Alcohol and Academics: UK students are feeling the effects

31 Aug 2018

Mixing alcohol with academics doesn’t sounds like a good idea if you’re aiming for fixed concentration and high class attendance.

Students enrolled at UK universities experience hard-hitting hangovers after Freshers’ Week and other regular social events. More often than not, this leads to a missed lectures and truancies for important workshops and seminars.

For first-year students, university welcome weeks merge with heavy club sessions and drinking challenges. Everyone wants to be involved in the action and strives to make new friends, but peer pressure can take over when the consumption of alcohol begins.

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, so why is this such a problem?

Well, the reality is that alcohol can have devastating long-term health effects and in major cases, heavy consumption of alcohol can even lead to death.

Alcohol is associated with 2.8 million deaths per year, research has shown.https://t.co/fd0zhnaQz2

— The University of Sheffield (@sheffielduni) August 27, 2018

According to a poll featured in The Independent, one in four students know someone at university who they believe is an alcoholic.

Swerving readers towards the recent YouGov survey, the publication also highlights that, “Almost a third of students (32 per cent) believe they know at least three people who are dependent on drink.”

But that doesn’t mean we can make the assumption that all UK university students are hidden alcoholics. These results are based on personal opinions and many respondents may not know what the term ‘alcoholic’ truly means, or what the negative connotations of the word may be.

At the other end of the scale, it may be a good idea for universities in the UK and worldwide to tackle the issue of student alcohol abuse with valuable support initiatives and hands-on counselling sessions.

Students have already taken to their social media accounts to address the overshadowing threat of mixing alcohol with academics, asking universities to clamp down on the number of drinking-based events.

Uni’s need to ban initiations, ensure that they have decent, interesting non drinking events, put a stop to sponsored nights out and properly educate and fund treatment for students that develop alcohol problems.

— patsy stone (@teaistriumph) August 29, 2018

Fact is, some students are alienated from university social events simply because they do not drink or don’t want to overdo it before an important lecture. Who’s to say that non-alcoholic evening gatherings won’t catch on?

Due to the growing demand for alcohol-free events, a lot of non-alcoholic cocktail spaces have popped up around major UK cities. For instance, Redemption bar in London and Manchester’s Dry Umbrella event café.

With places like these on the rise, there may soon be a significant change in the YouGov survey figures!