Alcohol or Exercise
On Friday afternoon about to leave work, the office starts thinking about going out and having a few drinks with friends to relax and wind down. Even though I think it’s OK to go out and have a few drinks, there are some things that come to mind immediately.
Like any other day, tomorrow is going to be a day for exercise, and when exercising on a regular basis, a few drinks of alcohol may not really hurt anything, right? But before I decide to join in at the bar there are a few things to think about before deciding about going out to drink some alcohol.
Research has proven that even small amounts of alcohol will affect muscular endurance and the output of strength, although these types of benefits my be short lived. All of the negative side effects associated with alcohol will easily outweigh any possible benefits that it can have. No matter how you look at it, alcohol is a poison that can really harm your body if you aren’t careful.
The negative side of alcohol can reduce strength, endurance, aerobic capability, recovery
time, ability to metabolize fat, and even muscle growth as well. Alcohol will also have an
effect on the nervous system and brain. Used long term, it can cause severe deterioration
of the central nervous system. Even with short term use, nerve muscle interaction can be reduced which will result in a loss of strength.
Once alcohol reaches the blood cells, it can and probably will damage them. With alcohol users, inflammation of the muscle cells is a very common thing. Over periods of time, some of these cells that have been damaged can die which will result in less functional muscle contractions. Drinking alcohol will also increase soreness of muscles after exercise, which means that it will take a lot longer to recover from exertion.
Alcohol will also have many different effects on heart and circulatory system as well. When
you drink any type of alcohol, you may begin to see a reduction in endurance capabilities. Anytime you drink alcohol, heat loss will increase, due to the alcohol simulating blood vessels to dilate. The loss in heat can cause muscles to become quite cold, therefore become slower and weaker during your muscle contractions.
Drinking alcohol can also lead to digestive and nutrition problems as well. Alcohol causes a
release of insulin that will increase the metabolism of glycogen, which spares fat and makes the loss of fat very hard. Due to alcohol interfering with the absorption of several key nutrients, you can also become anemic and deficient with B type vitamins.
Because the liver is the organ that detoxifies alcohol, the more alcohol you drink, the harder your liver has to work. The extra stress alcohol places on the liver can cause serious damage and even destroy some 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.
An occasional alcoholic drink in moderation may be socially easier than total abstinence but I’m thinking there are some principles that are worth standing up for and building a strong foundation of health takes constant and repetitive action. Why undermine my health, exercise effort, and well-being by imbibing a toxin that will impair balance, coordination, and also judgment. Think about health and exercise and it purpose and value – and begin to look at things from a whole new long term prospective, not a short term social boost.
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