Alcohol harder to give up than anything else, study reveals

A new study about what Brits would be least willing to give up for a month has found that 27% of people would find it harder to sacrifice alcohol than coffee, sex, meat and much more.

January is known for being the month when people challenge themselves to give something up. An estimated 4.2 million people attempted Dry January in 2019, with 250,000 taking on Veganuary. However, a recent survey has revealed that alcohol is the thing people are least willing to give up for a month, closely followed by coffee, deodorant, and chocolate.

Men are less likely than women to want to put down the bottle, with 29% of men compared to 25% of women saying they’re unwilling to give it a go. On the other hand, women are more attached to their deodorant than men, with 27% of women compared to 22% of men finding it most difficult to give up smelling nice.

When it comes to cities, Newcastle is the least willing to go dry, with a whopping 37% of people saying it would be hardest, while Edinburgh would find sobriety easiest, with only 16% of votes going to booze.

The survey, carried out by commercial coffee retailers rijo42, also revealed that suppressing a coffee habit is equally undesirable for men and women, coming in at second place overall on the list of things people are least willing to give up, with 26% of the votes.

Other interesting insights from the survey of 2008 people include that men are far less willing to give up sex than women (27% vs 18%), women are much more attached to tea than men (also 27% vs 18%), and 16-24 year olds are least likely to give up social media (33%).

When it came to profession, the survey found that retail workers are most unwilling to give up alcohol (32%), HR workers can’t live without social media and takeaways (33%), and legal sector workers are most attached to coffee, sex, and meat (30%).

Which of the following would you be least willing to give up for a full month?

27% Alcohol
26% Coffee
25% Deodorant
24% Chocolate
23% Social media
22% Tea
22% Sex
21% Takeaways
20% Meat
19% TV subscriptions (e.g. Netflix)
16% Dining Out
15% Favourite TV show
13% Google Maps

Although New Year’s resolutions have been a thing for (literally) millennia, the recent popularisation of events like Dry January and Veganuary (both founded in 2014) have contributed to a resurgence in abstaining from something in January.

Sean Griffin, Director rijo42 said of the findings: ‘Everyone’s got their vice. For some it’s a glass of wine at the end of the day, for others it’s a coffee every morning. We knew that there would be some key things that people would be particularly unwilling to give up but were surprised by some of the other results.

‘This survey proved that there are lots of things that are difficult to sacrifice for a full month, so anyone who manages to start their New Year with a successful month off from alcohol, chocolate, meat, or anything else gets our respect.’