For the Athlete: Alcohol and Athletic Performance


            As an athlete, you know that achieving optimal performance involves practicing hard, hitting the weight room and
            being on top of your game, both mentally and physically.

            However, many athletes tend to underestimate the way in which alcohol use, even a few drinks, can nullify your
            hard work by erasing the effects of your workouts, reducing your endurance and compromising your
            mental game.

            The goal of any athlete is to be at the peak of performance. Your body is the instrument of performance, so treat
            it with care.



            This page will educate you on:

            • The negative effects of alcohol on muscles, learning and nutrition.

            • How to recognize at-risk behavior by using checklists and scenarios.

            • How to help yourself or a friend by using the resources provided.




            How Alcohol Affects Muscle Development and Recovery

Alcohol cancels out gains from your workout. Everyone knows
that working out while under the influence of alcohol is dangerous
because of the likelihood of injury. However, few athletes realize that
consuming alcohol after a workout, practice or competition can cancel
out any physiological gains you may have received from such
activities. Not only does long-term alcohol use diminish protein
synthesis resulting in a decrease in muscle build-up, but even
short-term alcohol use can impede muscle growth.

Alcohol causes dehydration and slows down the body’s ability
to heal. Speeding the recovery of sore muscles and injuries is
integral to optimal performance. Alcohol is a toxin – a toxin that
travels through your bloodstream to every organ and tissue in your
                                                                               body, causing dehydration and slowing your body’s ability to heal itself.

            Alcohol use prevents muscle recovery. In order to build bigger and stronger muscles, your body needs
            sleep to repair itself after a workout. Because of alcohol’s effect on sleep, however, your body is robbed of a
            precious chemical called “human growth hormone” or HGH. HGH is part of the normal muscle-building and
            repair process and the body’s way of telling itself your muscle needs to grow bigger and stronger. Alcohol,
            however, can decrease the secretion of HGH by as much as 70 percent! Also, when alcohol is in your body, it
            triggers the production of a substance in your liver that is directly toxic to testosterone. Testosterone is essential
            for the development and recovery of your muscles.

            Alcohol use depletes your source of energy. Once alcohol is absorbed through your stomach and small
            intestine and finally into your cells, it can disrupt the water balance in muscle cells, thus altering their ability to
            produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is your muscles’ source of energy. ATP provides the fuel
            necessary for your muscles to contract.

            Alcohol also reduces energy sources by inhibiting a process known as gluconeogenesis in which glucose is
            formed from substances other than glucose. When alcohol is oxidized by alcohol dehydrogenase (an enzyme), it
            produces an elevation of NADH, which ultimately reduces the amount of a coenzyme that is essential in the
            production of ATP. This loss of ATP results in a lack of energy and loss of endurance.

            back to top



            How Alcohol Affects your Ability to Learn New Plays and Strategies

            Alcohol use inhibits ability to learn new information. Any athlete
            knows that preparation, such as learning plays and sound strategies,
            is essential to peak performance. However, alcohol can have a
            devastating effect on this process. When there is alcohol in your
            system, your brain’s ability to learn and store new information is
            inhibited due to compromising of the hippocampus, a structure deep
            in the brain vital to the formation of memories. If you cannot form
            new memories, you cannot learn.

            Alcohol use hampers memory and retention. Unfortunately, it is
            not as simple as just not drinking while studying plays or before
            team meetings. Memory formation is a complex process that takes a long time. Many of your memories are
            solidified when you are not thinking about the material. In fact, much of memory formation occurs while
            you sleep.

            Alcohol affects your sleep cycle by disrupting the sequence and duration of normal sleep, reducing your brain’s
            ability to learn and retain information. Even drinking up to six hours before you go to sleep will negatively affect
            your sleep cycle. For example, if you drink after a day of classes, studying or learning new plays, you are not
            getting 100 percent out of your efforts because of the effects of the alcohol you drank.

            Consider this:

            • Consuming five or more alcoholic beverages in one night can affect brain and body activities for up to
               three days.

            • Two consecutive nights of drinking five or more alcoholic beverages can affect brain and body activities for up
               to five days.

            back to top



            How Alcohol Affects Nutrition and Endurance

Alcohol use constricts metabolism and endurance. Being
physically fit and well-conditioned is the hallmark of a champion.
However, no matter how many wind sprints and laps you do, drinking
alcohol constricts your aerobic metabolism and endurance.

Alcohol use requires increased conditioning to maintain
weight. Alcohol holds very little nutritional value to the athlete. The
relatively high calories in alcohol are not available to your muscles.
Alcohol calories are not converted to glycogen, a form of stored
carbohydrates, and thus are not a good source of energy during
exercise. Each drink contains approximately 100-150 empty calories.
                                                                               The body treats alcohol as fat, converting alcohol sugars into
                                                                               fatty acids.

            Alcohol use inhibits absorption of nutrients. Not only is alcohol devoid of proteins, minerals and vitamins, it
            actually inhibits the absorption and usage of vital nutrients such as thiamin (vitamin B1), vitamin B12, folic acid
            and zinc.

                  • Thiamin (vitamin B1) is involved in the metabolism of proteins and fat and the formation of hemoglobin. It is
                    also essential to optimal performance for its role in metabolizing carbohydrates.

                  • Vitamin B12 is essential to good health. It helps maintain healthy red blood and nerve cells.

                  • Folic acid is an integral part of a coenzyme involved in the formation of new cells, a lack of it can cause a
                    blood disorder called “megaloblastic anemia,” which causes a lowering of oxygen-carrying capacity and
                    thus negatively affects endurance activities.

                  • Zinc is also essential to your energy metabolic processes. Since alcohol depletes your zinc resources, the
                    effect is an even greater reduction of your endurance.

            back to top



            ©2004 University of Notre Dame. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.