However, regardless of how good your intentions are, there’s a risk that your friends might not respond positively to the goals you’ve set yourself. Dean says it’s best to get them on your side from the start, and ask them to support you in your quest for moderation. “Make sure your friends and family know how important their cheerleading is, and how grateful you are. One exception to this is your heaviest-drinking friends: telling them could make them feel bad about themselves and they may try to talk you out of it, or undermine your determination. With those people, try and change the situations where you see them: meet them during the day for lunch or coffee, or go to the cinema.” As well as asking friends for support, Dean monitors her drinking by using Drinkaware’s Track & Calculate Units app. “There are loads of apps for this or you can just note it down. It sounds crazy but monitoring what you drink does actually make you drink less – simply by bringing awareness to it.” Anyone who has used a diet app or fitness tracker will know that when we have to report our behaviour, we often moderate it, even if we’re only telling our phones about what we’ve been getting up to.