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Alcohol and Athletic Performance
April 2022
Isabella Brill
MS in Nutrition, Dietetic Intern
Whether you are training for a sport, general fitness, or simply working to improve athletic performance and health, what you drink plays a crucial role in the development of your overall performance and fitness goals. For example, the consumption of alcohol has been linked to negative consequences regarding athletic performance.
Alcohol can affect athletic performance both physically and mentally beyond just a single evening of drinking. Alcohol affects motor skills and precision, hydration status, recovery, and overall aerobic performance. Let’s take a brief look at each of these.
Motor Skills and Precision
Alcohol can impair hand-eye coordination, judgment, and balance. Plus, dehydration due to alcohol consumption can decrease mental function and concentration, which are vital for complex decision-making in sports.
Hydration Status
Alcohol is a diuretic known to increase urine production, putting athletes at risk for dehydration. The resulting dehydration and electrolyte imbalance increases the risk for muscle cramps.
Recovery
Alcohol delays muscle repair post-activity. This can slow or impair recovery. Post-exercise alcohol consumption can play a role in decreased replenishment of muscle glycogen ultimately affecting future performance as well.
Aerobic Performance
Dehydration plays a major role in the decrease of aerobic performance, leading to accelerated fatigue and impaired temperature regulation. Dehydration causes an increase in breathing and stress on the heart, resulting in faster fatigue and greater exertion rate.
If you're an athlete or a weekend warrior consider how drinking will affect your athletic performance and fitness goals. Weigh the potential consequences on health and performance before making the decision to consume alcohol. If you opt to skip the alcohol, try an easy mocktail:
- Mix cranberry juice, orange juice and sparkling white grape juice for an easy, non-alcoholic spritz.
- Put six ice cubes into a tall glass of chocolate milk and stir to get it really cold, pour it into a wine or martini glass, and sprinkle some chocolate shavings on top!
