For many college students, heavy drinking on a night out is a typical part of social life. Although drinking patterns are often short-term and limited to weekends, binge drinking poses a much more significant risk than many students recognize.
Binge drinking is medically defined as four drinks for women and five drinks for men consumed within two hours. It is estimated that up to 30-40 percent of young adults engage in binge drinking behaviors, with college students having a significantly increased risk compared to non-college attending peers.
Many assume that short-term binge drinking has minimal long-term consequences because it is widely accepted, both socially (among peers) and culturally (societal beliefs, customs and norms). However, no one is exempt from the potential for harm. As college students, it is important to understand and acknowledge the risk we subject ourselves to by binge drinking and to engage in harm reduction strategies to protect our future health.
College students are at an increased risk of binge drinking due to a combination of social, environmental and developmental factors. The most vulnerable students are those at private colleges, those with higher socioeconomic statuses, those who have mental health conditions like ADHD and depression and those who are undergoing high stress or trauma.
Higher comfort surrounding the costs of drinking and less fear of punishment increases the risk of binge drinking among private college students and those of high socioeconomic status. For those with mental health issues, alcohol is often used as a poor coping mechanism and certain conditions may be prone to addictive or impulsive behaviors. Early onset of alcohol use, parental alcohol use and the use of other drugs, such as tobacco and marijuana, are also positively correlated with alcohol use.
Social factors such as peer pressure and increased freedom further increase the risk of binge drinking. Many students may feel pressured to drink because alcohol is frequently offered and readily available, or because heavy drinking is perceived to be a more normal behavior than it actually is. Due to the increased likelihood that we engage in such habits, we must make an effort to employ strategies to decrease the harm caused to our health in the short and long run.
In the short term, binge drinking poses risks including motor vehicle accidents, injuries and regrettable actions, as well as the physical effects of dehydration and alcohol poisoning.
The long-term effects of binge drinking, however, are much more severe.
Chronic binge drinking primarily affects the brain, liver, digestive tract and cardiovascular system. For the brain, cognitive function takes the hardest hit, with short-term binge drinking associated with difficulty performing tasks, poor spatial awareness, increased risk of depression, decreased episodic memory, poor recall and poor performance.
Additionally, cycles of binge drinking followed by periods of abstinence can cause neuron death, which ultimately leads to cognitive impairments, increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and accelerated brain aging.
In the liver, binge drinking is associated with a buildup of scar tissue called cirrhosis, which increases the risk of liver diseases. While there are conflicting conclusions about how alcohol affects the cardiovascular system, it has been found that both macro and microcirculation are disrupted, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease.
Alcohol is classified as a Class 1 carcinogen, being heavily linked to various cancers of the digestive tract, including cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract, liver and colorectal tract, as well as breast cancer. Ethanol, the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, is a carcinogen and hormone disruptor on its own. However, in the body, ethanol is turned into a significantly more toxic carcinogen called acetaldehyde until it can be broken down by a specific enzyme. When acetaldehyde remains in the body before it can be metabolized, it directly disrupts various important cellular processes, damages DNA and prevents DNA from repairing the damage, all of which cause cancer.
Further contributing to this risk, mutations to the enzyme that breaks down acetaldehyde are common, meaning that a large portion of the population is even more vulnerable because acetaldehyde remains in their body for longer. All in all, alcohol consumption has at least 13different ways of causing cancer.
So, how can we reduce our risk of these adverse long-term health outcomes associated with drinking?
If you’re interested in decreasing your alcohol intake but enjoy alcoholic drinks for their flavor, or the social aspect of drinking, consider checking out Buzzworthy Beverages, a new non-alcoholic drink shop in the Claremont village!
Some strategies to minimize your risk if you choose to drink include pacing yourself between drinks, eating a high-protein meal before drinking and staying hydrated — ideally with extra electrolytes!
This helps to slow alcohol absorption, thus limiting the amount of carcinogenic acetaldehyde in your body at any given time, and keeps you hydrated. Additionally, it may help reduce risk by avoiding mixing alcohol with other drugs, especially those with carcinogenic effects.
Ultimately, being mindful of the risks associated with drinking and how to mitigate them (even if not eliminate them) can help you make safer choices, reduce immediate short-term risks and, most importantly, protect your long-term health.
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