Sports dilemma: what happens if you drink alcohol after a workout

There are many debates and arguments about the harm and benefits of alcohol in sports. Some believe that alcohol helps to relax and regain strength after a hard workout, while others are against any alcoholic beverages, believing that they have a bad effect on muscle growth and the body as a whole. Let’s try to understand this issue.

Opinion of professional athletes

Among professional athletes there is no unanimous opinion. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo does not use alcohol at all. He does not allow himself any indulgences, adheres to a strict diet and at 35 years old shows phenomenal results. But hockey player Ilya Kovalchuk believes that a couple of beers after matches is the best way to restore strength.

Soccer player Dmitry Kombarov also spoke about the benefits of beer: “It is scientifically proven that 0.5 beer will have no effect on the body. Nor will it affect the next day – on recovery. And sometimes in psychological and physical terms beer plays only a positive role. I trust it. I can have a glass after the game. Some doctors recommend beer, so it’s fine.”

Health expert and science journalist Boris Tsatsulin explained in one of the videos on his YouTube channel why athletes in the past centuries resorted to alcohol during and after sports.

Boris: In both the 19th and 20th century, athletes would occasionally drink a low-alcohol beer. Why? They were replenishing the loss of water, minerals, electrolytes and energy in the body. When beer is boiled during the brewing process, this is how water is sterilized. And beer was a safer option than water from an unknown source. But that was then.

Nowadays, the situation has changed a lot. Now we can replenish the resources spent during training with guaranteed clean water, isotonics and special supplements. So it is worth thinking about – is it necessary to raise the degree unnecessarily?

How does alcohol affect the body after training?

Before you order yourself an alcoholic drink, you need to understand all the pros and cons. Alcohol has a negative effect on the cardiovascular system and liver, slows metabolism and increases appetite. In addition, alcohol affects the level of the male hormone testosterone in the body, responsible for the growth of muscle mass. But that’s not all.

It prevents you from losing weight

If you want to lose weight, it is better to minimize alcohol consumption. Maybe certain drinks contain few calories and will not do much harm to the body. But, as practice shows, after drinking, we overeat and get addicted to unhealthy food. And hence the extra pounds the next day. So watch the quality of food and try not to go beyond the daily calorie.

Increases the level of stress hormone

Alcohol consumption, even in small amounts, slows down the process of protein synthesis, affects the process of body recovery after training, increases the level of cortisol. This is the so-called stress hormone, and it destroys our muscles and promotes fat accumulation. Its increased level brings a lot of health problems: fatigue, weakened immunity and testosterone production, GI problems.

Leads to dehydration

Alcohol is the cause of dehydration in the body. It is a diuretic, which means it encourages the body to excrete more fluid. The effectiveness of the workout in case of dehydration is greatly reduced, because water plays an important role in building muscles. In addition, it is the main cause of headaches in the morning. Therefore, it is important to restore water and salt balance.

“When we train, especially at high intensity or in hot climates, we lose a lot of fluids and deplete electrolytes. It’s important to restore these fluid levels after exercise, but drinking alcohol can delay this process,” explains Roger Adams, PhD.

It hinders muscle growth and impairs strength performance

Alcoholic beverages have a negative impact on muscle growth and strength performance. There are studies proving that alcohol removes vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from the body that play an important role in building muscle mass. Slowing down protein synthesis slows down the recovery process and reduces muscle strength.

Alcohol depletes glycogen stores in the liver and therefore negatively affects endurance, speed and energy.

To drink or not to drink is up to you. It all depends on your goals here. Most likely, alcohol in small doses will not have a strong negative impact on performance. But if you want to achieve serious results in sports, then even rare abuse will interfere. You need to clearly understand that you can ruin the potential by drinking alcoholic beverages. The most important thing is that the indulgences do not lead to an uncontrolled bad habit.