Now don’t get more wrong, “some” of the best nights of my life have included alcohol…but “all” of the worst nights of my life have involved alcohol too. But that’s not what we are here to discuss, I want to discuss how alcohol can affect our recovery and performance in relation to physical activity.
To start, if you don’t drink alcohol or a light drinker, then you are absolutely fine and should be able to escape without any alcohol related health issues in the future. For the rest of us, alcohol is not healthy…period. That doesn’t mean you need to avoid it completely though, it’s an important aspect of one’s social life and if you wish to drink alcohol and also perform at a high level, it’s important to know how to minimise the damage you can cause especially in relation to physical activity.
A study completed by Dr Barnes (no relation to me) a few years ago took a group of athletes, had them perform a heavy strength session. Have a meal high in protein and carbs and then 3-4 days retest the athletes ability to perform the same session. All athletes hit the same numbers in relation to load, reps and sets.
Then the fun began, all athletes completed the same strength session, consumed some dinner high in protein and carbs and then had 6-7 standard drinks following the meal. 3-4 days later, the athletes performed the same strength session…and the results? Decreased strength, decreased ability to perform the same amount of reps and sets.
His next test involved the same group of athletes performing the same strength session, followed by a meal high in protein and carbohydrates and then consuming 3-3.5 standard drinks. 3-4 days later, the athletes completed the same session…and the results? No decreased strength, no decreased ability to perform the same amount of reps and sets.
Findings from this particular study?
When athletes consumed more than 6+ standard drinks the night after a training session, could not recover or perform at the same level then when they limited their alcohol consumption to 3-3.5 standard drinks. This is due to several negative effects that alcohol has however mainly due to the impact on the CNS (central nervous system) in the way that the body sends signals from the brain to the muscles. In this case, those 6-7 standard drinks were still effecting how the brain “told” the muscles to lift the weights after 3-4 days (which is a huge period of time when we think of alcohol, training and performance). When we think about this in a bit more detail, say we play football or netball on a Saturday and then have a “quiet but social night” out where we consume 6-7 drinks. It takes us until Tuesday/Wednesday before our muscles and brain are working together efficiently again, putting you at risk of injury or poor performance until that time period is over.
So what I take out of this (and like with any study, you need to be careful of the finer details and variables) however, I can only offer my personal opinion. If you are going to be having a few drinks after a training session, or a sporting match or anything that involves physical activity, limit yourself to 2-3 standard drinks following a high carb and protein meal in order to promote recovery and ensure future performance and training is not hindered.
Other things to note:
Even though you might think you can get away with having 2-3 standard drinks per night after physical activity. You must also remember:
-this study ensured all athletes ate a high protein and carbohydrate meal once completing the session to refuel the body (glycogen levels etc) before having the alcohol drinks
-alcohol still contains calories. 3 standard drinks in the form of an average beer can be 450-500 (a Maccas Big Mac) calories so if you are trying to count calories, always factor this in.
-alcohol takes priority when being burned off by the body…what that means is that while your body normally burns stored energy (eg fat) your body will stop burning that and start to focus just on the alcohol.
-alcohol thins blood, which means that if you have an injured extremity, it will increase the swelling and keep harmful toxins around the area of the injury for longer, increasing the time it takes to heal.
So, moral of the story. Alcohol is not healthy and is not recommended after physical activity, however to limit alcohol usage to 3-3.5 standard drinks (0.5g per kg of bodyweight) you can reduce the impact on recovery and future performance.
Original Study:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261761789_Alcohol_Impact_on_Sports_Performance_and_Recovery_in_Male_Athletes