Alcohol and Physical Performance

Waking up with a beating headache after a night out should be the first clear sign alcohol consumption influences physical performance. What exactly it impacts though is often unknown to athletes and gymgoers. This simple checklist should give you some insight to how it can decrease your performance.

Hydration

Too many drinks can sap your body of water and important nutrients. It is best to alternate alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic to keep your body up to speed.

Body Composition

“Beer Belly” is a common term for a reason. Increased consumption of alcohol can lead to increased amount of body fat due to ethanol storage as fat. Also, your overall calorie intake can increase greatly due to alcohol, leading to potential weight gain.

Sleep

Though you may fall asleep quick after a night out, alcohol can impact restfulness due to interfering with sleep patterns, less time in deep sleep stages, and overall less time asleep.

Recovery

Sleep is how your body recovers, so alcohol’s negative impact on sleep automatically means it is affecting your ability to recover. On top of this, recovery is also affected by delaying muscle repair. Alcohol can interfere with protein synthesis that is needed to build lean muscle tissue.

Motor Skills and Physical Performance

Alcohol slows reaction time and impairs precision, equilibrium, hand-eye coordination, accuracy, balance, judgment, information processing, focus, stamina, strength, power and speed for up to 72 hours.

Immune System

Heavy alcohol consumption has been shown to compromise the immune system, leaving you at a higher risk for bacterial and viral infections.

References

Barnes, M. J. (2014). Alcohol: Impact on Sports Performance and Recovery in Male Athletes. Sports Medicine, 44(7), 909-919.

Barr, T., Helms, C., Grant, K., & Messaoudi, I. (2016). Opposing Effects of Alcohol on the Immune System. Progress in Neuropharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 65, 242-251.

Park, S. (2015). The Effects of Alcohol on Quality of Sleep. Korean Journal of Family Medicine, 36(6), 294-299.

Suter, P., Schutz, Y. The effect of exercise, alcohol or both combined on health and physical performance. Int J Obes 32, S48–S52 (2008).

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