Find out if you can exercise if you had a strong alcoholic intoxication the day before, and what consequences this will lead to. There are many myths about alcohol, including its combination with sports. Sometimes people are sure that a glass of beer before or after sports will help to relax after intense physical exertion and will not affect health at all. But in practice, everything is quite the opposite.
If you drink alcohol after exercise, you can provoke the accumulation of fat mass, as well as problems with metabolism and the functioning of the circulatory system. Let's take a closer look at the question of what sports with a hangover can benefit or harm.
Quite often, you can find statements that alcohol can have a positive effect on weight gain. However, drinking alcohol after training slows down recovery processes and also dehydrates muscle tissue. It is quite understandable that this is not conducive to progress at all. It doesn't really matter whether you play sports professionally or not, alcohol after exercise is absolutely inappropriate.
If you did an intensive lesson and then drank beer too, then the effectiveness of the training decreases sharply. Do not forget that alcohol significantly slows down the synthesis of protein compounds. Even the smallest amount of alcoholic beverages has an extremely negative effect on your body after training.
How does alcohol affect the body of athletes?
To understand the benefits or harms of sports with a hangover, it is necessary to consider the effect of this substance on the body of athletes:
- Coordination is impaired and the reaction rate slows down. You should understand that these abilities largely determine the quality of the training. It doesn't matter what kind of sport you play, it is better to refuse to drink alcohol.
- Alcohol significantly reduces stamina scores. Agree that the higher your endurance, the more intense and, as a result, effective the lesson will be. Alcoholic drinks decrease the rate of glycogen production, and you will not be able to exercise at sufficient intensity.
- The processes of creating adipose tissue are triggered. Alcohol has a high energy value, and at the same time, the composition of alcohol does not contain the carbohydrate-protein component necessary for athletes. Thus, by consuming alcohol while losing weight, you nullify all your efforts.
- Alcoholic drinks disrupt sleep patterns, and it is at this time that the body is recovering at maximum speed.
- Alcohol imbalances fluid balance and dehydrates the body. This not only slows down muscle growth, but also increases the risk of blood clots.
- Alcohol negatively affects the functioning of the endocrine system, disrupting the hormonal balance.
You probably already understood what sports with a hangover can do good or bad.
Can I drink alcohol after training?
We have already considered the question of the effect of alcohol on the body, it's time to talk about the benefits or dangers of sports with a hangover. The main goal of any workout is to get the muscles to work at maximum intensity. During exercise, the muscles experience strong tension, blood pressure rises, the respiratory system works at maximum load, since all tissues need a lot of oxygen.
All this suggests that the heart muscle is forced to work at maximum load and pump a large amount of blood. Being in this state and drinking alcoholic drinks, you make the body experience tremendous stress. The first organ that is significantly affected in this situation is the liver.
Under the influence of strong physical exertion, the liver is forced to switch to an active mode of operation in order to neutralize a large amount of toxins. If you also drink alcohol, then the body will have to destroy alcohol as well. This requires a lot of water, which also turns out to be insufficient due to imbalance in fluid balance.
Here are a few drinks to drink after class and benefit from it:
- Green tea is an excellent tonic drink that can increase your vitality, speed up metabolic processes and has an immunostimulating effect. Scientists have shown that for two hours after training, the body's defenses are very limited and green tea can help cope with this problem.
- Mate - this type of tea also has tonic properties and can perfectly invigorate. It is also necessary to note the ability of mate to improve the efficiency of the liver. Mate is extremely useful for men as well, as it enhances sexual function.
- Mineral water - will help to restore the water-salt balance in the body in a short time.
- Herbal teas - These drinks will help you restore fluid balance and strengthen your immune system.
When can I start exercising after alcohol?
If you have an event that you cannot do without drinking alcohol, we recommend that you postpone your workout for a couple of days. If you visit the gym immediately after drinking intoxicating drinks, you will not get a positive effect. Also, the next morning after drinking alcohol, you should have a good breakfast.
It is very important to use protein-rich foods such as cheese, meat or seafood as a snack when drinking alcohol. Eating protein foods before bed is also a good solution. Talking about what sports can bring with a hangover, the benefit or harm, we remembered the violation of fluid balance. To avoid this unpleasant moment between alcohol it is worth drinking juice or fruit drink.
In any case, you should not be addicted to alcohol, even if you are not a professional athlete. According to scientists, the maximum alcohol intake for athletes is two glasses of wine or 0.5 liters of beer. If you do not drink more than this dose, then you can exercise even the day after the holiday.
But after the training, it is best not to drink alcohol for at least a day, but at the same time not to violate the above norm. Here are some interesting facts to help you find out what sports hangover can do good or bad:
- If alcohol is consumed systematically, then training will be ineffective.
- The state of strong intoxication in its effect on the body is similar to a pause in training lasting one week.
- When you drank a little alcohol, then we can assume that you missed one lesson.
- Alcoholic beverages cause sleep disturbance, which dramatically slows down the regenerative processes in muscle tissues.
- Alcoholic beverages accelerate the elimination of micronutrients from the body.
- Under the influence of alcohol, the production of such a powerful anabolic hormone as growth hormone is reduced.
If you have not yet understood that sports with a hangover are beneficial or harmful, then at least a few days should pass between drinking alcohol and exercising. In this case, you will not be able to cause serious damage to the body. Although a glass of good wine, drunk a few hours after the end of the lesson, will not be able to harm your health and will not reduce the effectiveness of the workout, it is worth giving up alcoholic beverages.
Fitness and hangover
Surely everyone already understands what sport with a hangover can bring benefit or harm. However, some people may assume that fitness does not involve the strenuous physical activity of, say, bodybuilding. However, in any case, conducting a cardio session with a hangover, you drastically reduce its effectiveness. In addition, decreased concentration and poor coordination of movements can result in a fall off the treadmill and serious injury.
Not a single instructor will allow a person who has drunk alcohol the day before to train under his guidance. Your coach will advise you to go home and lie down. Unfortunately, sometimes a person is sure that with a hangover he is not able to feel tired, which is completely untrue.
The thing is that alcohol lowers the pain threshold, but in any case, you will feel pain. Most often this happens after a few hours. If you have been drinking, the only exercise you can afford is walking at a relaxed pace.
We have come across information on the Internet that yoga will help you cope with hangover syndrome. However, this is not entirely true, because performing difficult asanas can cause you to lose balance and get serious damage. If you have the strength, then, as we said above, walk along the street. You should definitely refrain from other types of physical activity. Recall that a workout can be carried out no earlier than 30 hours after stopping drinking alcohol. According to scientists, this is exactly the length of time the body needs to recover from the negative effects of alcohol.
You need to accept the fact that sports are completely incompatible with alcohol. If you drink strong drinks rarely and in small doses, then this will not do much harm. But when alcohol is taken, say, at least once a week, then after each such incident it can be considered that you have missed one lesson.
For more on the benefits and dangers of hangover sports, see the following video: