‘La rentrée’
September has a very different feeling from most months of the year.
The holidays are ending. Children are going back to school. Work calendars suddenly fill up again. The suitcase is back in the loft and, after weeks of barbecues, restaurant meals, airport drinks, late nights and the occasional afternoon glass of wine, normal life starts again.
The French have a wonderful expression for it: “la rentrée” — literally the return. You will also hear la rentrée des classes, the return to school. But culturally, la rentrée has a much broader meaning. It represents the moment when France returns to normal life after the summer holidays: back to work, back to school, back to routines and back to reality.
Perhaps we should borrow the idea.
Because September can be an ideal opportunity for a health reset — particularly if summer involved eating and drinking rather more than you intended.
Why Do We Eat and Drink More During the Summer?
Summer disrupts routine, and that is part of its appeal.
You’re away from work. You’re staying in a hotel. Dinner is later. The weather is warm. Friends come round. There are weddings, festivals, barbecues and holidays.
Then there is the airport. For some reason, a beer at 10.30 in the morning can suddenly seem perfectly reasonable once you’ve passed through airport security.
On holiday, the normal rules change.
A lunchtime beer becomes a bottle of wine with dinner. A cocktail by the pool becomes another before going out. If you’re staying all-inclusive, the fact that drinks have effectively already been paid for can provide another reason to have one.
The same happens with food.
Breakfast becomes a buffet. Lunch is followed by an ice cream. Dinner is three courses. Then you return home and realise your clothes feel slightly tighter, you’re sleeping badly and you’re considerably more tired than you were before your supposedly relaxing holiday.
None of this means the holiday was a mistake.
The more interesting question is what happens next.
The Danger Is Bringing the Holiday Home With You
A week or two of indulgence is one thing.
The bigger problem can be when temporary holiday behaviours quietly become normal behaviours.
Perhaps you didn’t normally drink on Monday evenings before the summer, but you did on holiday.
You come home and Monday wine continues.
Maybe drinks started earlier during the holiday. Once you’re home, you find yourself thinking about a drink at 5pm rather than 7pm.
Or perhaps you simply became accustomed to drinking every day.
This is where September’s return to routine can actually work in your favour.
Rather than viewing routine as boring, use it as an opportunity to reset your habits.
September Is the Second January
January gets all the attention when it comes to fresh starts.
New year. New diet. New gym membership. Dry January.
But September arguably makes more sense.
You’re not recovering from Christmas. The weather is still reasonably good. There are several months before the festive season and everyday routines are naturally re-establishing themselves anyway.
September gives us a natural psychological dividing line:
That was summer. This is what I do now.
You don’t necessarily need an extreme diet.
You don’t necessarily need to give up alcohol completely.
And you certainly don’t need to punish yourself for enjoying your holiday.
A reset can simply mean deciding which summer habits you want to leave behind.
Start With the 6pm Moment
One of the most useful things you can do is identify when drinking has become automatic.
For many people, it isn’t actually 10pm after several drinks that’s the critical moment.
It’s 6pm and the first one.
You finish work.
You walk into the kitchen.
You open the fridge.
You start preparing dinner.
And almost without thinking, you pour a glass of wine or open a beer.
That’s a habit loop.
September gives you the opportunity to interrupt it.
Change what you do when you arrive home. Have something alcohol-free ready. Go for a short walk. Make a cup of tea. Exercise before dinner. Delay your first drink. Decide in advance which nights you’re going to drink rather than making the decision while standing in front of the fridge.
Small changes can be surprisingly powerful when they’re repeated.
Make Your September Reset Measurable
Don’t simply decide to “be healthier”.
That’s too vague.
Instead, spend September collecting information about yourself.
Track how many days each week you drink.
Track approximately how many UK alcohol units you consume.
Notice when you drink more than you planned.
Look at how much you’re spending on alcohol.
Weigh yourself if weight is one of your concerns.
Pay attention to sleep.
Notice your energy levels in the morning.
After a few weeks, compare how you feel.
You may discover that what felt like “a few drinks” during an ordinary week adds up to considerably more.
What If Cutting Back Is Harder Than You Expected?
This is another useful part of a September reset.
It can tell you something.
If you decide you’re going to drink less but repeatedly find yourself drinking more than you intended, don’t simply abandon the experiment.
Ask why.
- Is it habit?
- Stress?
- Craving?
- Boredom?
- Social pressure?
Do you find stopping after the first drink particularly difficult?
For some people, behavioural changes are enough. Others may benefit from professional support. And for appropriately assessed individuals, there are also medications used in the treatment of alcohol problems, including Naltrexone.
Naltrexone affects opioid-receptor pathways involved in alcohol’s reinforcing effects and has substantial clinical evidence supporting its use in alcohol use disorder. A major systematic review published in JAMA found that naltrexone was associated with reduced return to heavy drinking .
Medication isn’t appropriate for everyone and requires proper clinical assessment. It also shouldn’t be viewed as a magic tablet that removes the need to think about drinking habits.
But it is important for people to know that medical options exist.
The September Reset Isn’t About Being Perfect
Perhaps this is the most important point.
A reset doesn’t have to mean:
No alcohol. No carbohydrates. Gym every day. Bed by 9pm.
That kind of transformation might last until the second Friday in September.
Instead, think of la rentrée.
You’re simply returning.
Back to normal meals.
Back to regular sleep.
Back to moving more.
Back to drinking less frequently.
Back to knowing how much you’re actually drinking.
Back to making conscious decisions rather than allowing the extended summer to make them for you.
And if your summer drinking has highlighted that alcohol has become more difficult to control than you’d like, September is also a perfectly good time to do something about it.
You don’t have to wait for January.
Summer is over. The routine is returning. Perhaps it’s time for your own September reset too.
Find out more: www.drinklessmethod.co.uk