The guide

Cutting back and dry stretches, measured on your nights

By GyroscopeUpdated November 15, 20269 sources

Pick the one evening that costs you most and change it first, by finishing earlier, swapping the last glass for a 0% one or taking that night off. Then test it with one usual week against one lighter or dry week, on the same watch or ring, starting with your overnight heart rate. If you drink heavily every day, talk to a doctor before you stop.

People tend to think of cutting back as all or nothing. Either you quit for a month on willpower, or you keep going the way you were. Either way, people rarely see what changed, because they never measured it. A smaller change you can see working on your own nights is a lot easier to keep.

Where should you start?

Cutting back is like paying down credit cards. You’ll get the most back by starting with the one that charges the most interest. For most people that’s one or two evenings a week, the ones with the most drinks and the latest finish.

Write down a normal week, night by night, with each pour’s size and strength. Your week turns it into US drinks and shows where it sits against NIAAA’s lines (8 or more a week for women and 15 or more for men, or 4 or more on any day for women and 5 or more for men). A lot of people find their week is bigger than they thought, because a restaurant glass of wine is 1.35 US drinks and a craft pint is close to 2.

You’d be in good company. In Gallup’s August 2025 poll, the share of US adults who drink fell to 54%, the lowest in nearly 90 years of asking, and drinkers said they were drinking less, and less often.

How do you change one evening?

Pick the version that fits the evening. On our engine, for a 150 lb woman who usually has two 6 oz glasses of 13.5% wine with dinner at 8pm and 9pm and goes to bed at 11, each one gives back this much alcohol-free sleep.

Keep the parts of the evening you like. The glass in your hand, the dinner and the people can all stay. The less-cost evening has the full set of changes.

How do you test it on yourself?

Your heart rate at night is the clearest place drinking shows up, and it moves fast in both directions. In a 2025 study in Munich, 40 healthy adults wore a smartwatch for 9 days. Night heart rate went from 63.6 beats a minute on 3 dry days to 66.6 on 3 drinking days, and back to 64.9 on the 3 dry days after. In 20,968 WHOOP members, one drink more than usual, against one less, came with a sleeping heart rate about 2.5 beats higher. That’s why a seven-day test is enough to see it.

1. Week one, as usual. Drink the way you normally do, and wear the same device every night. Note which nights you drank and when you finished.
2. Week two, with the change. Either no drinks at all, or your one change, such as every last drink finished with dinner.
3. Compare the two weeks. Look at the average overnight heart rate first, then HRV, then how rested you feel. A drop of a couple of beats a minute is about what the studies above would predict.
4. Keep what works. If the second week was better, you’ve found your number. Try the change for another two weeks and check again.

If you don’t wear anything, use a notebook. Write down what time you woke in the night and how rested you felt, each morning, for both weeks.

What your watch or ring sees explains each device’s numbers.

What does a dry month do?

A month moves more than a week. A 2018 study followed 141 moderate to heavy drinkers. Ninety-four of them chose to stop drinking for a month, and 47 chose to carry on. The dry group had been drinking about 258 g a week, roughly 18 US drinks. After the month, their insulin resistance was down 25.9%, their blood pressure about 6%, and their weight 1.5%. The group that kept drinking didn’t change. People chose their own group, so it isn’t a trial, but the changes weren’t explained by diet, exercise or smoking.

A dry month (Dry January is the best-known version) is a good next step after a dry week, and you can measure it the same way.

What can you drink instead?

• 0% beer. Under US labeling rules, “non-alcoholic” beer can have up to 0.5% alcohol, about a tenth of a US drink in a 12 oz bottle. “Alcohol free” means none, so pick that if you need zero.
• Sparkling water with lime. It looks like a drink, takes no explaining and costs nothing to your night.
• A white wine spritzer. Half a 5 oz glass of 12% wine topped up with sparkling water is half a US drink in a full glass.
• A mocktail. Ask for it less sweet if you’re watching calories.

When does cutting back need a doctor?

If you drink heavily every day, talk to a doctor before you stop, because withdrawal can become dangerous. MedlinePlus says withdrawal symptoms usually start within 8 hours of the last drink, though they can start days later, and tend to peak by 24 to 72 hours. They range from anxiety, shakiness and nightmares to a serious condition that can quickly become life-threatening.

NIAAA gives doctors one quick question to ask: “How many times in the past year have you had (4 for women, or 5 for men) or more drinks in a day?” An answer of one or more is a reason to talk it through with your doctor. NIAAA’s Rethinking Drinking site has free tools for making a change. When it’s a medical question has the rest.

Ways to stop or cut back has NIAAA’s tools step by step, the best non-alcoholic drinks has the swaps, and Dry January has what a month off does.