Alcohol and Exercise
Can Alcohol effect my Exercise?
Since you’ve been working out you just might be wondering about the effects alcohol may have on your weight and your exercise routine. You’re not the first to wonder about alcohol and exercise.
Because you’ve been exercising regularly you may thing you’ve earned the right to go out and have some drinks with your friends and no one’s saying you haven’t.
However since you are trying to be a healthier you, there are some things you should be aware of when it comes to alcohol.
How Alcohol Effects your Body
Research has shown that even small amounts of alcohol can increase muscular endurance and the output of strength; however this is very short lived.
The negative side effects associated with consuming alcohol will quickly outweigh any possible benefits that alcohol may have had when one first starts drinking.
It should be remembered that alcohol is a poison that can really do some major harm your body if you aren’t careful.
The negative side of alcohol is that it can reduce your:
- Strength
- Endurance
- Aerobic capability
- Recovery time
- Ability to metabolize fat
- Muscle growth
Alcohol can also have a negative effect on your brain and nervous system. If drink heavily for a long period of time, it could possibly cause severe deterioration of your central nervous system.
Even with short term use, nerve muscle interaction can be reduced which can result in a loss of strength.
Consuming alcohol can also leave you with more muscle soreness after a workout, which means it will take you a lot longer to recuperate. When you consume any type of alcohol, you may notice a reduction in your endurance.
Alcohol can also have many different effects on your heart and circulatory system.
~ Alcohol is a vasodilator - which means it causes the blood vessels to expand, especially the capillaries that reside just under the surface of the skin.~
When this happens a greater volume of blood is brought closer to the surface of the skin where the heat of the blood is dispersed into the air. This is why people feel warm and may feel or looked flushed when they drink.
This loss in body heat can cause cold muscles, making you much slower, weaker and more exhausted during your muscle contractions.
Alcohol causes the release of insulin that can increase the metabolism of glycogen, which spares fat and makes the loss of fat very hard.
Because alcohol interfering with the absorption of many key nutrients, if not used carefully it can cause anemia and a deficiency in B type vitamins.
The liver is the organ that detoxifies alcohol and the more a person drinks, the harder it has to work. Alcohol places extra stress on your liver and can not only cause serious damage but can also destroy parts of your liver.
Because alcohol is a diuretic, drinking large amounts also puts lots of stress on your kidneys. During diuretic action, the hormones are secreted. This can lead to heightened water retention and no one who exercises wants to retain water.
Drinking alcohol is okay if done in moderation however never before exercise. This will impair your coordination, balance and judgment along with a host of other unwanted issues.
Think about your health and how you exercise – and you may begin to look at things from a whole new prospective.
~ To Your Health and Well Being
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