DRY JANUARY 2021! This way please... all welcome

[HPLikecraft]

It’s that time of year again... the late Christmas present to our livers!

You may be thinking of doing Dry January to:

*detox a little after seasonal overindulgence, or
*help you cut down a bit generally, or
*help you start to get out of a harmful alcohol habit, or
*just be a bit healthier for a month...

It’s good for all of those things!

I find the MN DJ threads excellent for support, encouragement, sharing info,‘we’re in this together’ camaraderie, suggestions for grown up drinks, aversion techniques and just fun.

This is my fourth year of DJ and I swear it has made all the difference to me; it was so hard first time, but having succeeded I did dry June and October after that, and do so every year. It has broken my habit, banished the craving and reset my relationship with booze.

I won’t be finding DJ too difficult this year, but some will. Hopefully this thread will help.

Come climb aboard the wagon! 🙂☕️🧃

I do plonque

I looked at my sleep yesterday. I'm awake more without booze!

My sleep score rating hasn't really altered but I seem to have increased my light sleep and decreased REM marginally.

I'll keep watching it.

I've always kept an eye on my sleep score since I got my watch.
When I drink, even on the nights of only having one, my heart rate is much higher when sleeping and lots more instances of restlessness and disruption.
On my dry months it usually takes a full week to see marked improvements and then my sleep is anywhere between 100-200 points higher, until I start drinking again

My heart rate was really high again last night and I don't know wether it's stress, as I'm having relationship problems at the moment and we had words last night, or sugar cos I also had a shed load of ice cream and chocolate sauce after the kids went to bed too.
My heart rate always always goes down considerably when I'm not drinking. Always.

Checking in.
Mood lockdown low. Slight headache
Homeschooling a kid who hates school work is tough and I really fancy a glass of wine, but am reciting I'll have a glass if I still feel like it tomorrow (whoever suggested that thank you)

Hope everyone else is OK.

I will check in again this evening as the urge to have vino will be strong 🙃

Good luck this evening, everyone.

Do check in and let us know how you're doing.

This is day 5 and I'm cross! Back to work and grumpy as hell, this is the type of day I would crack open a bottle of wine so I'm going to find it difficult later. Hopefully I can stick to my tonic water.

Day 4 here. Not thinking of cracking, but a bit fed up and eating EVERYTHING as a result . It's definitely as much to do with lockdown as it is lack of booze!

Day 5
Really grumpy. Have done exercise, wholesome activities with children, work, housework.

I want wine, a big bath, a Chinese takeaway, a back rub and my hair stroked while I fall asleep.

What I'll get is a shallow bath as having the heating on 24/7 costs a fortune and a cup of herbal tea. Bah.

Hope you are all having a nicer evening. ☕🍵☕

Day 5, know I'll be alright this Eve as no wine in the house! Also having to physically go into work tomorrow and I'm doing some things that are new to me so need to be clear headed.

Skin still very red and irritated looking... Visible pores etc. I know it's not instant but anyone any idea how long until the redness dies down?

@Plonque, sorry to hear that you are having relationship problems, that cannot be helping at the moment.

Could I ask what sort of watch you have? My daughter has just bought an Apple watch using her Christmas money, and she wants me to get one as well. We are doing the Great North Run together in September (assuming it goes ahead) and she thinks the various metrics will be helpful for training, plus I can use it for Spotify etc. and connect it to my AirPods. I've always been a bit dubious, but it would be interesting to get heart rate, oxygen saturation etc.

Feeling unusually tired today - I could go to bed now. Mood is OK though, and I think the dark circles under my eyes are looking a bit better. No craving for a drink - not even when watching Boris earlier! .

Day 5 and hoping the sleep fairy is around tonight! Was tempted a bit so am in bed with book and laptop out of harm’s way. We are nearly at the one week point. Have lost 2lbs.

I have a Withings watch (with HR). It's not brilliant at tracking my sleep if I wake up in the middle of the night in a huff (usually after a cat has jumped on me).

Last night's sleep was very disturbed; I am hoping it will sort itself out by Friday (DH did give me a cup of normal tea at about 8:30. so I am hoping that caffeine-free will help).

Still going. Having really vivid dreams which I actually remember a lot of on waking. I am sleeping like a log as well. Still shattered in the morning, but not foggy like I used to be.
Wish I didn't like the taste of red wine so much as I could do this for much longer.

Hello there can I join?

It's normal for me to go a few days or even a week or more without but then I will drink at the weekend and sometimes binge. So that will be the test for me!

Day 3 done. Staying on course.

Good luck, everyone.

Day 5. Still dry. I feel like I'm cheating with this Dry January thing by being too unwell to think about alcohol very much. (Day 6 of being ill and still waiting for covid test results.)

I slept well last night, so that's something. Can't report any vivid dreams, though. I have a Fitbit, which makes an attempt at tracking my sleep, but I really don't trust it very much. I'll have lots of times when it shows me having been asleep when I know I've been wide awake and clock-watching, but just not really moving. Then again sometimes it tells me I've been up for hours without me having any memory of it.

Keep at it, everyone!

I'm doing Dry Jan more for weight loss. Day 4 and been fine until I watched Rick Stein on BBC2 earlier eating yummy cheese and necking red wine. Now I'm bloody craving both those two things.

This thread is so helpful. Glad (but not glad) that others are reporting bad headaches, terrible sleep. I can also relate to the heart beating fast/palpitations in the night - just realised I haven't had that for the last few nights.

Found a couple of JD-ers at work today - so hopefully we can spur each other on (thinking now I've told people at work it's another incentive, really want to succeed in this and not just for January. (Day 5 !)

The percentages are quite motivating! Day 5 done (and day 1 of the homeschool and work juggle 2021!). Determined to keep going but last night was tricky after the 8pm announcement.

Relieved (and sympathetic!) to read that others are having sleep problems and headaches, I feel dreadful today! But day 5 done so it must be worth it.

Day 2 done. No cravings, slept really well last night which is a rare event even on AF nights. Keep it up folks

Day 5, done for me. I have a thumping headache so paracetamol and bed for me.

Anyone looking for a nice alternative to gin and tonic though, tescos do a passion fruit lemonade which has a lovely slightly bitter taste to it, and is very nice. See you all on day 6! Well done for staying on the wagon or getting back on it, or just giving it a shot :)

Day 4 ✅ well done everyone

Passionfruit lemonade sounds good so will try to track that down thanks katmarie I have drunk what seems like a small oceanful of herbal tea and eaten some chocolate so I think I'm ok tonight. There's no room in there for any more liquid. Hope everyone else is good and fingers crossed for better sleep for us all tonight.....

I too have headache and sleep issues. I am so jealous of the fabulous dreamers on here. I stayed awake so late last night that I even did a supermarket shopping order at about 2.30am and then felt dreadful this morning having to get up for work.

Also our blimmin' dishwasher has started refusing to drain properly and no amount of taking the sodding clip thing out (which is really hard to do) and mucking about with the impeller will fix it. I don't want someone to come in the house to do it in the current circs.

Will have to make teens do handwashing up. That's bound to imporve family harmony.

Still - at least have not drunk anything.

Day 5 done. Kindle keeps crashing & losing my posts.