How Alcohol Hinders Your Fitness Goals

Alcohol exerts various effects on your body, significantly impacting your running performance. Running is being very specific in terms of sporting activities, so let’s relate alcohol and its effects to fitness overall which also includes running.

Several factors, including hydration level, timing of consumption, amount consumed, and individual tolerance, influence how alcohol affects fitness. Nonetheless, the following three characteristics are particularly impacted by alcohol consumption in a negative manner.

1. Sleep

Alcohol contributes to lower-quality sleep. Alcohol is a like a sedative which when consumed slows down how your body functions.  It induces drowsiness, disrupts sleep, and increases your resting heart rate. Everyone’s sleep pattern may vary when alcohol is involved, but, at the very least, the quality of sleep, including deep sleep and REM, is adversely affected. REM is also known as Rapid Eye Movement. It is where you have your deepest sleep. You might fall asleep rather quicker than normal, but you may awake within a few hours only to find yourself unable to go back to sleep.

Poor sleep quality can prolong your body’s recovery time, ultimately influencing your temporary health at a minimum.

Most people may read this and think that these effects on sleep patterns only exist for more than two drinks (or for some people three, four, or five drinks). If would be incorrect to think that only having one drink does not affect your health. Excessive drinking (which can mean different things to most people) will have an impact on your sleep that night and most likely the following night, however, one drink can also have an impact – More so than you think.

The reaction that I usually get when discussing this topic with others is a confused expression or a denial, since one beer, wine, or mixed drink can’t that have big of an effect on my body, can it?

Dr. Andrew Huberman who is a neurobiology professor at Stanford School of Medicine among other titles would disagree with you. Check out his website (https://www.hubermanlab.com/) and podcast where you can find him stating that only one drink effects your brain. “The best amount of alcohol is no alcohol” which you can get right out of the text or audio on Dr Huberman’s website, YouTube video or Spotify podcast. If you want to get into all the science and reasoning behind why even one alcoholic beverage has a negative effect on your brain and bodily chemistry, please listen to or watch the Huberman Lab episode.

2. Motivation

Many individuals, me included, prefer early morning runs as they provide a sense of accomplishment before the workday or weekend begins. The longer the day goes on, the less likely it is that I will get to my workout. Add a drink after work to the mix and there goes the exercise session out the window for the day. The earlier in the day the workout happens, the better. This is because I will feel more tired as the day goes on and there will be more excuses and reasons not to exercise as things progress during the day.

Regardless of what time of day you typically run, consuming alcohol the night before or the day of the workout, especially in excess, can leave your body feeling sluggish and in need of recovery from a potential hangover. This can significantly diminish your motivation to engage in a workout.

The initial feeling from consuming one drink may lead to relaxation. This temporary feeling may be cause for some to increase motivation such as if you are in a gathering, it might provide a confidence boost to finally go and talk to somebody, however, nobody drinks alcohol for the energy boost. Alcohol is a depressant, and it typically leads to a slower response because it lowers your inhibitions. So, while you have that temporary motivation to go talk to another individual, you need to factor in the poor decision-making and impulsivity that alcohol consumption brings on as well.

Why am I talking about temporary motivation and what does it have to do with my fitness or running workout?

Motivation and alcohol consumption have an inverse relationship. My point is that the more alcohol you drink, the more likely it is that you will have a diminished sense of motivation to do anything, especially get physically active such as a workout. Nobody drinks an alcoholic beverage and then 10 minutes later goes for a run. The lack of motivation is from the alcohol effects wearing off. 

The reduced drive makes sense considering how ethanol is broken down in our bodies. I can’t stress enough how informative Dr. Huberman’s video is on alcohol and how it effects your brain. Here is a less than 10-minute YouTube clip, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJynHWYo7D8. This clip is just a portion of Episode 86 which is title “What Alcohol Does To Your Body, Brain, and Health”

I strongly encourage anyone who believes having one drink a day does not effect the body negatively to view this video or listen to the entire episode.

3. Hydration

Lastly, I want to talk about hydration as the third main factor in adverse effects from alcohol consumption. Like coffee, alcohol acts as a diuretic, increasing urine production. Loss of fluids through sweat during a run or post-run necessitates replenishment. If fluids and electrolytes are not adequately replaced after sweating or due to dehydration from alcohol consumption the night before, performance deficiencies and potential illness may ensue.

Many Running Events Offer Beer in Post-Parties, Why?

A beer company, bar, or brewery are frequently a sponsor to race and fitness events. For sponsorship reasons, they provide beer(s) as a promotion or to get their ‘brand’ out to the public. This form of marketing and ‘brand’ exposure is quite common for any race sponsor since they have booths set up at the post-race area.

Also, offering beer at the post-party area is a means to celebrate the participants’ achievement of finishing the race. After all, beer is a socialization beverage that brings people together to within the same running community. The reward of a cold beer to enjoy your recent race accomplishment is an opportunity for friends and family to celebrate with one another.

Some would argue that the lighter beers have enough water content to consider the beverage a rehydration drink. While this has some truth, beer would be on the bottom of my list for rehydration after a finished race. Ensure that you consume enough water or sports electrolyte drinks (Gatorade, Powerade, Celsius) if beer is consumed after a race. Having that beer will hinder your digestive system’s ability to absorb electrolytes (such as sodium and potassium) as effectively as it normally would. Even though you may not believe it, the hindrance will exist.

Final Thoughts

Individual tolerance and amount of alcohol consumed always factor into the negative effects of alcohol on the body, however, there is enough science out there that will tell you even one drink a day can cause your brain and bodily systems to not be at optimum levels.

For those training for a half marathon, it’s advisable to avoid alcohol. While having one alcoholic beverage on a given day might be acceptable, individual reactions to alcohol can vary significantly. If alcohol is consumed, it is generally recommended to do so earlier in the day to minimize its impact on sleep. However, no amount of alcohol is going to be good for health.

If you are looking for a means to keep yourself in good shape or training for an upcoming race, try and go alcohol free to keep your body progressing in the right direction. At a very minimum, abstain from alcohol during your given training program duration.