels so much better,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Related Story3. Boosted Mood and Motivation<\/p>\n Motivation tends to feel low when we\u2019re not feeling our best or riding on minimal sleep. But motivation is especially important when it comes to the demands of cycling\u2014and life tasks in general. \u201cWhile winter<\/a> is usually pretty gloomy, when taking a break from alcohol for dry January, my mood<\/a> is so much more elevated,\u201d which makes sense because alcohol is a depressant, Sheinbaum says. <\/p>\n Beyond boosting your mood, a real benefit of eliminating alcohol is that oftentimes, people use drinking to self-medicate mental health<\/a> conditions, Marschilok says. Eliminating alcohol use as a less productive coping mechanism can allow for more productive management of those issues. <\/p>\n Anand agrees, saying he sees improved mood and boosted self-confidence with patients who give up drinking. He also says it\u2019s an opportunity for those who aren\u2019t drinking to further their personal growth with new hobbies and learning new skills<\/a>. <\/p>\n Sheinbaum says she experiences less anxiety and more productivity, too. \u201cWithout alcohol, my mind doesn\u2019t suffer from the fog booze causes, and I can focus much better. Ideas come easier and I can work faster and figure things out more clearly,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n 4. Enhanced Overall Health Research backs up the benefits of dry January and ditching alcohol even for just a month. In a study<\/a> published in BMJ Open in 2018, researchers tracked 94 participants who considered themselves moderate to heavy drinkers (meaning they drank, on average, 2.5 drinks a day) and chose to remain abstinent from alcohol for a month, and 47 participants who didn\u2019t change their drinking habits for the month.<\/p>\n At the end of one month, those who didn\u2019t consume alcohol showed positive change in insulin resistance, lowering risk for type 2 diabetes<\/a>. The non-drinkers also experienced weight loss<\/a>, lower blood pressure<\/a>, and improvements in liver function tests. <\/p>\n Participants didn\u2019t make other lifestyle changes besides ditching booze, so diet, exercise, or smoking habits stayed the same. What\u2019s more: The control group, who didn\u2019t ditch alcohol, saw none of these improvements. This proves that even a month without drinking goes a long way in improving your overall health picture. <\/p>\n Perhaps what\u2019s most interesting is that at six to eight months after the initial study, the abstinence group maintained a decrease in their overall consumption of alcohol.<\/p>\n \u201cI, like many other people who do dry January, end up drinking less in the months that follow,\u201d says Sheinbaum. This has the potential to bring on even more positive changes.<\/p>\n Related Story5 Tips for a Successful Dry January<\/p>\n Ditching drinking can seem difficult\u2014that\u2019s why they call it a \u201cchallenge.\u201d But a few tips, from Sheinbaum, will help keep your motivation up during dry January, or any period of time you want to abstain from alcohol: <\/p>\n 1. Recruit a Friend<\/p>\n Find an accountability partner to do the dry challenge with you. You\u2019ll have someone to vent to if you\u2019re getting peer pressure to drink and you can plan outings sans alcohol together. There\u2019s strength in numbers.<\/p>\n 2. Plan Other Activities<\/p>\n Think of it as having a new opportunity and more time to do activities you\u2019ve always wanted to try but felt like you couldn\u2019t squeeze into your schedule. For example, take a new yoga class<\/a>, go for longer rides<\/a>, test out rock climbing, or pick up an instrument you\u2019ve been meaning to learn to play.<\/p>\n 3. Opt for Mocktails<\/p>\n There\u2019s a wide selection of alcohol-removed wine, beer, and mocktails, giving you the option to have something that feels special, without the negative effects. Even when consuming non-alcoholic beverages, particularly after exercise, consuming a salty carbohydrate-based snack<\/a> with your beverage can help you restore glycogen and fluid balance, too.<\/p>\n 4. Be Kind to Yourself<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to get frustrated and give up because drinking can be a part of our culture\u2013birthdays, celebrations, mourning, and sports games often involve alcohol. Remember the point of dry January isn\u2019t to be perfect, but to evaluate and reevaluate your relationship with alcohol. So if you slip up, don\u2019t get upset with yourself. As long as you\u2019re cutting down, that\u2019s a win!<\/p>\n 5. Reward Yourself<\/p>\n Making a lifestyle change for 31 days is an accomplishment! You probably saved money not buying alcohol for a month, so treat yourself to something special to commemorate your dry January. <\/p>\n The Bottom Line on the Downsides of Booze<\/p>\n Skipping out on alcohol for a month can bring on major benefits. But even just moderate drinking, when it\u2019s not dry January, can lead to problems. For example, Anand says that alcohol affects every organ in the body, from the liver to the skin<\/a>. <\/p>\n Heavy drinking can also do serious damage to your heart<\/a>, as Anand says it can cause dilated cardiomyopathy\u2014essentially a fatty heart, which impacts the muscle\u2019s ability to efficiently pump blood throughout the body. It can also stiffen arteries, which causes high blood pressure<\/a>, high cholesterol<\/a>, and can negatively affect blood flow.<\/p>\n
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