More than 900 Luxembourgers lasted a month without alcohol
The “sober buddy challenge”, the Luxembourg version of “Dry January” presented by the Cancer Foundation, is a success for its second edition.
Fight against cancer
The “sober buddy challenge”, the Luxembourg version of “Dry January” presented by the Cancer Foundation, is a success for its second edition.
A month without drinking a drop of alcohol. For the 1,255 participants in the “Sober Buddy Challenge”, the instructions were simple. This Luxembourg version of the international challenge called “Dry January” launched by the Cancer Foundation was successful for 77% of its participants. If some have therefore succumbed to the temptation of alcoholic beverages before the end of the month, 97% of participants say they are ready to take up the challenge next year.
After tobacco, “alcohol is the second risk factor for cancer and it is a factor that can easily be avoided”, underlines Lucienne Thommes, director of the Cancer Foundation in a press release published on Monday. Most of the participants who cracked did so during the last week of the challenge. An encouraging observation for the Foundation, which specifies that the short-term benefits of stopping alcohol can already be seen during this period.
In addition, 86% of ”challengers” think they will limit their consumption in the future. Surveyed by the Cancer Foundation, the latter were noticed more benefits following the cessation of alcoholic beverages. 46% of participants said they had better quality sleep, 36% said they had saved money, while 33% said they had lost weight or felt better about themselves. Finally, 25% of people who completed the challenge noticed that they found it easier to stay focused.
Benefits to highlight, when we look at the statistics related to excessive alcohol consumption in the country. According to Luxembourg’s latest “Health Profile” report published by the OECD, this consumption, even if it has slowly decreased over the past two decades, remains a major public health problem. Thus, the percentage of adults to report episodes of binge drinking (heavy alcohol consumption) is the third highest in the European Union, after Denmark and Romania, with more than one person in three regularly reporting such behaviors in 2019.
The second edition of this “Sober Buddy Challenge” is therefore an opportunity to recall that alcohol consumption can have an impact on cancers of the mouth, liver, throat, esophagus and large intestine. After the Luxembourgers, it is now the Belgians who empty their glass, with the Mineral Tour which is currently taking place in the country.
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