How to try a dry January in Richmond

“I grew up in England and started drinking at a young age — very much a social drinker, and I let drinking define me. I would romanticize a Manhattan as a reason to keep on drinking,” Sidle said. “Drinking was my thing.

“Prior to 2022, I had quit on and off for years, and I stopped for the last time in April of 2022. I have a lot of friends who have had liver transplants, and I also have lost a number of friends to alcohol. It was a very personal (journey) where I saw how much drinking destroys important things.”

Since quitting alcohol, Sidle said she has an improved memory, increased ability to concentrate, her skin is healthier and her body feels healthier as well. Even the whites of her eyes are whiter.

Sidle is the owner of Point 5, an alcohol-free bottle shop at 3435 W. Cary St. that sells bottles of various spirits that will not give you a hangover. If you ever need inspiration for your own dry January, Sidle might be it.

Dry January is a growing trend where you abstain from alcohol as a personal challenge and for a “reset” after the holidays to kick-start a healthier year ahead. About 21% of U.S. adults reported they would participate in dry January in a 2024 survey by Morning Consult.

Earlier this month, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new advisory warning Americans that alcohol consumption can increase their cancer risk. He also called for an updated health warning label on alcoholic beverages.

Alcohol consumption is to blame for nearly 1 million preventable cancer cases in the U.S. over the past decade, according to the study. About 20,000 people die every year from those alcohol-related cancer cases, according to his advisory. Consuming alcohol raises the risk of developing at least seven types of cancer, including liver, breast and throat cancer, research found.

Bottles of beer, wine and liquor already carry warning labels that say pregnant women should not drink and that alcohol consumption can impair someone’s ability to drive a car. Murthy’s proposed label would go even further, raising awareness about the risk for cancer, too. However, his proposed label would require a rare approval from Congress.

Alcohol consumption on rise, especially among women

Richmond’s own medical professionals have similar ideas about drinking and health.

“Alcohol consumption has been steadily increasing, especially during the pandemic,” said Juan Pablo Arab, director of the Alcohol Research Center at Virginia Commonwealth University. “People who were heavy drinkers before were drinking more than usual and were admitted to the hospital for alcohol-related problems. That (behavior) is returning to pre-pandemic levels, but alcohol consumption remains in the higher levels compared to before.”

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, excessive alcohol use is a leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. and about 178,000 people die from excessive drinking each year. These deaths occur from both drinking alcohol over several years or drinking too much on one occasion.

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine discovered a link to the pandemic. Alcohol use increased during the pandemic and remained elevated after it ended. More cause for concern is that heavy drinking increased by over 20% during the pandemic and continued to increase for two years after.

The highest risk group for drinking-related health issues is young women, according to Arab. While there is no clarity in the contributing factors to this increase, the stress of the pandemic and change in social activity with more people being isolated can lead to more drinking, especially among young women. 78% of those heavy drinkers are between 15 and 44 years old.

“We are now seeing people with alcohol-related issues in their 20s and 30s. In the past, 10 to 15 years ago, it used to be mostly males in their 60s, but now the landscape has changed,” Arab said.

Common drinking-related issues, according to the CDC, include mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety; relationship problems with family and friends; and increased problems at work or school.

Ever hear that a glass of wine each day was good for you? Doctors have now discovered that drinking is not healthy for anyone.

“For doctors, we have this notion that alcohol is good from a cardiovascular perspective. Now we know that there is no benefit of alcohol use — and there are many harms. What are the most important harms? Number one is liver disease. Number two is cardiovascular disease — increased risk of a stroke. Number three is cancer,” Arab said.

More ways to go alcohol-free socially

If you’ve ever spent a Saturday at a winery, it may feel like the majority of social and leisure activities are now centered around drinking. But they don’t have to be. More options for engaging socially without alcohol have expanded in Richmond.

Point 5’s Sidle is in the business of giving people nonalcoholic options that they can get excited about. Her Carytown shop opened in 2022 shortly after Sidle quit drinking, and it has a curated selection of the best bottles in the sans-alcohol business.

The walls are literally lined with bottles you can pour for sipping drinks, cocktail mixers and snifter-stuffers. While we were conducting an interview, several passersby entered the shop shortly after 11 a.m. on a Friday to sample her wares and bring a few bottles home for the snowy weekend.

“We sell nonalcoholic beverages,” Sidle said. “I stopped drinking myself and started looking at things online, and one of the things that I thought would be really neat was to have a place people could go and try things, that was community-based, for the sober curious.”

Her shop, which looks a bit like a pharmacy stashed with interesting concoctions in a rectangular room headed by a bar-topped counter, is the perfect retort to your average bar.

If you are curious to try a sober lifestyle, there’s nothing like the present.