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I wonder how many Irish people woke up this morning with headaches after getting out of the bad to celebrate a dry January month?
It's alarming to think of how one would intentionally get drunk to "reward" for refraining from drinking alcohol for a month.
A dry January has obviously many health benefits: losing weight, sleeping better, lowering blood pressure and lowering cholesterol levels.
In addition, alcohol being a depressant, not consuming alcohol can help heavy drinkers significantly improve their mental health.
And do not forget that it also gives your liver a well deserved break.
But a dry January should also consist of using this time without drinking to think about your own bad eating habits.
There is a real risk that heavy drinkers will be convinced that abstinence every year is irrevocable proof that they have no problem.
Not drinking for four weeks may suggest that you are not an alcoholic, but that does not mean that you do not have a problem with the demon drink.
According to a 2016 survey, it is alarming to think that only 3% of Irish people consider themselves heavy drinkers.
I'm sorry to announce the news, but if you drink too much while drinking regularly, you have a problem.
I would be the first to hold my hand here. I have never had a problem staying out of alcohol for long periods of time, but I usually drank excessive alcohol every time I touched the substance.
In my case, as the song of country music star Carroll Baker says, a song is a song too many and a hundred is not enough – which is certainly also the case for more than 3% of the Irish.
You only have to consume six units of alcohol to be considered an excessive drinker, which does not seem to be too hectic.
One unit is about half a pint of medium-strength blond beer (4%), or a 125ml glbad of wine is about 1.4 units.
It is recommended not to consume more than 14 units per week, but anyone who painted the city in red last night would have easily drunk much more than that.
The fact that we seem to need a dry January is disturbing in itself. Most EU countries, apart from our closest neighbors, do not feel the need to stay sober in January.
Indeed, they can drink in moderation on a Saturday night, especially Mediterranean cultures.
For example, in Spain, they mainly drink a 20 cl draft beer, called "Cana", and take about the same time as us, the Irish, with our pint.
Whenever I went out drinking in Madrid, I had the impression that local revelers looked at me as if I had two heads when they saw me ordering a pint – and spilling the equivalent. three canas at once.
(Image: PA)
For our cousins in the Mediterranean, craic is about enjoying good company of friends while savoring the taste of their drinks and tapas during an evening.
When you get home, it's not about plastering your plaster, then stuffing a kebab or curry chips. This is unfortunately what many Irish people still consider a good evening.
Some readers of this article will argue that Ireland has no problem with alcoholic beverages, as we are not among the top 20 countries in terms of alcohol consumption.
But this list includes the likes of South Korea, Portugal, France and even Andorra. Yet none of them has a culture of excessive alcohol consumption like us.
The public intoxication that you see regularly at Temple Bar is simply not socially acceptable in the aforementioned countries. You will not find their emergency rooms filled with drunkards either on Saturday night.
The Irish government needs to take much more proactive steps to help change our culture of alcohol consumption.
For starters, they should reduce the price of non-alcohol beers, because it's dubious pricing that costs the same as a normal ale.
I would drink that.
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