Alcohol is fun. Lowering inhibitions and letting your hair down after a day feels fantastic. But what if you’re doing it way too often, and drinking so much that you’re not in your senses, people have to carry you home, you are puking your guts out and passed out, argued with stranger for no reason, perhaps left another friend alone with no means to reach home safe because you were drunk senseless?

It is easy to start drinking more, and not really notice it’s becoming a habitual problem over time. Much like healthy eating, you have to make a concerted effort to keep drinking in check. However, there are major reasons drinking responsibly is the cool thing to do.

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Safety is the most important factor. You may be in the safest metropolis in the world but there is noon you can trust but yourself. It may seem like a harsh statement to make but what would happen if the person you trusted the breached it? Especially when you are wasted drunk! We understand that sometimes, you need to drown your sorrows but speaking out of experience, drink only enough because nobody will care about you more than yourself.

Appearance is another thing entirely. Leaving for a party all dressed up and smelling like a garden, and coming back from a party so drunk you cannot remember your own name.  Your clothes and hair are disheveled and gone is the garden because you smell like vomit. That’s not exactly the best kind of party anybody wants to have, right? And if someone you know does, perhaps a friend-tervention is needed.

Relationships with not just people close to you, but also dynamics with people in the bar change. For those who get aggressive after alcohol, it is super important they keep a quantity check no matter what. Getting into a bar brawl for men, or getting taken advantage of in women is a common thing and ignored, but it is so not cool!

Every evening (or the following morning, if you forget), write down how many drinks you drank, where you were when you were drinking, and with whom. Also write down any negative effects or situations that arose that you would like to avoid in the future. This will give you a good idea of the times, places and people where your drinking tends to become excessive or problematic. Even though you will be drinking at a sensible level, you will still be impaired and should not drive.

Get a ride or take a bus to your drinking event, or pre-book a cab. If that is too costly, plan your bus journey home so you know when to leave while the buses are still running. Leave your car at home so you will not be tempted to use it.

There is always a temptation to drink more when others around you are passing out drinks; a socially-motivated, albeit unintended form of peer pressure. If you have friends who support your goals, though, you can all withstand the urge to order another round together