The Samantha Parker Show

Dry January - Sober Start to the New Year

• Samantha Parker • Season 1 • Episode 36

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Are you thinking about doing Dry January or wondering what it’s all about? This episode is for you.

With all the research I have been doing, I’m diving into the history of Dry January, from its start as a UK campaign in 2013, actually, its earlier roots came from Finland during World War II.

I’m sharing the science-backed benefits of taking a break from alcohol, like better sleep, less inflammation, improved mood, and even weight loss. Really, I go deep into the stats and science behind drinking and sobriety.

I’m spilling the tea on my sobriety journey and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. If you’re ready to make a change, I’ve got easy tips to help you stick with it, like swapping out habits, trying new activities, and rewarding yourself in good ways.

Dry January can be a chance to reset, rest, and look at the role alcohol plays in your life.

Whether you’re up for a month-long challenge or exploring a longer journey, this is the perfect place to start.

Join my 31-day Dry January Challenge for extra support, and let’s make this month a month of health and healing.
Find the Dry January Journal and details about the challenge here: https://stan.store/thesamanthaparker/p/lets-do-dry-january-together-


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If you were going dry this January, this is the episode for you. Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Parker. I'm excited to talk about dry January. But like, first let's chat. Did you guys have a good Christmas? I hope you guys had one of the most magical days of your lives. If it wasn't magical, I'm sorry. I hope you can find at least like one good thing that went right. You know, maybe you made the naughty list this year. Maybe you made the nice list this year. Hey, maybe if you're listening, you're like, I made it through the holidays sober, or if you're listening and you're like, I want to do dry January, like either way you have landed. in the spot. All right, so what exactly is dry January? So, basically, January is where you drink no fluids, you completely dry up, and you dehydrate. No, I'm just kidding. I was actually really curious where dry January started. And basically, if you don't know, dry January is the practice of not drinking alcohol for the entire month of January, which is 31 days, and a lot of people will do this to, like, kind of reset from, like, tons of overdrinking, tons of overeating. I know after Christmas, I always feel so bloated, so puffy, and I've got, like, so much inflammation going on, which will probably be different this year for me. I'm really excited to, like, Blast through the holidays feeling like my best self today. I was at the gym and it's just been too cold for me to run outside I can run later in the day because it's still pretty warm where I live I think we're like 50 degrees so I could run later in the day, but it's hard to fit it in So I like to get my gym time done. Like I like to be at the gym at 7 a. m Which I know that isn't that early. I used to be like at the gym by 5. 30 and I would be home by seven. But your girl likes to sleep. We make different choices these days, which is funny because that was when I was drinking. So people all the time will ask me on TikTok, like, why do you say you're a high functioning alcoholic? And I'm like, that's why like I was working so hard to like maintain this appearance of life was amazing while I was pouring, you know, A toxin down my throat. I like to say that a lot because it makes me feel better. I'm like, what was pouring a toxin down my throat? But that's what it is. It's a neurotoxin. That's what alcohol is, but that's okay. I digress. But really, I was curious, like, what is dry January? I've never participated in dry January. I remember one year I had a couple of friends or like a friend group, I wasn't really in their group, but like I was acquainted with their group and they were doing dry January and I remember thinking like what the F is wrong with them, but they did it too. They were like, you just don't drink alcohol for like 31 days and it gives you a reset. And I was like, why would anybody do that? So I hope that explains a lot for you guys as well. But I was curious, I was like, where did Dry January come from? Because it's just like, in my awareness, like, it's a thing that people do. But it's actually not that old. So it started in the UK in 2013. And it was like an ad campaign that ran for just like an approach to like a healthier lifestyle. And they had a 4, 300 people signed up, but in 2017, it was estimated that over 5 million people participated in Dry January. And now I feel like it's kind of a cultural norm. Like people say it everywhere. They're like Dry January, but it literally just started in 2013. But of course, on my little deep dive here, you guys, I did some serious research for this episode. So we've got facts, we've got science, not just fluffy feel goods, but in my little dry January deep dive that I have been doing, I found that dry January actually dates back to 1942. A group of Finnish people participated in Dry January to support the war effort. So there wasn't a lot of alcohol flowing, it was hard to get their hands on it, and they're like, hey, we'll give back to our country by participating in Dry January. I don't know what their exact thoughts were, but this is what I read on the World Wide Web. But in 2024, they actually estimated that 30 percent of like normal drinkers, so 30 percent of people who drink, participated in Dry January, and of those 30%, 25 percent actually did it, they like made it through the whole 31 days dry. I have never been one of those people, but you can bet your ass I will be this January. In fact, at the end of January, that will put me at eight months of sobriety, and I am just so happy every day for that gift. All right, guys, if you're looking for a reason to participate in Dry January, I've got like a whole list for you guys. And like I said, we've got stats, we've got science. But I think at the core of all of this, you're really gonna want to look at why you drink, like, why do I drink so much? Why do I do these things I don't want to do? Because there's so much more to drinking than just, hey, we're out with a bunch of friends, you know, let's toss one back. And then you go about your merry way. That's awesome. If that's you, like we don't even need to be having this conversation. You don't even need to be listening to this podcast or watching this YouTube. Like you can like skip on by. But if for you, you go out with friends and you're going to say you're going to have two glasses, then you're going to end up having four. Then you're going to start ordering everyone shots of lemon drops on you, of course. And then you're going to take it to the next bar club. That's me. That was me last January for sure. That week in between Christmas and New Year's. Wow. There was a lot of drinking that went on and. And it was more than drinking. Okay. But anyways, you really are going to want to look at like, why are you drinking? For me, drinking started at the age of 17. It was actually after I ran away from home slash was kicked out and I was living with my dad. Honestly, like I just wanted to be loved. Alcohol was love for me. It was like a warm hug, but mostly it was a way that I could numb out from all of these really strong emotions so that I was feeling, especially at 17 and then having like a. like insane amount of turmoil happening in my life, I turned to alcohol. So, you know, You might think dry January is a lot of fun, but it can also help you heal a lot of past trauma and a lot of things that have, like, happened in your life and really, really look at, like, why am I drinking? Because at the end of the day, alcohol isn't the problem. The problem is why are you constantly consuming it or why do you feel the need that you need to check out, you know, et cetera, et cetera, like insert whatever it is for you. And okay, but really, you guys, a great reason to go dry is that you won't have any flipping hangovers. Like, do you know how fucking phenomenal? I was like, how do I even say that? And I was like, I'm just going to drop the F bomb. How flipping fucking phenomenal it feels to wake up every single day and just be hangover free. I would do this thing where every morning when I'd wake up, like, you know, when you're first starting to wake up and some days you're like, where the hell am I? Like, was that a dream I was having? What am I doing today? Like, you're really Reorienting yourself. Part of my reorientation process was I would literally like evaluate how hungover I was. You know, it was great on the days when I was like, Oh, that's right. I didn't drink the night before, but the majority of the time I was evaluating the hangover and it fucking sucked. It did. It dictated so much of my life. There were so many things that I would commit to doing that I would have to reschedule or cancel. And a lot of times I would just admit like, had too much fun last night. Ha ha ha. Now, like looking back, I'm like, how embarrassing for me. Waking up with no hangover is like ecstatic. It is so amazing. The other thing too, you guys, if you're setting New Year's resolutions, you need to do this for reals. How can you like set a New Year's resolution? And I'm judging myself here. Um, you know, I would set health goals, New Year's resolutions. Like I would say I was going to eat better. I was going to do these things, but I always ignored alcohol. Like alcohol was one of those, like no calories, nothing. I am so amazing. Yada, yada, yada, right? But really like be flipping honest with yourself. I was such a liar to myself. I'd be like, I'm doing everything I can for my health. It's like perimenopause, which a huge part of what was happening in my body was, but you guys, it was like, I was doing these things to be healthy, but then I was just constantly like taking 10 steps back by all the damage I was doing to my body by overdrinking. And then of course, you know, you're going to sleep better. You sleep so much better. I've always been like a pretty good sleeper as far as like I lay down when I go to sleep. Like I'm not up worrying, but what I would constantly do is wake up in the middle of the night or wake up super early in the morning, like 3, 4 a. m. That to me feels like the middle of the night. And I would do this a lot. And especially if you're hungover. Or, you know, like you're coming off of being drunk, you'll wake up because your body hasn't gone into that sleep pattern. You feel horrible. And then, you know, again, speaking for myself here, not judging anyone else out there, but maybe you felt this way to you'll just spend hours looking at your phone and like just waiting for morning to come. And the morning comes and you still feel shit tastic. So there's so much science that goes into that. But just trust me when I say you will sleep better. And really, you guys, Again, if you are setting New Year's resolutions, you're setting goals, or you like even have the goal to like improve relationships in your life, like with your kids, your spouse, your lover, your friends, your coworkers, your employees, you know, relationship with yourself, that's a big one right there. Maybe we should like separate that and put it in its own podcast. I will come back to talk about relationships with yourself, but you'll really start to see things clearly. Okay. If you have issues that you've been covering up because of alcohol, how do you expect to move forward in your life? Or if you have like an amazing relationship right there in front of you and you know, you're constantly like causing tort turmoil, turmoil and cycling with all this bullshit that you're doing because of your drinking. That's something that you're going to want to look at and you'll start to see things clearly. You know, it could even be like, Hey, I need to leave the shitty relationship, or it might be like, Oh, my gosh, like our relationship has improved so much. These things are scary, but they will change your life. Do the scary things. Do the brave things, you guys. And really, when you stop drinking, your mood will completely stabilize. So that's a huge reason. That was a big one for me. I have PPMD. Sometimes I mess up my acronym, acronyms, you guys, words, words, words. But basically I have no progesterone that's produced in my body. I have like a very, very little bit, but after the end of my cycle, so after I have my period, I don't get that bump back up that you would get with progesterone. And luckily I was able to see a practitioner last year who completely changed my life. And it was a beautiful, beautiful experience. But that's like seeing her getting my hormones fixed, figuring out what was going on with my body, ditching alcohol. You guys, I am a totally different person. Your mood will stay stabilized when you ditch alcohol. You know, you will start to see the solutions to things like you That would have never worked for me. I would have never seen these improvements if I hadn't stopped drinking the amount that I was drinking, but you're also going to see your energy go way up. Your mindset is going to completely change. Um, you know, I am an alcoholic. So to stop drinking, I'm full blown addicted. Like sometimes I still like the other day I was in the shower and I was fantasizing about the taste of wine. And then I was like, what is going on? Like that stuff doesn't even taste good. You have to like. Choke it down. Like, there's not one person who is like, Oh, I love the burn of vodka as it goes down my throat. I was like, okay, get back in control. I look at this. I'm like, holy shit. If I can stop drinking, I can literally do anything. My nail girl is My, like, literal hero. She's one of the best humans that I know. You would never know that she had a shady past, but she's always like, if I could stop doing heroin, I could do anything in the world. And it's freaking true. Like, if you can stop doing these really, really hard things that control your life, and you might be like, okay, but you just use the example of heroin. I know that was an extreme one. But you've got something. Everyone has their vices. Everyone's got something that's controlling them. And when you let them go, it's wild. You know, even if I look at running, running has completely upended my life in such a good way. Because I wasn't even able to run an entire minute. And now like I can run like Like lots of minutes in a row and not stop. I did three and a half miles on the treadmill today. And then I popped over to the Stairmaster and I did another 10 minutes. It's wild. And this is coming from a girl who in, when did I start running? So my sober date is May 20th and I'd started running about 30 days prior to that. Let's see, March, April, May. So was that April? Yes, it was April. And that changed my life completely. But being able to do something that felt so hard to me and overcome it was a wild. Okay. Let's get into the stats, the stats and science. Okay. So what happens one month in no alcohol? Okay. So what Well, let me tell you, I did serious research here, serious. This is like two notebooks full. So we're just going to run through these cause it's kind of blow your minds. Like I know the alcohol is bad for your body. I would always kind of skim by it. I'm like, Oh yeah, it's bad for those guys that are standing in the liquor store line at 8am and have ruined their entire life, but not for me. Yeah. Right. Because it's what like, Okay, for my body, but not okay for theirs, but that's we'll, we'll table that. Let's go ahead and table that. I just have to laugh at my past self and some of my past thinking, because it's kind of funny, but all right. One month of no alcohol, your liver fat and your inflammation will go down. And this is because your liver. enzymes , we're really, really high due to alcohol. So that starts to normalize and starts to stabilize. And immediately 30 days in your inflammation of your liver will significantly decrease, which is affecting a lot of your body. It's also not uncommon. Like the average you guys is people will lose six to 15 pounds. It is completely not uncommon to see that I saw a lot of stats supporting this that's six to 15 pounds in 30 days, simply by cutting out alcohol. Again, you guys, it turns into a sugar, like immediately when you drink it. So if you're worried about eating that piece of bread, like I used to be, but you're like going to drink a bottle of wine, like let's rethink that for a second. And the other thing too is people think that alcohol is a stress reducer, but science is like it literally does the opposite to you. So it's going to give you that calm, like zoned out feeling, but all you're actually doing is numbing. You're not getting to like the root cause of why you wanted to numb out or why you wanted to disassociate from the stress that's going on. So ultimately, as soon as that feeling's gone, as soon as the alcohol's in your body, so you wake up the next morning, that stress is back and it's back with a vengeance. Okay. This is for sure. My favorite facts that I found online is your memory and your cognition improves. And that's because the nerve endings in your brain start to get the right amount of blood flow. So alcohol, constricts your blood vessels. There's a lot of things that it does. You guys, it does so much. And so basically your brain Your nerve endings aren't getting the amount of blood that they need and your hippocampus in your brain receives more consistent blood flow and it results. In short term, long term memory being like returned to you and improved. I thought that was cool as hell. And then to think too, that like, I'm literally restricting the amount of blood that my brain needs to best support me as a human. That's also kind of wild. Basically the more I learn about alcohol and what it does to your body, I'm like, why, why would I do that to myself? Why, why would I do that to myself? That's okay. It also. Decreases your risk of cancer. I know a lot of us know this and honestly, cancer is like pretty nasty. Like I definitely don't want cancer like fingers crossed. It will also decrease your blood pressure and your stress will drop immediately. It's even with just like a short break, you know, your heart and your liver problems. The best part too is Like even with just a short break of alcohol, you'll notice your sleep patterns come back. And again, lose weight. There's science facts all over this. Like I found it all over the internet. It's plastered with scientific evidence. It's not just someone's hearsay. Oh, this is another one of my favorite facts that I found is the puffy face. Cause I talked about this a lot and I've even shown photos on my TikTok of me before. My face shape is totally different, like completely different. And I know there's a couple people that are like, wow, that's insane. And then I've got had a couple people that are like, you look exactly the same. And I'm like, okay, thank you. TikTok user 4949. I don't care. I know it's different. You guys, I was ice rolling. I was doing all these things and I was like, my face is always so puffy because it was so full of inflammation. So that puffy face will get dramatically slimmer. And in fact, I read that even within the first day, you will notice a change. Okay. And then there's so much stuff about women and their hormones and perimenopause, just like I was talking about earlier, I even had a practitioner tell me like point blank to my face. She was on this podcast. She was on the Samantha Parker show. It's a lot of episodes back, but she was like, alcohol has to go. Like if you're struggling with these perimenopausal symptoms, which is you guys know, menopause is only one day perimenopause is all of it leading up to it. And it starts at about 35. And yes, I am 39. Okay. Anyways. Go back and listen to that episode. There's actually quite a few episodes. I had two different health practitioners on talking about perimenopause on my show. There's some of my early episodes. Phenomenal. But she was like, if you expect to like see these changes and feel good, alcohol has to go, especially as we age. And of course, alcohol increases your cortisol. Absolutely does. Okay, so how do we do dry January? You're like, how? I'm always like, tell me how these are great concepts, but like, give me the deets, but really here's some best tips and practices and like actual practical things that you can apply. First off, you've got to overhaul your social calendar. Like seriously, just give it a shot. An overhaul, look at it, look at the next 31 days and be like, what are some things that I could do differently? So for me, I always talk about replacing itchy days. So itchy days are where I just get really agitated. I love to day drink on Sunday. I loved it. And I noticed on Sunday mornings, I've been like really itchy. That's what I call it. I'm just like itching. I'm itching to fight with someone. I'm agitated. I don't know what to do with myself. And I'm like, so I started replacing some of those itchy moments and itchy is what I'm saying. You guys, like I need to like scratch and itch cause that's how it feels to me. I'm just a little irritated. I'm itchy. I started replacing some of those itchy moments with good habits. I loved Thirsty Thursday. And again, I wasn't going anywhere, like making a big ordeal of it. A lot of the stuff was just in my head, but I was like, Ooh, it's Thursday. I can drink tonight. So now I go to yoga on Thursday nights, you know, replace some of these habits and things. Sundays, I found myself being itchy. I now go to an AA meeting on Sundays and I love it. It's beautiful. It's like a spiritual experience. And then really, you guys try rewarding yourself. One of my big things was what are me and my husband going to do? We'd love to go out and have some drinks. You know, it'll break down that wall for me. I, it is very hard for me to open up. I know I'm like spilling a lot on this podcast, but it is so hard for me to let you into my personal bubble. Even my husband that I've been with since I was 22 years old. I'm like, ah, I still get nervous. Okay. Just about telling my feelings and different things like that. So I love to go out and have a few drinks. And I was like, we need to do different things. So it's like, there's tons of stuff you can go do, you know, let's say we were going red lobster popped into my head. I we've never gone on a date to red lobster. I don't enjoy red lobster. Oh, Lone Star Steakhouse. How about that? You guys? I will really go for like their baked potato. I don't know what it is. They do their baked potato, but it's phenomenal. Anyways, moving on. different places like that. So I knew when we were going to go out to these restaurants, we're going to spend like 150 bucks, probably right on average. Dude, there's so many experiences you can go have for that amount of money or less. Like go jeeping. I live in rural ish, like it's not quite rural, but it is ish Utah. Like we can go out shooting. Like there's We can go out jeeping. You could like go for a drive. There's this place here that just opened. It's like a reflexology bar. Like, we can both go for that price to this bar and like try something new. We could go get pedicures. My husband will go get a pedicure. But you have to like swap out those habits. And then really you guys, How do you do dry January? Well, excuse me, back to swapping out the habits, setting up rewards, right? So like that, like be like, Hey, if I make it through this week one, you know, we're going to go out and do this. That was my whole point there. Set up some rewards for yourself of new experiences that you've always wanted to try because you're not drinking, swap that money into something else. Okay, and it is now we're back on track. Here we go. Squirrel mind. It is winter after all. So like use dry January to rest. Have you ever just slipped in like I'm taking this week to rest? Like take this month to like rest and recover from the insane amount of holidays from maybe like a stressful year. Take this time to rest from a maybe amazing year. But like, be like, I'm just resting. I'm hibernating right now. And really, you guys, don't do it alone. People are four times more likely to achieve a goal when they have support. So don't do it alone, which before I finish the rest of my tips, that brings me to my exhibit here. Exhibit A. This is my 31 day dry January challenge. And I've made this really, really cool journal. Actually, my team helped me make it. So shout out to them. You guys are awesome. But there's two pages for each day. So it's kind of like a planner with some journaling. I get up and journal every single day, but I'm also doing a support group. So if you want to do dry January with me, sign up at the link, wherever you're at, you can find it. It's in my stand store. Click dry January and you'll get the PDF download to print this journal off. I had it printed. It was really inexpensive. It's beautiful. You can print it at home. Like, you know, we know how to print things. It's 2024 2025 whatever. We're so close., And then also I have an accountability group. So you can come pop into my Facebook group. I'll be there. I'll be doing it with you. And it's 24. So check that out, you guys, because you're four times more likely when you have support. And then if you write it down, you're 40 percent more likely to slay it. So 4X, 42%. I'm giving you guys the stats. If you like stats, you're going to do this. If you like vibes, this thing is a vibe. If you're listening to my podcast, you can't see it, but I'm like, It's so flipping fun. It's so fun. It's colorful. It's amazing. There's a raccoon on the second page. It's a lot of fun. Okay. And then also mock tell it up, bitches like for reals start swapping out some of these drinks for like poppies and different mocktail recipes. You know, guys know I love a good mocktail. I also love a crispy diet Coke. Like there's so many other fun drinks because I get it. Like you want to stay hydrated. In fact, it's in this dry January journal is like hydration because it's so important always, but you're going to want to have some fun drinks. Mocktail it up. TikTok is a treasure trove of mocktail recipes, by the way. And then, you know, think about it this way, too. Dry January. Like, what does it hurt? My uncle has been one of my biggest supporters through all of this, and I have to say, him taking a phone call from me in one of my lowest moments of drinking changed my life. And you know what he said to me, like, over all of this, is he goes, well, what does it hurt? Like, what does it hurt if you try this? And he says that a lot about religion, too, because a lot of people are like, why are you a member of that religion, or why do you believe in, like, God, or why do you believe in Jesus? And he'll be like, well, what does it hurt? You know, we're all gonna die, like, what does it hurt if I do this? He's like, if anything, it makes me happy, so if it makes me happy, I'm gonna do it, and then when I die, like, who cares? Like we're all going to figure it out in the end. So like, what does it hurt if this genuinely can improve your life? Like, what does this hurt to give it a try? What does it hurt to do something this incredible for yourself? And really you guys too. Another tip for dry January is like I said, rest, but this will also give you an opportunity to maybe even say no to some like obligations or things that you would normally say yes to some social activities and just spend some time alone. And it might feel scary, but God, when you step back and you just get really comfy with yourself. It feels so good. So you guys, dry January, are you in or you're out? Maybe you're just like feeling called to take a break. Maybe you're feeling called to like some long term sobriety. This is a great resource for you. And then of course there are so many other resources for you wherever you're at. You know, AA is always a great resource. It's totally free to walk into AA. I think that, when you go, they pass the basket and you can throw a dollar in. It's if you don't have a dollar on you, you know, there's tons of resources online. There's tons of options out there for you. So if you guys want to join Dry January, those are all my tips. All the scientific facts that I have and honestly, just thanks for being here and I'll see you guys next week.