Effect of alcohol on you and your sports performance

For many athletes, grabbing a beer after exercise is the way to end a training or competition. A moment of relaxation after all physical exertion. And now that you've been so healthy, you've earned this beer, right? You probably already feel it coming: drinking alcohol after exercise is not doing your body any favors. And don't drink alcohol right before exercise at all. Read more about the effect of alcohol on your body and your sports performance here.

1. Alcohol hinders your recovery

After a lot of effort, such as an hour of intensive sport or exercise, your body has to recover. Alcohol disrupts this recovery process. For example, your muscles produce lactic acid during exercise. If you drink a beer immediately after exercise, your liver first focuses on breaking down the alcohol. As a result, the lactic acid accumulates and you suffer more from muscle pain.

In addition, alcohol affects your fluid balance. It prompts your kidneys to expel extra fluid. You also lose water during exercise. A combination of these two factors makes it more difficult to maintain your fluid balance and you can feel it. For example, with a fluid loss of 1% you get thirsty and your performance deteriorates. With a moisture loss of 4%, your performance even decreases by 20 to 30%. A lot of fluid loss can also lead to a shortage of important minerals that contribute to your recovery.

Finally, your body uses extra sugar to break down the alcohol, so that you can suffer from a sugar deficiency more quickly after exercise.

In short, drinking a beer after the game slows down your recovery and makes you feel tired for longer.

2. Alcohol affects your sports performance

If you regularly drink alcohol, this has consequences for your resistance, sleep and your condition in general. This has an impact on your sports performance. Furthermore, drinking alcohol before exercise – think of sagging the night before – reduces focus, coordination, muscle strength and endurance during exercise. So you perform less well and you don't last as long as you exercise.

3. Alcohol slows down your muscle building

Do you work hard at the gym to grow more muscle mass? Then you slow down this process by drinking alcohol after your workout. Alcohol itself inhibits the production of new muscle tissue. In addition, alcohol lowers the production of testosterone in your body. Testosterone is a hormone that promotes muscle protein synthesis. This makes your muscles grow more easily. By drinking alcohol, you miss the maximum result of all your efforts.

4. The risk of injuries or accidents increases

Alcohol dampens your feeling of pain. This allows you to go beyond your sporting limits faster and that increases the risk of injuries. In addition, alcohol has an effect on your eyesight and your ability to concentrate, making you slower. At the same time, alcohol makes you more confident, which makes you take more risks. This increases the risk of accidents - for yourself and others - during exercise.

As you can see, it is smarter for your sporting performance, recovery, muscle building and safety to drink as little alcohol as possible and to choose an alcohol-free thirst quencher just before and after exercise. And why not grab a beer to celebrate the victory? Then stick to one drink and drink plenty of water.

Sources:

Allesoversport.nl

Alcoholinfo.nl

Drymuscles.nl