It’s a Saturday night at the local bars in East Lansing – the music is bumping, the lights are strobing, and the Michigan State University student body is drinking– except for some students, such as Chloe Loftus, a junior studying secondary education.

As she sipped her Diet Coke and danced, Loftus could feel judgemental glances coming from her friends. At first, it seemed strange, but it quickly became apparent that it was because she wasn’t consuming alcohol.

A growing number of college students are opting out of drinking alcohol to focus on their personal health goals, reflecting a need for change both in the way students think about abstinence and in campus-wide education about personal health and fitness.

“I didn’t drink all of my sophomore year, just because that mixed with anxiety and depression medication usually doesn’t mix very well,” Loftus said. “And that’s just a personal choice.”

After competing in her first bodybuilding competition in May, she emphasised that she plans to maintain her abstinence, even off-season.

Various studies have shown that the shift in young people’s views towards drinking is significant – with about a 43% decline in drinking for high school students since 2015 and about a 70% decrease since 1991. As for college students, there has been a significant downward trend in drinking over the past 10 years, with a decrease from 62% in 2022 to 55% in 2023, according to research done by the University of Michigan.

Alcohol consumption is known to damage the heart, liver and pancreas, weakens your immune system, impacts brain development and can cause cancer. Drinking heavily over years can cause irreversible damage to just about every organ in the body, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Tyler Becker, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Nutrition at MSU, talked about how chronic drinkers tend to replace some calories from food with calories from alcohol, resulting in malnourishment.

“They could also be malnourished in their inability to digest and absorb nutrients from other things that they consume,” Becker said.

He also highlighted the importance of balance and moderation when watching what you consume.

“If you adopt an eating pattern, try to maintain it as much as possible, but at the same time, understand there is flexibility,” Becker said.

He said that people can get caught up in perfecting their consumption habits, sometimes leading to unhealthy eating patterns and even eating disorders in severe cases.

Loftus, along with many other college students, have found themselves in the dilemma of wanting to do what is best for their health and wellbeing, but also wanting to go out with friends and socialize. For some students who participate in bodybuilding, have more regimented diets or those who simply cannot tolerate alcohol, the idea of consuming alcohol in moderation is out of the picture, as they cannot or do not want to drink at all.

Alana Lundgard, a junior studying sports journalism at MSU and treasurer of the Girl Gains club, said that the biggest challenge to overcome when focusing on health and wellness as a college student is feeling excluded from her friends.

“None of my friends are bodybuilders,” Lundgard said. “None of my friends are dieting or going super hard in the gym. So as a college student, the biggest challenge is that you don’t get to go out with your friends, and you don’t get to do all the fun things that they do all the time.”

Lundgard said that she has combated that by going out and not drinking, but that doesn’t always fix the problem. In a study done by the National Library of Medicine, it was found that students who limit how much they drink, even just occasionally, are excluded, ostracized or the subject of peer pressure, threatening students’ social identity.

“If you want to go dancing, go do it,” Lundgard said. “Go hit up the bar on a Friday or Saturday and go dance. You shouldn’t limit yourself because you can’t consume certain things, but it definitely does make you feel lonely.”

As a result of not drinking and sticking to a fitness plan, both Loftus and Lundgard said they’ve noticed significant improvements in their mental and physical health. Loftus most notably recognized the increase in her energy levels and mental clarity after focusing on her fitness plan.

“My teaching has gotten better because of it,” Loftus said. “My social skills have gotten better.”

Unfortunately, many students succumb to peer pressure, feeling like drinking is the only way to fit in or socialize. However, there are ways around this issue. There are companies that make non-alcoholic seltzers, beers, cocktails and wines, offering a solution for the people who feel judged by their friends or others when they don’t partake. Another common solution students use is putting their drink of choice into a plastic cup so that nobody can tell it’s non-alcoholic.

Lundgard underlined that sticking to her goals during times of struggle made her much more confident in herself.

“It is a challenge, but it also makes you stronger as a person and you become more grounded in yourself and who you are,” Lundgard said.