This January I decided to give up three things for the entire month, sugar, grains, and alcohol. The sugar and grains I had a couple of cheats… seriously, who can resist homemade cookies from Grandma when she traveled all the way from California to Hawaii to give them to you! But, no biggie, I didn’t let that one cheat throw me completely off track. I just hopped back on the bandwagon and kept going.

Then there came the alcohol cheat. It started with one small cocktail the night before last. I thought to myself… not bad… I can just limit myself to a very small glass of alcohol and it’s all good! Then last night I went overboard and had two or three glasses of wine (I honestly don’t remember). Now this morning I have a bit of a headache and can feel that my sleep last night was not as sound as it had been for the prior week. Back on the wagon I go!

Apparently, there is a name for the alcohol abstinence part of my January resolution and it’s name is Janopause… who knew?! Well, OK… perhaps I’m the only one that didn’t know. In 2012 the experts were stating that Janopause was worthless, and now this year they’re saying that it’s worth it. So, what’s the real story?

Apparently, in years past scientists had only looked at what a month long break for heavy drinkers would do. They determined that if a heavy drinker took a month off, it did nothing in the way of liver repair and actually might have caused the participants to overindulge more in the months following. So, the determination was moderation all year long and that Janopause was worthless.

This year on the other hand, science writer Andy Coghlan decided to look at what a month long pause in drinking would do for moderate drinkers. What he found was that moderate drinkers who gave up the good stuff for a month lost a little bit of weight (3.3 pounds), lowered their blood glucose levels by 15%, and improved their sleep. The study participants also stated that they felt more alert.

The sample size for Coghlan’s research was small, just 13 of his colleagues. But the findings are still promising. Promising enough that I will be getting back on track for the rest of January, and maybe even for a bit of February. After all… I’ve already lost 4 pounds this month and had been sleeping very well up until last night.