Health Hub
Having a Dry July has great health benefits. We've brought together a collection of articles that could help you with your Dry July.
Dry July: “Another glass of alcohol awareness please”
By Dallas Arrowsmith on
I challenged myself recently to take up the good cause of Dry July - a fundraising campaign to trade in your social drinking habits for a month, and to make some healthy lifestyle changes.
First and foremost, Dry July is a great cause. This program gave me the opportunity to support a community that needs it, and the funds go directly to benefit the lives of people affected by cancer. Cancer affects all people in some way at some point in our lives – face it, we all know someone who has been affected.
Secondly, there are personal benefits. Where do I begin - the feeling, the money, and the habit?
Let me start with the feeling, I feel great! I sleep better, I am finding it easier to wake each morning and weekends feel longer. The money saving is noticeable, definitely more in the wallet, but also more to spend ... or save.
Being a social person, I have noticed an alcoholic drink has become the accompanying beverage for most socialising moments; the end of the week, weekend lunch, celebratory dinner, or a 'catch up' with friends. Although we aren't socialising like we used to, at this moment in our lives, before lockdown, we would easily reach for this social lubricant. It helps us break the ice in conversation, calm the nerves, fit in, fuel up on Dutch courage, or use it as an exit option to politely retreat from one of those conversations reaching a point of discomfort or outside of our scope of knowledge – 'Right guys, I'm off to the bar, back soon'.
It's a habit that we have become used to, the drink is also a social crutch, and we have perhaps forgotten about the taste; the fine ingredients, the brew, the twist on flavours to test the taste buds, and the artistry of mixology.
Dry July has me reassessing alcohol consumption and reinvigorated my approach to taste. No longer with the social crutch. At the end of July, I'm looking forward to enjoying alcohol because of its great taste, as well as support the local breweries, venues and overall the hospitality sector, as they have been greatly affected with recent health and safety restrictions.
With that, I say cheers to you and your support for Dry July, and good causes.
Register your interest for Dry July 2024
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