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Whether you only exercise occasionally or train intensely on a regular basis - it's important to know about the effects of alcohol on your performance. Drinking too much alcohol can mean you don't get the reward for all your hard work at all.
Effects of alcohol on your athletic performance
Alcohol can negatively affect your training in many different ways, and I want to show you the most important ones here:
Alcohol removes fluid
Alcohol is a diuretic, which means your kidneys produce more urine than usual. Drinking too much therefore leads to dehydration. If you train shortly after drinking alcohol, this effect is even amplified further, since physical exertion makes you sweat on top of it.
This dehydration leads to reduced performance in your body. You need enough fluid in you so your blood can flow consistently through your body. Only then can oxygen and nutrients be transported from your blood into your muscles, so your physical performance is optimal.
Alcohol changes energy production
Alcohol is processed in the liver. To do this, all your liver's other tasks become secondary, breaking down the alcohol molecules is your body's top priority. One of these other functions is producing glucose, which we need for energy. If your liver doesn't produce enough glucose, your body gets tired quickly. After all, it's busy excreting the alcohol, so it's essentially impossible to tap into your full physical performance.
Alcohol also slows down your nerves in transmitting information through the body. That's one of the reasons why many of us like to enjoy a glass of wine or two after work - it relaxes us. But it can take quite a while for this effect to wear off, so you still feel the effects long after drinking alcohol. These include slower reaction times as well as worse coordination, accuracy and balance.
Training the day after
Consuming alcohol the evening before your workout has negative effects on your physical performance the next day. We all know how we feel the "day after" - definitely not high-performing. Dehydration, headaches and general discomfort just don't go together with a successful training session.
During a workout, your muscles burn glucose to generate energy. This produces lactic acid. Too much of this lactic acid leads to muscle fatigue and cramps. If you train after drinking, your liver has to work twice as hard. Since it's busy excreting the toxins from the alcohol, it has less capacity to get rid of this lactic acid. This leads to a greater likelihood of cramps, but also to generally reduced strength and power as well as faster exhaustion.
For these reasons, it's highly advisable to skip alcohol the evening before a training session, especially if you have intense or even just moderate exercise planned. But if you do decide to drink anyway, limit the number of drinks, drink plenty of water alongside it, and eat enough.
Drinking alcohol right after a workout isn't recommended either, especially not if you haven't first replaced the water lost through sweating. This is particularly common, for example, with hobby sports like cycling and diving, where a beer afterwards is often part of the ritual - special caution is advised here!
Other health effects of alcohol
Weight gain
Alcohol contains a lot of calories, a full seven per gram. That's almost as much as pure fat. Especially with cocktails and mixing with soft drinks like cola, a heap of sugar gets added on top of the alcohol's calories. If one of your reasons for exercising is that you want to lose weight or keep it under control, drinking alcohol makes that incredibly hard. Those empty calories you're consuming could be put to much better use for a tasty meal. Often, after drinking alcohol, cravings kick in that you might otherwise be able to resist - but with a "buzz" on, discipline is usually out the window.
Poor muscle growth
The next morning it might feel like you slept incredibly long, but you're still not fit - that's because alcohol disrupts your sleep rhythm. The problem is that our body produces growth hormones during sleep, and our muscles grow mainly during these rest phases. As a result, a sleep rhythm disrupted by alcohol means your muscles grow more slowly.
Altered heart rate
What's most concerning, far worse than extra calories or slower muscle growth, is the increased potential for abnormal heart rhythms. This gets considerably worse if you train within two days of drinking alcohol. Physical exertion alone raises your heart rate, and when a significant amount of alcohol is added on top, your heart is under enormous stress that can genuinely become dangerous.
Slow healing after injury
Alcohol causes the blood vessels to the arms, legs and skin to open up, resulting in increased blood flow. If you get injured, your wound bleeds and swells even more than usual, which leads to a slower recovery process.
Practical tips for controlling your alcohol consumption:
A drink is often part of social events, whether it's meeting friends or a family gathering. If you're not ready to give it up entirely, these tips can help you control your alcohol consumption:
- Plan ahead - Think about where you're going, who you'll be with, and how much you'll drink.
- Eat before or while drinking - Carb-rich meals help replenish your muscle glycogen stores. Eating also slows down your drinking pace and fills you up.
- Take it easy - Alternate alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic ones. You drink much faster when you're thirsty (especially after training!), so it helps to drink enough water beforehand. After that, you should drink at least one glass of water for every glass of alcohol - please, no sugary drinks!
- Drink slowly - Take sip after sip instead of gulping your drink down, and put your glass down in between.
- Choose your drinks wisely - For example, favour beer with a lower alcohol content, or choose a weaker mix for longdrinks.
- Be the driver - If you've decided not to drink but are worried about feeling pressured to drink anyway in a social setting, let your friends know you're driving tonight and taking everyone home.
- Drink one drink at a time - Don't order a new glass before you've even finished your current drink. That makes it even harder to keep track of how much you've already had.
- Keep yourself busy - If you're distracted, you drink less. How about a round of pool or dancing? Don't just sit around and drink.
Make sure you're well hydrated before going to bed. One of the best ways to avoid a hangover is to drink enough water and electrolytes before sleeping. A litre of water and a glass of tomato juice with plenty of salt and pepper work wonders.
Personally, as a fitness model and personal trainer in Zurich, I've been alcohol-free for a long time now. If that's something you'd like too, but you don't know how to make it happen, you can sign up for the Alcohol-Free Challenge here!