Alcohol and Exercise

After work on  Fridays, you probably

think about going out and having a few drinks with

friends to relax.  Even though you

may think you deserve to go out and have a few drinks,

there are some things that you should certainly keep

in mind.

 Tomorrow is going to be a day

for exercise, and since you are exercising on a

regular basis, a few drinks of alcohol won't really

hurt anything, right?  Wrong! There are a few things below that

you should think about before going out to drink some alcohol.

 Research has proven that even small amounts of

alcohol will increase muscular endurance and the output

of strength, although these types of benefits are

very short lived.  After 20 minutes or so, the

problems will begin to surface.  All of the negative

side effects associated with alcohol will easily

outweigh any possible benefits that it can have. 

No matter how you look at it, alcohol is a poison

that can really harm your body if you aren't careful.

 The negative side of alcohol can reduce your

strength, endurance, aerobic capability, recovery

time, ability to metabolize fat, and even your

muscle growth as well.  Alcohol will also have an

effect on your nervous system and brain.  If you

use it long term, you can cause severe deterioration

of your central nervous system.   Even with short

term use, nerve muscle interaction can be reduced

which will result in a loss of strength.

 Once alcohol reaches the blood cells, it can and

probably will damage them.  With alcohol users,

inflammation of the muscle cells is a very common

thing.  Over periods of time, some of these cells

that have been damaged can die which will result

in less functional muscle contractions.  Drinking

alcohol will also leave you with more soreness of

your muscles after you exercise, which means that

it will take you a lot longer to recuperate.

 Alcohol will also have many different effects on

your heart and circulatory system as well.  When

you drink any type of alcohol, you may begin to

see a reduction in your endurance capabilities.

Anytime you drink, your heat loss will increase,

due to the alcohol simulating your blood vessels

to dilate.  The loss in heat can cause your

muscles to become quite cold, therefore become

slower and weaker during your muscle contractions.

 Drinking alcohol can also lead to digestive and

nutrition problems as well.  Alcohol causes a

release of insulin that will increase the metabolism

of glycogen, which spares fat and makes the loss

of fat very hard.  Due to alcohol interfering

with the absorption of several key nutrients, you

can also become anemic and deficient with B type

vitamins. 

Because your liver is the organ that detoxifies

alcohol, the more you drink, the harder your liver

has to work.  The extra stress alcohol places on

your liver can cause serious damage and even

destroy some of your liver cells.

 Since alcohol is diuretic, drinking large amounts

can put a lot of stress on your kidneys as well.

During diuretic action, the hormones are secreted.

This can lead to heightened water retention and no

one who exercises will want this to happen.

 Think about your health and your body and

how you exercise - and you may begin to look at

things from a whole new prospective.