Work hard, work hard - a quarter of modern medical students are teetotal

The ‘work hard, play hard’ medical student who burns the candle at both ends, consuming prodigious quantities of alcohol before an early morning anatomy class, has long been a staple of university life.

But a new survey carried out for the British Medical Journal suggests this stereotype is now little more than a myth.

Merely one in ten future doctors currently exceed the Government’s recommended weekly alcohol limit, and a quarter profess themselves to be completely teetotal.

However, some of the 812 respondents to the survey admitted wishing they had let their hair down a bit more during their early medical school years.

Last year the Government dramatically altered its guidelines recommending that both men and women drink no more than 14 units, roughly equivalent to six glasses of wine, a week.

The limit had previously been 14 for women and 24 for men.

Twishaa Seth, who sits on the British Medical Association’s student committee, said it was “Refreshing and reassuring to see that the majority of respondents are looking after themselves.

“Hopefully, this goes to show that wellbeing and welfare is coming to the forefront of student minds more and more, which is a step in the right direction," she said.

The majority of respondents who drank any alcohol consumed less than 10 units per week - 58 per cent.

Meanwhile, in addition to the 10 per cent who took more than 14 units, 3.8 per cent reported drinking 13 to 14 units on average each week.

The survey also found that just seven per cent had taken a new psychoactive substance, such as methadone, during their time at medical school.

A fifth had taken other illegal drugs .

A total of 642 respondents said they had not experienced illegal drugs while at medical school.

This is similar to among the general population, 18 per cent of 16 to 24 year olds took illegal drugs in 2015-16.