Implications of The Student Experience

‘The Best Years of Our Lives’: Long-term Implications of The Student Experience

Impact’s Adam Goriparthi and Abbie Rodger explore a typical student’s week of binge drinking, social smoking and partying, asking the question: how much do these habits really affect your mental and physical health?

The student lifestyle can be an intense one for your body - excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption is simply the norm. For many, these substances enhance the experience (I can’t imagine walking into Ocean sober). But this raises a question: does the long-term impact of the student lifestyle outweigh the benefits?

Club nights, bar crawls, house parties – the nights-out that the pandemic didn’t allow us to have. A checkbox on the student experience, right? Surprisingly, up to 58% of students engage in ‘hazardous’ drinking habits and 70% reportedly binge drink weekly (typically characterised by consuming 4-5 drinks over 2 hours). Most of us will probably ease up post-uni, yet some binge drinkers are more likely to experience subsequent alcohol dependence and abuse. Alcohol abuse can have drastic effects including: a compromised immunity, greater risk of cancer and damage to the heart and liver.

Alcohol also partners well with poor mental health. It can increase feelings of anxiety and depression. When mood pathways in the brain are altered by alcohol, a disruption/ inhibition of neurotransmitter activity can temporarily trigger negative feelings. When maintained long-term, we develop a dependency on alcohol to overcome these feelings (or at least to distract ourselves), and this becomes a vicious cycle.

Why is this relevant? Well, drinking at university is fundamentally for getting very drunk. Some students don’t want to drink, but how are they supposed to belong if they don’t meet the expectations placed on them by peers and society? Indeed, students that don’t drink may find themselves worse off – often excluded from predominantly alcohol-fuelled events. The student experience can sometimes forget about teetotallers, as your sobriety is suddenly a determinant of your personal value. Naturally, there are social disadvantages to remaining sober, but your drinking choices really shouldn’t lessen your student experience. Remember: university is supposed to be enjoyable. Only you can decide what ‘enjoyable’ means to you and whether your idea of enjoyment involves alcohol, or not. Cigarette tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 toxins such as carbon monoxide, cyanide and tar, which are major contributors to respiratory and cardiovascular disease. In an ideal world, e-cigarettes would deliver the addictive nicotine, without the smoke. The disappointing reality, however, is that the vapours released still contain chemicals which are known to cause respiratory and cardiovascular damage. To date, no long-term toxicological studies have taken place in humans. Without this, it is simply impossible to say with certainty that e-cigarettes are safer.

Now to another important issue: To vape or not to vape - that is the question.

E-cigarette popularity has skyrocketed over the last decade. You can hardly walk to the shops without being engulfed in a menthol-flavoured, nicotine-fuelled cloud. They are marketed as healthier, newer, cooler alternatives to smoking cigarettes. They are trendy, but how much healthier than smoking are they really? But what’s fueling this move toward the cigarette’s cloudier cousin? Pres, Uber, club, smoking break, back to the club – three times a week. That’s normal, right? Smoking is sociable, it connects us in a moment’s respite, away from the thumping mayhem of the dancefloor. Being at university normalises this culture; so, is uni to blame for your unhealthy habit? And does it become an addiction when the need for that familiar energetic feeling seeps into everyday life? Pointing the finger aside, for many of us, university is our first time living alone. And for that reason, it’s okay to want to relish in our newfound independence and experiment in a safe environment.

Ultimately, there are various aspects of ‘wellness’ to consider, and when one area becomes dysfunctional, it usually tips the delicate balance. Alcohol, smoking and vaping should not be ostracised – in fact we are allowed to enjoy them – all whilst remembering that university is just one short chapter in our lives. By adopting an ‘everything in moderation’ mindset, we can make sure to both enjoy ourselves and care for ourselves. We can learn to look out for our bodies and minds, both during university and beyond.