How Hypnotherapy Can Help You Through Dry January

This article explains how hypnotherapy can support you through Dry January by addressing motivation, stress, cravings and habitual responses to alcohol.

As the festive season winds down, you may have decided that you need to go on a health kick after the indulgences of Christmas and New Year. I help people take control over excessive drinking and binge drinking all year round. However, many people decide that January, full of New Year’s hope, will be their time to take back control over their drinking.

Drinking alcohol can easily become habitual. You drink to relax after a long day, to accompany a meal, to celebrate, because it’s the weekend and socially with friends. You know too much alcohol is bad for you and can damage your health. Indeed, in Ireland they are moving to label all alcohol with a warning that drinking causes liver disease and is linked to fatal cancers.

Drinking too much is expensive, bloats your waist line, is risky for your health and it can steal your sleep, motivation and energy. It can also be linked to low mood and anxiety. And  yet, despite all this, you still find yourself drinking more often, or more volume, than you’d really like. You wake in the morning full of determination to have an alcohol free day. And yet by the evening you are there again with a glass in your hand. You want to cut down your drinking but it just never happens successfully. The alcohol is in control.

At this time of year, many people start looking to Dry January – that month long commitment to take a break from alcohol, reset your habits and boost your mental and physical well-being. For some, it’s a simple challenge to go a month alcohol free (although those excessive drinking habits can soon kick back in once February arrives).

For many others, Dry January is a colossal challenge. You can battle with cravings, urges, social pressure and a sense of doubt whether you can manage the whole month. You may even have started thinking of exceptions, times during Dry January you’ll allow yourself a drink or two, to help make it seem more achievable. I’ve helped clients who secretly drink during Dry January, or who only apply it to certain alcoholic drinks (e.g. only to wine and not beer) to try and cut back their drinking.

If you are thinking about taking part, or you’ve tried before and found it tougher than expected, hypnotherapy can be an effective, practical way to support your Dry January success.

If you’re participating in Dry January in Ely, Newmarket or the surrounding Cambridgeshire area and finding it challenging, hypnotherapy can provide support to manage cravings, stress and habits.

 

Why Dry January Can Feel Difficult

We are all creatures of habit, pattern and repetition. We generally do the same things in the same way in similar situations. a lot of the time that is fine, or even beneficial. But when you want to change a habit, you may find that after a while your motivation fades and you end up back where you started. Your mind has an expectation of what you will do and so you reach for the wine or beer.

Maybe you enjoy a drink to unwind after work, to cope with stress or anxiety, when out socially, or simply because it’s what you always do at certain times or in certain places. By the time January arrives, those patterns can feel automatic.

That’s why relying on willpower alone can feel exhausting. Willpower takes effort, especially at the end of a long day or week. You are trying to stay strong and force your mind to change those patterns. But the habit and expectation still linger on. Sooner or later, your willpower becomes exhausted and it becomes easier to fall back into drinking in the same old way.

Hypnotherapy takes a very different approach. You change those patterns and prime your mind for how you want to do things. You feel calmer, more in control, and more aligned with the positive change you want to make.

Looking for support through Dry January?
Hypnotherapy can help with motivation, cravings and stress — explore how Alcohol & Habit Hypnotherapy may support your goals in Ely and Newmarket.

 

How Hypnotherapy Can Help You Through Dry January

If you are looking to have a successful Dry January, and to maintain a positive relationship with alcohol beyond that month long goal, then hypnotherapy can help you succeed.

Hypnotherapy can help you:

1. Reduce urges and cravings

Hypnotherapy uses psychological processes to help you change the patterns, habits and beliefs you currently have towards alcohol. You change your habitual thoughts, feelings and behaviours and your emotional responses. You can learn to ease the urge to drink, feel more settled in yourself, and handle cravings in calmer, more constructive ways.

2. Break old patterns

If drinking has become linked with stress, boredom, or relaxation, hypnotherapy can help weaken those old associations and build new, healthier ones. You naturally start choosing different ways to unwind. You know you feel better when you don’t drink and these benefits continue to grow.

3. Strengthen motivation

One of the most common things clients tell me is that they want to make a change, but the follow through feels tough. Somehow their intentions don’t turn into long term action and change. Hypnotherapy helps you reconnect with your reasons for taking part in Dry January, building up the motivation, mindset and confidence to keep going.

4. Boost emotional well-being

Many people notice that once alcohol is reduced, their mood can feel a bit up and down for a while. Hypnotherapy helps regulate emotions, reduce stress and anxiety, and build a greater sense of balance and resilience. You feel more uplifted, energised, motivated and more positive.

5. Stay on track—without the constant mental battle

The aim isn’t to battle with yourself every day. It’s to feel calmer, clearer and more in control. Hypnotherapy helps shift the change from something you’re forcing, to something that feels more natural and sustainable. You wont be forcing yourself to not drink and telling yourself that you can’t drink. You’ll simply enjoy making positive choices and decisions. The alcohol will no longer be in charge because you are in control.

There’s more in these linked articles:

Is Your Drinking Habit A Problem? Excessive Alcohol Help

Reducing Wine Drinking – Alcohol Habits Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Binge Drinking and Alcohol Problems – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Binge Drinking – the next day impact of heavy alcohol drinking

Alcohol Abuse – Take Back Control Over Alcohol

Has Alcohol Become Your Crutch? Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Excessive Drinking Impacts on Muscle Loss – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Control your Binge Drinking – Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

Hypnotherapy To Drink Less Alcohol – Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Alcohol Reduction Help

Take Control Over Alcohol

The Benefits Beyond January

People are often surprised by how much better they feel after even a few alcohol free weeks. Better sleep, more energy, clearer thinking, improved mood, and a welcome sense of achievement all help reinforce the change.

And you don’t have to stay alcohol free forever if you don’t want to. Once you’ve succeeded with Dry January it’s up to you. Many clients simply want to rebuild a healthier relationship with drinking, something where they are fully in control. Hypnotherapy can help with that too.

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can hypnotherapy help with alcohol cravings?
Yes, by addressing habits, emotions, patterns and triggers and reframing responses to stress and habit cues.

Is Dry January effective for long-term change?
Many people find that abstaining helps reset habits, and hypnotherapy can support that process during and after January.

How many hypnotherapy sessions are needed for habit change?
It varies, but many clients notice reductions in cravings and emotional triggers within a few sessions.

 

Ready To Make Dry January Easier?

If you’re planning to take part this year and would like support staying on track, dealing with cravings or building healthier habits, hypnotherapy can make a real difference. You’ll learn practical techniques as well as benefiting from the deep sense of calm and focus that hypnosis brings.

If anxiety has been influencing habits or coping patterns, this page explains how anxiety hypnotherapy in Ely can support calm, sustainable change.

If you’d like to find out more about my hypnotherapy sessions in Ely & Newmarket (or online), feel free to get in touch – I’d be happy to help you make this January your calmest and most successful yet.

To your health and happiness,

Dan Regan

Hypnotherapy in Ely & Newmarket

 

Find out more about anxiety hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket: Anxiety Hypnotherapy

Do you need some help to take back control over your alcohol consumption and habits? Book your Complimentary Hypnotherapy Strategy Session now: Appointments

Find out what hundreds of people have said after their hypnotherapy sessions with me: Hypnotherapy Testimonials

And check out these awesome hypnosis downloads that can start helping you right away with anxiety, stress, low self-esteem and more (and be sure to check out all the reviews too): Hypnosis Downloads