Why giving up alcohol could do wonders for your performance.

There are a couple of particularly relevant times each year to talk about alcohol's impact on hydration and performance.  The first is during the festive season itself because there's undoubtedly more temptation and excuses than at any other point in the calendar to enjoy your favourite tipple(s). Think of Christmas parties, for example.  The second comes after New Year's.  Many of us will set a New Year's Resolution to lay off the booze at least for a while. So, towards the end of January, we might start to miss it a bit.  Now, it's pretty obvious that keeping a lid on drinking alcohol is generally beneficial to your health and performance. So, here's some things to help cement your thought processes if you're deciding whether to try to impose some sensible limits or to steer clear completely in the coming weeks....

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ALCOHOL AND PERFORMANCE

There are stories of early Grand Tour bike riders using brandy, beer and champagne to help them through really long stages. Whilst there is little doubt these tales are true, I think it's fair to say that few people today would drink alcohol during exercise as a matter of course or to enhance performance. (One notable exception is the Beer Mile - beermile.com - which does a fine job of blurring the line between drinking and competing, but I'd consider that a niche event...) . Instead, for most of us, alcohol is far more likely to be part of the social scene around sports. Some research points to the idea that drinking and physical activity might actually go hand in hand for a lot of people (i.e. those who exercise more tend to drink a bit more on the day of an event/session than non-exercisers).

But, will having a few more drinks than normal harm performance? There's a few things to consider here.

1. DEHYDRATION

This is always put forward as a major reason that drinking is harmful to performance. And with good reason. It occurs because of the diuresis caused by alcohol (i.e. consuming it makes you pee more), so you end up in a negative fluid balance more easily if you consume a lot of it.  This study reported a correlation between the amount of alcohol consumed and post-exercise urine output. i.e. boozing increased fluid losses and, therefore, thwarted rehydration efforts.  Of course, in the real world, anyone who has had a night on the town and woken up the following morning with a mouth as dry as a camel's flip-flop will find it hard to argue with their findings.  The bottom line is that your fluid balance post-exercise is an important part of the overall recovery process and takes time if sweat losses have been significant.  Therefore, your performance may well suffer if you hamper the process further by putting alcohol in when water or an electrolyte drink is actually needed.

2. MUSCLE FUNCTION AND RECOVERY

A ‘how did that traffic cone end up in my bed’ level of hangover clearly affects motor skills and reaction speeds dramatically. Alcohol plays havoc with your neurological system, so it is really bad for any sport relying on those faculties.

But is there something deeper going on too?

Studies have shown that even moderate amounts of alcohol consumed after hard exercise can impair muscle recovery, which ought to hamper long-term fitness gains from the exercise you’ve just done.  Alcohol also opens up your blood vessels (i.e. it's a ‘vasodilator’). It’s long been suggested that this attribute can slow the healing of even minor injuries by increasing swelling in traumatized areas after exercise.  In other words, it seems likely that having a few drinks directly after training/competing is unlikely to do you too many favours in the short term or medium term when it comes to locking in or maximising the gains from your hard work. 

3. EFFECT ON BODY WEIGHT

Alcohol contains a hell of a lot of energy (seven calories per gram, compared with four from carbohydrates), and it has other effects, such as altering your metabolism. Jack from Porsche Human Performance delves into alcohol's effects on your waistline in more detail in a guest blog for us, so I won't dive into that further here. But it's safe to say that even a modest amount of alcohol in your diet can contribute to unwanted weight gain.  More body fat is clearly not going to make you go faster so here's a good reason to moderate your alcohol intake on its own.

HOW TO REDUCE ALCOHOL'S IMPACT ON YOUR PERFORMANCE IF YOU DO TREAT YOURSELF TO A NIGHT ON THE TILES...

Enough with the negatives for now, though!  If you just don't fancy going 100% teetotal for life, what's the best way to minimise the potential detrimental effects of any drinks you treat yourself to?

1. MODERATION, MODERATION, MODERATION.

Of course, the first thing to consider is the boring but powerful concept of moderation.  A lot of the issues around alcohol, hydration and performance are extremely dependent on how much you're drinking.  Obvious, right?  Try telling yourself that next time you're contemplating a round of tequila slammers towards the end of the night. In that respect, one good way to 'moderate' is to plan ahead and nominate yourself as the designated driver from time to time.

2. JUST ADD WATER. (AND MAYBE SOME SODIUM...)

To help counter the dehydrating effects of booze, it really is a sensible idea to work some water into the mix whilst you’re out on the town. As boring as it seems, one water in every 2-3 rounds of 'proper' drinks can make a big difference. If peer pressure is an issue, get the bartender to add a few ice cubes and some mint, and you'll have a 'mojito'.

If you want to get really tactical, have a drink with quite a bit of sodium in it during the evening and/or before you go to bed. It's well proven that fluid retention and the sodium content of drinks are closely linked, and that might take the edge off your headache the next morning. 

3. PLAN ACCORDINGLY (AND BE REALISTIC)

Plan your training around any big nights out (or vice versa depending on your priorities), so that you’re not having to try to do anything super strenuous the morning after the night before. As tempting as it might be, try to avoid smashing a hard, guilt-fueled training session immediately after a big night out. Your body is already going to be under a lot of stress recovering from the prior night's abuse, so whilst a thrashing might help clear your conscience, it could lead to more harm than good overall.

Cheers!

Re-posted with the permission of Andy Blow