For some, college is the step towards a new independent beginning, the start of adulthood. On the other hand, for some, college means no parents and no rules, which means one is able to party and do whatever they want. For many, college is both of these ideas, but it’s all about balance and safety.

Alcohol culture is not newly associated with college students. College life has always been associated with party stereotypes and alcohol, with the flexibility of schedules and the access and availability of alcohol. Drinking alcohol is often engaged in at social events or parties. Partying and drinking are not necessarily bad activities to engage in, but it is all about knowing the precautions when engaging in both.

While there are some benefits in engaging in drinking, there are also many negative effects. Drinking in moderation allows one to cautiously causally drink.

Based on research done by MayoClinic, “Moderate alcohol consumption may provide some health benefits, such as:

• Reduce your risk of developing and dying from heart disease

• Possibly reduce your risk of ischemic stroke (when the arteries to your brain become narrowed or blocked, causing severely reduced blood flow)

• Possibly reduce your risk of diabetes.

Consuming alcohol is not entirely bad, as long as one watches how much they are drinking in certain time frames. I’ll admit it is difficult to do this when surrounded in a party atmosphere, but casually drinking is the safest method of drinking to take to protect yourself and avoid addiction.

When one instead engages in heavy drinking many negative effects goes along with it.

Based on the same research done on MayoClinic, “while moderate alcohol use may offer some health benefits, heavy drinking — including binge drinking — has no health benefits.”

Some of the risks include, certain cancers, liver disease, stroke, or suicide.

Heavy drinking or binge drinking is too often often engaged in by college students, especially in a party setting, as “according to a national survey, almost 60 percent of college students ages 18–22 drank alcohol in the past month,1 and almost 2 out of 3 of them engaged in binge drinking during that same timeframe,” as stated in the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism College Fact Sheet.

Though there are some benefits in consuming alcohol, the bad outweighs the good, with the many risks involved with it, especially in a college environment.

To my fellow college students, you can still engage in partying and having fun, but it is better to drink in moderation or not drink at all.