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Giving up alcohol for Sober October? Our newsletter can help you reach your goal

Congrats! You've decided to put your drinking on ice for a month. Let's get started!
Photo illustration by Beck Harlan
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NPR
Congrats! You've decided to put your drinking on ice for a month. Let's get started!

Curious about trying Sober October, the global challenge to give up alcohol for 31 days to benefit your health and raise awareness for cancer?

Life Kit is here to help. Staying sober for a whole month is harder than one might think. How do you actually avoid the temptation of drinking in the real world?

That's why we've created Life Kit's Guide to Zero-Alcohol Month. It's a free, limited-run newsletter series that offers expert strategies and best practices on how to give up alcohol for a whole month.

How to sign up

To sign up for this one-month newsletter series, click here and enter your email address. Over the course of a month, we'll send you a weekly newsletter with tips on how to stick to your no-alcohol journey. Sign up at any time to start your journey.

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Sober October strategies, straight to your inbox

Each email we'll send is designed to tackle a different challenge of your alcohol-free journey.

  • The health benefits of taking a break from alcohol: How it affects your body and mind.
  • Making your alcohol-free plan: Strategies and techniques to reduce the temptation to drink. 
  • Dealing with social pressure: How to deal with parties and gatherings — and scripts for what to say when people offer you a drink. 
  • Mocktails and motivation: Delicious, alcohol-free drink recipes, plus a mindfulness exercise to keep you on track. 
  • Reflection time: Grab your notebook. Questions to ask yourself as your alcohol-free month comes to a close. 

After this newsletter series ends, you'll receive weekly emails from Life Kit on lifestyle topics such as health, money, relationships and more.

Click here to sign up for Life Kit's Guide to Zero-Alcohol Month.

A quick note: If alcohol is causing you stress or harm, seek medical advice. There are a variety of treatments, including counseling, medications and support groups, to help people who want to end that dependency. This includes Alcoholics Anonymous, which has helped countless people. This guide from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism can help you find a program that's right for you.


The digital story was edited by Arielle Retting and Meghan Keane, with art direction by Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.

Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or sign up for our newsletter.

Copyright 2025 NPR

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Malaka Gharib is the deputy editor and digital strategist on NPR's global health and development team. She covers topics such as the refugee crisis, gender equality and women's health. Her work as part of NPR's reporting teams has been recognized with two Gracie Awards: in 2019 for How To Raise A Human, a series on global parenting, and in 2015 for #15Girls, a series that profiled teen girls around the world.