National Survey Reveals Dry January Doesn't Help Britons Cut Down Drinking Long Term

Dry January is now a distant memory, according to a new study, with almost one in FIVE Brits (17%) admitting to being hungover on the job at LEAST once or twice a week (on average).

The nationwide study of 2,000 working Britons by the alcohol reduction solution Nul has revealed just how often workers are turning up to their jobs nursing sore heads, fuzzy memories and a desperate need for carbs after overindulging the night before.

 The study suggests that as much as a quarter (25%) of those who experience regular hangovers on the job admit to spending the day clock watching, while 17% feel like they are ‘completely useless’.

In general, Brits say their productivity drops by a third when they have a hangover, so much so that 62% believe that they’d perform much better at work if they cut back on their drinking.

On average, the nation goes out drinking around three times a week and consumes at least five drinks over the course of seven days. The cumulative result is the loss of at least one full day’s worth of productivity every single week. 

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Similarly, Dry January doesn’t even make a dent in our alcohol habits long-term, with 39% saying that it does absolutely nothing to encourage them to drink any less throughout the year. 

In fact, four in ten (40%) say that taking a complete break from alcohol in January just made them want to drink more when it was over, so much so that three-quarters (75%) went off the wagon and straight back into the pub as soon as it was over.  

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Dr Zandra Bamford, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and IFS Therapy Specialist at Nul, notes: “These findings demonstrate a classic alcohol deprivation effect (ADE) response. Because effectively cutting down on alcohol consumption isn’t as simple as doing Dry January for most people.”

“In fact, when a person has been abstaining from alcohol, they can experience a surge in craving and consumption when drinking is resumed as a direct response to the deprivation. This is often confused with a lack of willpower, but actually, it's a biological response linked to the brain’s reward system. During cold turkey detoxes or abstinence-based rehabs, the sudden biochemical disturbance causes alcohol to feel even more enticing and rewarding. This is why understanding ADE plays such a critical role in understanding why people relapse.”

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Despite knowing what the consequences would be when they went out the night before, a quarter (25%) feel annoyed at themselves for being hungover at work the next day, describing it as stressful (19%) and embarrassing (14%). 

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One in three (32%) try to hide how they are feeling from their work colleagues, while 32% prefer to be open about feeling rough.

Chain-drinking copious amounts of coffee and caffeine (37%) is the go-to way to ride out a hangover at work, followed by calling in sick (26%), disappearing outside for ‘a breath of fresh air’ (16%), staying on mute during video calls (12%), avoiding certain colleagues (11%) and putting on lots of make-up (10%). 

Others rely on survival tactics like tucking into a big fry up (9%), ordering fast food to the office (8%), pretending you have a doctor’s appointment to sneak off early (6%) and blaming bad Wi-Fi for slow reactions (5%)

5% have even fallen asleep on the loo, while a further 5% have worn sunglasses around the office.

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Even though Brits have developed various coping mechanisms, one in ten (11%) admit they have fallen asleep at their desk when battling a hangover, while 8% have had to leave a meeting to be sick.   

6% have sent the wrong email to a client, 4% have ended up sitting in the wrong meeting, a further 4% have sent an inappropriate email to a colleague, and 3% have complained about a colleague on email and accidentally cc’d them in. 

It’s no surprise that 86% say that there is nothing worse than going to work hungover, with 60% going a step further and saying they regularly vow never to drink again when they are nursing a heavy head.

Matus Maar, Founder of  Nul said: “People are waking up to the negative ways alcohol can impact life beyond just feeling hungover. This en masse return to drinking following Dry Jan shows why short-term, all-or-nothing approaches to alcohol reduction typically don't work. When people feel deprived for a month, they often end up drinking more heavily than before.

“That’s where treatments like Nul come in, based on a science-backed approach called The Sinclair Method (TMS) that can help reduce cravings and alcohol dependence, gradually. Whether you want to quit drinking altogether or just get better at knowing when to stop, like after a glass rather than a bottle, Nul helps people do it on their own terms.”

But it’s not just work that suffers as a result of a hangover, energy (52%), mood (43%) and happiness (25%) levels all drop, as do diet (30%) and exercise regimes (24%). One in ten (10%) say their relationship with their partner becomes strained, while 8% say their friendships are put under pressure.

Despite this, three quarters (76%) agree that drinking alcohol remains a key part of social and professional life, so much so that 82% say people are still surprised when people don’t drink alcohol on a night out.

The research highlights a familiar national ritual: big nights out followed by even bigger efforts to look normal the next day, all while silently counting down the hours until the working day is over.

BRITS SURVIVAL TACTICS WHEN HUNGOVER AT WORK:

1. Chain-drinking coffee and caffeine – 37%
2. Called in sick – 26%
3. Disappearing outside for a ‘breath of fresh air’ – 16%
4. Staying on mute – 12%
5. Avoiding certain colleagues – 11%
6. Putting on lots of make-up – 10%
7. Having a big fry up before work – 9%
8. Ordering fast food to the office – 8%
9. Pretending you have a doctor’s appointment – 6%
10. Sitting somewhere different in the office – 6%
11. Joining virtual meetings from bed – 6%
12. Telling your boss, you couldn’t come in because you’ve hurt yourself – 5%
13. Blaming bad Wi-Fi for slow reactions – 5%
14. Falling asleep in the loo – 5%
15. Blaming public transport for not coming in – 4%
16. Pretending your webcam isn’t working – 4%
17. Pretending you have no Wi-Fi so you can’t join meetings – 4%
18. Sneaking out to sleep in your car – 4%
19. Saying your laptop is broken – 3%
20. Pretending you have to nip out to meet a ‘client’ – 3%