You fought through Black (Eye) Friday, went down the pub on Christmas Eve, made cocktails on Christmas Day and consumed bubbly by the bottle on New Year's Eve. And now you're consumed by guilt. So you have resolved to give up the booze for January. Here is why you should not.1. The people most desperate to prove they can go without a drink are often problem drinkers. The British Liver Trust says it does not agree with dry months. Instead it suggests people drink sensibly throughout the year and have a few dry days every week.2. TS Eliot declared April to be the cruellest month. He was wrong, it's a dry January.3. It's such a cliché. Do you really want to be a cliché?4. Rather take advantage of a gym membership month, too. Psychological studies suggest that people who work out regularly tend to be moderate, controlled drinkers.5. A University of Alberta study recently demonstrated that a glass or two of red wine can be as beneficial as light exercise. It's packed with the antioxidant resveratrol, which produced similar benefits for the heart and muscular strength as physical exercise.6. Drinking makes you happier. It's those endorphins. A study from the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Centre (yes, it's funded by a winery) at the University of California used PET scans to demonstrate the release into the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal cortex. Of course, this might also explain addiction. Cheers.7. Alcohol is "good" for the heart. Obviously not if you're demolishing a bottle of vodka seven days a week, but drinking in moderation can reduce your chances of having a heart attack by 24%, according to a global study last year.8. What are you going to do if you're invited out on a date? Or for someone's birthday? Or by your boss? Sit there nursing a tomato juice and feeling like a saint?9. Oh, I've just remembered champagne can be good for the brain. Research by the University of Columbia recently demonstrated that champagne contained proteins beneficial for short-term memory.10. Winston Churchill did not do dry Januaries. "I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me," he noted. And he lived to 90. ©The Daily Telegraph..