How about trying the “0 alcohol” challenge for a month? Michel Reynaud, honorary professor of psychiatry and addictology and president of the Addictions Actions Fund, “Dry January” or “dry January” for the second year. According to him, if the government has given up supporting this action launched by about thirty associations, despite its numerous benefits, it is the alcohol lobby’s fault.
Physical and psychological benefits
“Dry January above all allows us to perceive all the circumstances in which we drink, and why we are led to drink. There are physical interests, but psychic interest is more important still”, assures the professor on Europe 1 . “You analyze your consumption and your moments of consumption. Is it to relax on the way home? To fall asleep? Because you take cheese or meat? “
The benefits of a month without alcohol are numerous and can also be seen, according to Michel Reynaud, physically. “You feel more relaxed, you sleep better, and you feel better focused. You lose a little weight, as long as you don’t rush on the chocolate to compensate. You have prettier skin. The tension goes down because one of the leading causes of hypertension is excessive alcohol consumption. “
In addition, you will save money. For the winners of the challenge, the associations also note “benefits at six months, because we know that those who make this” dry January “reduce on average their consumption of a drink per day,” said the professor.
“Wine is so part of our culture” that we “refuse to see the dangers”
So why has the government given up on supporting the countryside via Public Health France? According to Michel Reynaud, it is because of the wine lobby and the importance of this product for the French. “Wine is so part of our culture, our wealth, our pleasures … It is one of the first parts of our imports and profits abroad,” he recalls. “So we say to ourselves that we have to preserve it and we refuse to see the main dangers.”
“In addition, the alcohol lobby is doing everything to block effective measures,” he notes, while an editorial in the French wine review recently regretted that associations “make fear reign by associating wine with death and cancer”.
For the president of the Action Addictions Fund, this is indeed the case: “Wine is associated with death, cancer, like all alcoholic drinks. Domestic violence, violence against children … best psychotropic, the most subtle, and at the same time the most dangerous. What we want is that the French perceive this part and choose with full knowledge of the facts. “
“Viticulture and the alcohol lobby in general, under the cover of the bon vivant, consumption of esthetes by people who drink expensive and quality wine, mask the heavy drinker – that is to say, people who drink cheap wines, “said Michel Reynaud. “We know that 80% of the alcohol sold is bought by 20%; either by heavy drinkers at risk and / or dependent, and they [les lobbys] need this population there. “
This alcohol-free month is especially aimed at heavy drinkers, but not at dependent people who, themselves, must turn to listening platforms.
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