Even more break benefits

As promised, here are five more benefits of temporarily stopping drinking. From leading by example to saving money, the benefits of taking a break extend beyond your health.

Not touching a drop of alcohol for a period of time provides several benefits. For example, you read in a previous newsletter that IkPas makes you more aware of your alcohol habits, that you will feel physically and mentally fitter, and that many participants also drink an average of 30% less alcohol in the following months. But there is more, because you can also add the five points below to the list of benefits.

6. Learning to say 'NO'
'No thanks, no alcohol for me, I participate in IkPas'. Under the guise of participating in this challenge, you can undisturbed all alcohol during this period. Although the empty agenda - read: the few pleasant meetings or other parties - also helps at the moment. For later, when the weather is allowed and possible, with IkPas you have a great excuse to decline the alcohol on offer.

7. Good example makes good following
You have more influence on your child's (later) alcohol use than you may think. Your child mainly learns by doing what you do. If your child sees you drinking a glass of wine with dinner every night, it is more likely that they consider drinking alcohol to be normal. Research shows that children think more positively about alcohol when their parents drink. Children with a positive attitude towards drinking drink more on average than other children. By -temporarily- not drinking alcohol yourself, you are telling your child that drinking alcohol is not automatically part of it, but is always a conscious choice. Young people of the age that they are allowed to drink alcohol themselves are also sensitive to this.

8. Breaking Habit Behavior
An alcohol break of 30 to 40 days will help you break your habitual behavior and start creating new ones. This way you actively work with IkPas on a lasting change in your lifestyle. Curious about how to replace old habits with new ones? Read here how psychotherapist Carien Karsten replaced the desire for her regular wine with a new tasty ritual.

9. Hello buddy less
A nice side effect of stopping drinking alcohol is that you can lose weight. For example, 32% of the IkPas participants indicates that they have lost weight during the challenge. Read why you lose weight by giving up alcohol in 'Losing weight and alcohol'.

10. You save money
Those few specialty beers or that bottle of wine with the weekly shopping add up considerably. For example, 55% of the IkPas participants noted that not drinking saves money. Logical, because a simple calculation example shows that not drinking alcohol is a real saving factor. Suppose you buy two bottles of wine every week for 5 euros a bottle. In that case you give such a
€520 per year on alcohol. And then we don't even count the terraces, evenings out for dinner or going out. Not drinking will give you such a nice holiday!

Encore: no hangovers
IkPas creates more awareness, so you are less likely to drink (too much) alcohol afterwards. Never again (too much) drinking also means: no longer having a hangover. This quickly reduces the number of mornings you wake up with a bursting headache and a protesting stomach to zero! Think of all the time you gain with this and in which you can now do something fresh and fruity. Yes!