Alcohol and the Active Athlete

Like the recovering alcoholic with an agenda--I offer the following admonition to athletes who are still serious about performance--avoid alcohol consumption. Now before you blow off today's post and move on, give the following a read. I'm not talking long term effects here, I'm referring to the here and now. Thanks to former world record holder in powerlifting, Dr. Fred Hatfield, for providing the info. Oh yeah--I'm not an alcoholic, a former episodically heavy drinker maybe, but not an alcoholic.

"Alcohol can damage muscle cells. Some of these damaged cells can die from prolonged exposure to alcohol, resulting in less functional muscle contractions.  Alcohol will also result in increased muscle soreness following training, thereby requiring additional time for recuperation."

Not good, especially if you're a distance runner.

"Alcohol can cause several gastric, digestive and nutritional irregularities. This drug causes a release of insulin that will in turn increase the metabolism of glycogen, thereby sparing fat, resulting in more difficult fat loss. Since alcohol consumption can interfere with the absorption of many nutrients, it is possible to become anemic and deficient in the B vitamins."

In case you don't know, look it up and see how vital B vitamins are to maintaining health.

"Alcohol acts as a diuretic, large amounts of alcohol can place undue stress on your kidneys. With alcohol's diuretic action, large amounts of antidiuretic hormone(ADH) are secreted. This can result in elevated water retention, something no athlete wants."

As they say--knowledge is power. If you find yourself rationalizing or dismissing the facts, perhaps you need to take a look at your relationship with alcohol.


If you like this Blog then check out the one that came before this one. 350+ articles on running. Cerutty, Stotanism and more. Not the same old, same old running stuff.
https://torunistolive.blogspot.com/