How you can join the ranks of the part-time sober

Dry January may be over. But many people are cutting back on alcohol, spurred by increasing concern about the health impacts of even minimal drinking, the popularity of nonalcoholic beers and fancy mocktails and the rise of sober-curious influencers, among other reasons.

A scientific report released in January found that having one drink a day was linked to an increased risk of liver cirrhosis, esophageal cancer and oral cancer. The risk of developing some cancers, including breast and colorectal cancer, starts with any alcohol use.

Almost half of Americans, and 65% of Gen Zers, said they plan to drink less alcohol in 2025, according to a survey by research firm NCSolutions that included 1,131 adults ages 21 and over.

But booze—and the temptation to drink it—can feel like it’s everywhere when you’re trying to imbibe less. Making rules for yourself can help you resist, many of the part-time sober say.

Picking your day(s)

Some people limit their drinking to certain days of the week—and have to get creative to stick to it. Tina Cornell, 56 years old, loves wine and used to have it pretty much daily. But, starting around two years ago, she started drinking only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. (She does have the occasional slip-up, she admits.) She cut down after a few friends had health scares, after she started hearing more about alcohol and cancer risk and because she noticed that, as she got older, drinking made it hard to get uninterrupted sleep.

The problem is that sometimes Sunday or Monday night rolls around and there’s still an open bottle of wine in the fridge. Cornell can’t bring herself to dump it. So she’ll sauté vegetables with it. Or she’ll encourage her husband to drink it. “He’s better about breaking the rules and forgiving himself," says Cornell, who lives in Northampton, Mass., and works in the jewelry industry.

About 53% of American adults 18 and older regularly consume alcohol, meaning they had at least 12 drinks in the past year, according to 2018 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A smaller but still significant number of people are heavy drinkers. About 5.8% of those 12 and older, or about 16.4 million people, reported heavy alcohol use during the prior month, according to 2023 federal survey data. For men, that is defined as having five or more drinks in any single day or 15 or more per week. For women, it’s four or more drinks in one day or eight or more per week.

Picking your drink

Patrick Martin skips big meetups to avoid alcohol.

Some of the part-time sober say the drink they choose is critical to keeping to their self-imposed limits. When Hope Traficanti cut back on drinking as she neared 50, she stopped keeping wine and liquor at home. When out with friends, she avoids the mixed drinks she used to go for because with sweet cocktails, “you don’t taste the alcohol," and, in the past, she’d imbibe more than she had planned. Now, when she does drink, she sticks to straight whiskey on the rocks. “You kind of know how much alcohol you’re consuming," says Traficanti, now 50, who works in international development and lives in Queens, N.Y. This makes it easier to keep to her one-drink-maximum rule, she says.

Patrick Martin, 33, reserves alcohol for special occasions, like to mark a business success or when lingering over dinner at a bucket-list restaurant. He skips the industry parties and big meetups, situations where he gets anxious and previously would reach for alcohol to cope. “I told myself, ‘Patrick, if you say yes to this, you’ll end up drinking,’" said Martin, who works in digital advertising and video production in New York.

Dr. Shannon Dowler advises patients who want to cut back on drinking to choose a photo that encapsulates why they’re making the change and use it as their phone lock screen or computer screen saver. A photo of them skiing, if improving fitness is their motivator, for example. Or of themselves looking fabulous in a bathing suit, if weight loss is the goal. “It’s a visual reminder of what’s inspiring you to make a change for your health," says Dowler, a member of the board of directors for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Thinking of the morning after

Johnny Goudie abides by a two-drink limit.

Scheduling a morning bike ride or run keeps Ian Andersen, 40, from going beyond his usual limit of three light beers during nights out with friends. Knowing how miserable it feels to exercise with a hangover is a powerful motivator, he says. It also gives him a ready excuse to turn down friends’ offers of a fourth beer. Andersen, who co-founded an app to help people cut down or eventually quit drinking alcohol, also drinks a glass of water between beers, what’s known as Zebra striping on social media.

Johnny Goudie instituted a two-drink limit this January, after a particularly boozy holiday season. “I won’t have that, ‘Man, if this feels good, one more will feel great,’" that he says happens with a third, which then often leads to a fourth. And he makes it a rule to drink a glass of water between his alcoholic drinks. Then he’ll switch to Diet Coke. “I don’t like crazy mocktails because I think it’s just weird to pay like, $15, for something without booze in it," says Goudie, a 56-year-old musician and podcast host in Austin, Texas.

The biggest problems with sticking to his limit—or staying away from alcohol on some nights altogether—is the easy access to booze at work. (He often plays at bars and clubs, where fans buy him drinks, and private parties, where there’s free—and free-flowing—alcohol.)

And then there’s the boredom during the several hours of downtime he usually has between setting up for a gig and performing. Instead of sitting around the venue—with the alcohol close at hand—he leaves. He has gone home to walk his dog, Rosie, and to his grandmother’s house to chop vegetables. To fill the downtime at gigs that are farther afield, he brings a notebook and a set of watercolors.

“I’ll just try and make something as opposed to destroying my physical health," he said.

Write to Andrea Petersen at andrea.petersen@wsj.com