For many students, going to university is their first time living on their own, away from home and their parents’ rules. As a result, some people can get a bit wild, deciding to embark on new experiences to ‘live their lives to the fullest’. Freshers’ week can be a perfect representation of this. A whole week of no classes, maybe a bit homesick from having to say goodbye to your parents after unpacking your stuff, and desperate for the chance to ‘find your people’. Societies invest all their energy to captivate as many members as possible during that short period of time. Clubs create their wildest and most packed social calendar of the year, full of ‘must-attend’ experiences they promise will change your life. September might have been months ago, but that does not mean the partying stopped there.
For many people, university is considered synonymous with constant clubbing and drinking. It is rare to walk through the university halls and not see at least one kitchen window sill with empty alcohol bottles lined up. With local Exeter clubs opening multiple days a week, it is quite feasible to go out every single day of the week. If you really wanted to, you don’t even need to switch clubs: just go to ‘TP’ (Timepiece Nightclub) Monday through Saturday. The UK’s pub culture can further exacerbate the normalisation of drinking, with common socials including pub quizzes and sometimes even pub crawls. With ‘impy’ (The Imperial Wetherspoons) being a ten minute walk away and the Ram being right at the centre of campus, it can be difficult not to join in.
While drinking only every so often poses a low risk, the same cannot be said about the heavy drinking often normalised at university. According to the NHS, continuously drinking high amounts of alcohol can lead to several health complications, from heart and liver disease, all the way to cancer, stroke and brain damage. Moreover, drinking can also have a big detrimental effect on your mental health. At university you might not know anybody and feel quite isolated at the start. However, partying and drinking away will do you more harm than good.
Thankfully, people are starting to fight back against this drinking culture that portrays a good university life as exclusively linked to alcohol. Most societies now do their best to offer both drinking and sober socials to ensure all of their members feel included. The Exeter Student Guild also enforce safe drinking at socials with limits on the amount of alcohol members are allowed to consume and sober committee members being required. You do not even need to join a dedicated sober society, as there are many societies who do mainly / exclusively sober socials. This is particularly common with game (though not sport) related society such as tabletop games, hide and seek and roller skating society, as well as others like literature and be the change societies. So, if you feel like all socials surround alcohol, there are plenty of other societies that might be a better fit for you.
Similarly, why not just try to cut down the alcohol consumption a bit. Go on a walk to the quay instead of clubbing until midnight when you have a lecture at 8:30 on the next day. Visit one of the many small independent cafes in Exeter instead of defaulting to a pub. You might find your body and your mind will thank you for the break.
We are only just starting the new year, making January the perfect time to try new things. While this can include trying a new hobby or diet (Veganuary, anyone?), it could also mean cutting down on unhealthy habits, such as sugar and alcohol. There is even a whole challenge you can join if you are looking for fellow sober curious people to embark on the journey with. Starting in 2013 with a whooping four thousand people, it has been growing exponentially. Last January, two hundred thousand people joined in! The campaign originated from the founder, Emily, who decided to stop drinking during January to prepare for her first half marathon. She quickly realised an improvement in her sleep, energy and mood, and people started to take notice of her challenge. Now, over a decade later, she has worked in tandem with Alcohol Change UK to motivate people to try reducing their alcohol intake (even if it is just for a month) so they can experience the same benefits she did.
Dry January as a charity takes great effort in trying to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol: “Every day in the UK more than 20 people die as a result of alcohol. Alcohol harm – mental health problems, liver disease, one of seven forms of cancer, economic difficulties, and so much more – can affect any one of us, from any walk of life.”
So even as January comes to an end, why not consider taking up a sober curious mindset? You do not need to quit cold turkey or stop yourself from socialising. As explained in this post, there are ways to enjoy your time at university and make friends without having to result to alcohol. The drinking culture attributed to university life is far from the standard and you should not feel pressured into it.