When high school athletes go off to college, it is usually the first time they have left the protective and watchful eyes of their parents. They are left to decide if they are going to make responsible decisions or not. One decision facing most college students is whether or not they are going to consume alcohol and if they are, are they going to drink responsibly? Most schools try to provide students with information on the benefits and harmful effects of alcohol.
One of the noted benefits of alcohol is that alcohol is thought to be protective against cancer. Red wine and dark beer contain certain antioxidants, called polyphenols, that may assist in this reduction. Moderate amounts of alcohol can also raise HDL cholesterol and may have an influence on reducing the development of dangerous blood clots.1
Too much alcohol, however, can increase your risk of heart disease by raising blood pressure and blood lipids to harmful levels. It may also increase the risk of stroke, liver damage, cancers of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, liver, breast and colon. Alcohol may impair healing from muscle soreness or acute injury.1
Knowing that alcohol may impair healing from muscle soreness or acute injury, the question must be asked: “What impact does it have on an athletes’ ability to recover from exercise?” A few symptoms of alcohol misuse are muscle cramps, pain, and a loss of awareness of the body’s position in space. Alcohol has also been shown to be a diuretic and has shown to decrease a person’s ability to handle certain workloads in high and low ambient temperatures. Metabolism and sleep are also affected with high doses of alcohol use, which may impact recovery.
Low doses of alcohol have been shown to have negative short-term impacts on exercise recovery, but it has been shown that proper nutrition before and after exercise, proper sleep, and hydration can offset the negative impacts over 24 hours post-exercise.2 Experimental data was taken from cellular date and rodents, so it needs to be understood that this blog is not advocating the use of alcohol. This blog recognizes that there needs to be more research done to get a more accurate analysis of how alcohol impacts the human body post exercise.
Remember, there are many bans and restrictions placed on athletes consuming alcohol by their organizations. Many schools prohibit the use of student-athletes using alcohol and the NCAA has a ban on alcohol for its student-athletes.3
1 Brown, E. (2012, December 17). Should a Runner Drink Alcohol? Evaluating the research on the Health, Training and Performance Effects. Retrieved February 1, 2015, from http://runnersconnect.net/running-nutrition-articles/alcohol-and-endurance-running/
2 Vella, L., & Cameron-Smith, D. (2010). Alcohol, Athletic Performance And Recovery. Nutrients, 781-789.
3 2014-15 NCAA Banned Drugs. (2013, November 22). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from http://www.ncaa.org/health-and-safety/policy/2014-15-ncaa-banned-drugs
Great information, I feel like coaches, educators, parents, and the athletes themselves can use this information to better their performance.
ReplyDeleteThis is great information! I think that every university and school should go over this topic with all of their athletes thoroughly so that the athletes can have a better understanding of what exactly they are doing to their bodies and performance. Also, every coach should know these facts and share them often so it stays fresh in the athletes minds.
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