Active With Alex

Alcohol can significantly impact endurance, performance, recovery, sleep and training consistency. Learn how drinking affects running, fitness goals and overall wellbeing.

By now we all know that alcohol is less than optimal for our health, especially if you are looking to achieve certain fitness and health goals. Whether that’s to generally feel better, lose weight, or because you are training for your next endurance or performance event, alcohol will get in the way of your progress. The question is… 

How much does alcohol really impact you, and can you maintain balance?

My relationship with alcohol is probably similar to most people’s. When I was in my teenage years and through most of my 20s, I actively sought out opportunities to drink alcohol and get drunk. And, like most young people, I did so in search of the heightened feeling it gave me, the improved confidence, and the unrealistic added energy. This time in my life also coincided with my years at university and the partying that happened during this time.

This relationship with alcohol has changed several times, however. What started out as a naive and immature seeking of pleasure turned into a genuine enjoyment. My attitude of seeking a certain drunken state had shifted to instead enjoying the drink and not its alcohol percentage or dizzying effects.

The second shift happened more recently, as I’ve entered my 30s. Perhaps this second shift was a result of the compounding effects of many hangovers, or maybe my sense of self changed. Either way, the difference in the way that I feel when I drink compared to when I don’t is significant. I feel the healthiest I have ever felt, it no longer impacts my ability to perform at work or when I am training, and that desire to have a drink has all but disappeared.

I want to reassure you that this article isn’t me demonising alcohol nor confessing my sobriety. I very much still enjoy a cold beer in the sun or a glass of wine with a meal or while socialising. My intention behind this article is to share my findings from first-hand experience – a real comparison between my overall happiness and feelings of health and wellbeing when I drink alcohol compared to when I don’t.

There are many things that we do in life that probably aren’t good for us, but that we make exceptions for because it’s accepted as the norm. Drinking alcohol, eating fast food, spending beyond our means, neglecting sleep, and overexerting ourselves, to name just a few. When we accept these behaviours, we’re accepting a less optimal life, a life that is, on the whole, less than it could be.

The frustrating thing is, we all know this and have experienced this first-hand, yet we continue to repeat these behaviours. Part of the reason for this is our environment – large food companies spending billions each year on marketing to lure us into wanting the products they sell, as well as producing products that make it difficult to say no. To add to this are the people we choose to surround ourselves with who have the habits we might not want. It’s incredible how influential these people are in our lives.

Alcohol’s Impact on the Body

To understand whether you’re able to balance drinking alcohol with healthy habits, you need to know how alcohol impacts our bodies.

In its purest form, alcohol is a chemical called ethanol and can be used in many different ways, including in cleaning products, hand sanitiser, and also in your favourite beverages. Ethanol is created through the fermentation of sugars by yeast and, in its purest form, is not safe for human consumption.

When you take that first refreshing sip of beer or enjoy the warming taste of a vintage scotch, your body absorbs the alcohol through the stomach and intestines, to then be mostly metabolised in the liver. As it’s processed, the alcohol makes its way into your bloodstream and from there is pumped around your body, through your organs and into your brain, giving you the relaxed and soon giddy feelings that many people seek.

The reality is that alcohol continues to impact our bodies long after it has technically been processed. This is where it becomes a major factor in sleep quality, recovery, endurance training and performance output.

Gut Health, Sleep and Recovery

Our guts hate alcohol.

Within our gut we have billions of bacteria that help break down our food and make us feel healthy. Our diet literally determines how healthy and active this gut flora is, and the addition of alcohol wreaks havoc on it. It’s for this reason that after a heavy night out, or a prolonged period of regular drinking, you can experience increased bloating, stomach cramps, and even IBS symptoms.

Without realising it, every time you consume alcohol, your gut becomes slightly inflamed – the more alcohol you drink, the more inflamed and less effective it becomes. This is also bad news for any form of endurance exercise as you’re more prone to stomach cramps, poor digestion and lower training output.

Say goodbye to a good night’s sleep!

Yes, you read that correctly, alcohol completely destroys your sleep.

You might still sleep for 9 or 10 hours, but the quality of that sleep varies massively. There’s a huge difference between restorative sleep – where your body is able to drift into deep and REM states essential for recovery – and the knocked-out state that alcohol puts you in.

Over the last few years I’ve worn several wearable health devices that have measured my sleep. Whether tracking using my Garmin or my previous Whoop device, I have seen the impacts that alcohol has had on my sleep. I was amazed to see how the consumption of even one or two small beers increased my resting heart rate and breathing rate, at times by over 40%. My percentage of deep and REM sleep? Non-existent.

What does this actually mean?

I woke up feeling tired and lethargic still. I had low energy and generally felt lazy. I ached, a lot. As someone who is as active as I am, having poor sleep means my joints ache and my muscles feel weak. This impacts how good I feel in the gym and means my gas tank that powers my runs is depleted before I’ve taken my first step.

The Change That Made Me Feel Better

Making the change to reduce my alcohol consumption made me feel a million times better.

I stated at the start of this article that I had no intention of declaring war on alcohol, and I maintain that sentiment. I still very much enjoy consuming alcohol, however my relationship with it looks very different now at the age of 32 than it has before.

For starters, I avoid drinking during the week. The simple reason is that it doesn’t serve any purpose for me during this time. I’m busy with work and have various other responsibilities, from my weekly Spanish class to my running schedule.

I always avoid drinking to dampen stress – this doesn’t work. It’s a slippery slope that you will struggle to stop. Whenever I’m stressed, I find that exercise, music, fresh air, and even meditation can help relieve this.

I also have bigger endurance goals and desires now than I ever have had before – for me, alcohol simply gets in the way of this. The feeling I get from endurance events and the lasting impacts following the training far outweigh any drink and certainly beat the hangovers.

Now, if I think about having one or two glasses of wine or a couple of beers, the first thing I consider is how my sleep will be impacted and how this will make me feel the following day.

Can You Maintain Balance?

So in answer to my question of whether you can maintain balance, absolutely you can.

You just want to make sure your relationship with alcohol is a healthy one that also allows you to feel your best and perform in the way that you want. If you desire to reach the pinnacle of your discipline, to be the very best, consuming alcohol will certainly get in the way of your goals. It is also certain that your competitors are trading their Friday evening beer for a functional protein shake. If, however, you are training out of enjoyment and have personal goals, there is far less on the line and you can certainly enjoy drinking in moderation.

I feel it’s important to be honest with yourself when it comes to your own consumption of alcohol. Drinking alcohol socially, with friends, creating strong bonds and also fond memories certainly has its place and is important for many. However, if you find yourself drinking out of boredom or just ‘because you can’, then you may want to reconsider the way that you drink.