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2003/02/12, 11:13 AM
A few of the problems associated with alcohol consumption and training:
Alcohol disrupts normal sleep patterns. Sleep is very important for muscle recovery and growth.
Alcohol dehydrates your body. Dehydration - even the slightest dehydration has a very negative effect on performance - hence, your workout will suffer.
Alcohol affects the ability of your heart to pump strongly and effectively, and weakens your skeletal muscles(this is from a study on people who were weekend drinkers over a period of time).
Chronic, long-term drinking obviously doesn't fit in with a healthy, active lifestyle, but having one or two drinks every once and a while isn't terrible. Just make sure you drink plenty of water.
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2003/02/13, 10:39 AM
I found this on the web a few months ago. It made me cut down my drinking to the point where I don't drink at all anymore.
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2253.html
Here is a bit of the article:
In addition to the calories, alcohol interferes with fat burning, something important for weight loss. Normally, the liver metabolizes fats, but when a person drinks,
alcohol takes preference. The liver breaks down alcohol for energy first, causing a build-up of fatty acids. What this means is that the body uses the calories supplied
from alcohol before it is able to expend the calories from fat. This characteristic is referred to as "fat sparing," meaning alcohol's presence spares the fat from being
utilized for energy. Alcohol also stimulates appetite in many people. This may thwart your weight loss efforts even more.
Besides adding empty calories, your alcohol intake may be jeopardizing your health. Messages in the media about alcohol can be quite confusing. Let's start with an
explanation about how alcohol influences your nutritional status, and then about how it impacts your risk for other diseases. First of all, alcohol affects the hormones
responsible for fluid balance. As a result, it causes drinkers to urinate frequently, losing body fluids. When thirsty drinkers have another alcoholic beverage, the
vicious cycle of urination --> dehydration --> thirst continues. The only way to break the cycle is to have water or another non-alcoholic beverage. Along with the
fluids drinkers lose, they excrete important nutrients as well: calcium, magnesium, potassium, and zinc. Alcohol also interferes with the absorption of vitamins B-1
(thiamin), B-6, B-12, and folate. It causes problems in processing Vitamins A and D, too. As a consequence, nutritional deficiencies are often seen in people who
over-imbibe alcohol.
There's been some recent research about alcohol's protective benefits from heart disease, specifically by increasing HDL, the "good" cholesterol. A report published
by the British Medical Journal in 2002 found that the benefits and risks of drinking alcohol vary by age and sex. However, the risk of death from diseases including
many types of cancer (colon, breast, liver, and oral), hypertension, liver disease, heart disease, and others is positively linked with alcohol consumption. The greater
the amounts of alcohol women drink, particularly at younger ages, the greater the likelihood of death from one of the above-mentioned diseases. This latest study
also shows that the risks are lowest for non-drinkers under the age of 35, for both men and women. For 16- to 24-year-olds, risks increase when women drink
more than 8 drinks per week and men drink more than 5 drinks per week. Risks also increase with age when women have 8 to 20 drinks a week, and when men
have 5 to 34 drinks a week.
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