Alcohol,Exercise And Your Health

On Friday evenings after work, you go out and have a few drinks with friends to relax and wind down. Really you are not alone in the category of people who think they deserve to go out and have a few drinks and have fun with friends. However, there are some things that you should certainly have in mind before doing this.

If you are exercising on a regular basis, a few drinks of alcohol won't really hurt anything, right?  Before you decide to rush out to the local bar, there are a few things below that you should think about before you make your choice about going out to drink some alcohol.

Research has proven that small amounts of alcohol increase muscular endurance and the output of strength, however this type of benefit is short lived.  It is just a matter of minutes for the problems to start to surface.  All of the negative side effects associated with alcohol will easily outweigh any possible benefits that can be derived from it.  No matter how you look at it, alcohol is a poison that can really harm your body if you are not careful.

The negative side of alcohol can reduce your strength, endurance, aerobic capability and recovery time, ability to metabolize fat, and even your muscle growth as well.  Alcohol will also have an effect on your nervous system and brain. Alcohol, if used for long term, can cause severe deterioration to the central nervous system.   Even with short term use, nerve muscle interaction can be reduced which will result in loss of strength.

Once alcohol gets to the blood cells, it can and probably will damage them.  Inflammation of the muscle cells is very common with users of alcohol.  Over a long period of time, some of these damaged cells  die which will result in less functional muscle contractions.  Drinking alcohol will also leave you with more soreness of muscles after exercise, which means that it will take you a lot longer to recuperate.

Alcohol also have many different effects on the heart and circulatory system as well.  When you drink any type of alcohol, you may start seeing a reduction in your endurance capabilities. Each time you take alcohol, your heat loss will increase, because alcohol will stimulate your blood vessels to dilate.  The loss in heat can cause your muscles to become cold, making you slower and weaker during your muscle contractions.

Drinking alcohol can also lead to digestive and nutritional problems.  Alcohol causes the release of insulin that increases the metabolism of glycogen, which spares fat and makes the loss of fat very difficult.  Due to alcohol interference with the absorption of several key nutrients, you can also become anemic and deficient with B type vitamins. 

Because your liver is the organ that detoxifies alcohol, the more you drink, the harder your liver has to work.  The extra stress alcohol places on your liver can cause serious damage and even destroy some of your liver cells.

Since alcohol is diuretic, drinking large amounts can put a lot of stress on your kidneys as well. During diuretic action, the hormones are secreted. This can lead to heightened water retention and no one who exercises will want this to happen.

If you must drink alcohol, drink it in moderation and never drink before you exercise, as this will impair your balance, coordination and judgment.  Think about your health and how you exercise - and you may begin to look at alcohol intake from a whole new prospective.