Dry January 2019: Over 4 million people have pledged to take part next year

You're in throes of the party season and January probably seems miles off but, according to a YouGov poll published yesterday, 4.2 million people have already marked Dry January in the diary.

The campaign, set up by the British charity Alcohol Change, encourages participants to give up alcohol and is now in its sixth year running. It is going from strength to strength, with an extra 1.1 million people than last year planning to give up booze at the start of 2019.

The initiative is not about giving up alcohol forever. Rather, it is for the social drinker, asking them to reflect on their drinking patterns and to give their body a break after the heavy festive period.

People also view it as a great way to save money, with 79 per cent of last year’s participants reporting savings, according to Alcohol Change.

While people might have been sceptical at its launch in 2012, there has been a radical shift in today’s mindset regarding alcohol. Recent statistics show one in three millennials don’t drink, with experts suggesting increased awareness of mental health and financial concerns as reasons.

There is also less stigma surrounding not drinking, with half of adults who took part in a OnePoll survey agreeing that non-alcoholic beer has become more socially acceptable in the past two years.

To help you stay the course, Alcohol Change has collaborated with comedian Lee Mack to publish a book called Try Dry, helping you to embrace those #dryjan goals.