The data presented is taken from the Oura Ring and is not based on a clinical study or clinical measurement tools, although the validation of Oura continues to be made. It is an N=1 observation yet also one that has correlated to many of the athletes that I work with, who have seen similar patterns occur. The following are observations made across a four-month period that included one month of consuming alcohol, two months being “dry” and one month of alcohol. “Can I drink alcohol and still have an effective training plan?” DRY-OBSERVATIONS MADE You now know the long-term risk of disease and the moderate-term risk of injury, yet the primary concern may be the immediate effects and you want to know… This is postulated as potentially being due to the hangover effect, which could impair performance by as much as 11.4% (3) Increased incidence of injury is cited as being double that in drinking athletes compared to non-drinking athletes. This statistic may only reflect the fact that older populations in sports have not been studied to date. The causative negative effect of alcohol on sports-related injuries appears apparent, certainly in males and younger populations. Perhaps now is as good a time as any to do so. Quite often, we do not consider the longer-term effects of drinking alcohol and its effect on the body. Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, estimates 200 medical conditions are worsened by alcohol, such as high blood pressure, stroke risk, diabetes, liver disease, and cancers, especially oral cancers. There is the cause-effect of alcohol with those disease processes directly caused by alcohol consumption, and these usually relate to excess consumption, such as Alcoholic liver disease or alcoholic hepatitis. “In fact, in the last comparative risk assessment conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the detrimental impact of alcohol consumption on the global burden of disease and injury was surpassed only by unsafe sex and childhood underweight status but exceeded that of many classic risk factors, such as unsafe water and sanitation, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or tobacco use (WHO 2009). The interesting fact about alcohol is that the risks associated are not always related to heavy or excessive consumption when examining the risk of disease. WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION?Īpart from the obvious involving falling over due to one too many, there are many serious implications of alcohol consumption. This means that alcohol, if you drink it, must be considered when factoring in caloric intake along with the negative health implications. It is made by fermenting yeast with sugar from ingredients such as grapes (wine) and potatoes (vodka), for example.Īlcohol is often referred to as the “fourth macronutrient” as it supplies 7 Kcal of energy per 1g of alcohol.

It is the ingredient that impairs you and eventually gets you drunk if you consume too much of it. Alcohol is an ingredient in products such as beer, wine and spirits. This was taken from the Australian Government website, leaving little doubt about what the officials think about alcohol. “Alcohol is a drug that can be toxic and addictive.” (1) Let’s go beyond that immediate notion of why we believe alcohol may not be part of an effective training plan and look at what alcohol is, what are the risks, observations made whilst being “dry,” correlations, age-related alcohol considerations and finally, whether or not it can be part of an effective training program. That state of fogginess, reduced motivation, breathlessness and general lethargy combined with the willpower of a gnat when it comes to making good decisions around nutrition the following day. The immediate effects of alcohol are well-known - hangovers.

It may be true, yet sadly, that the former statement is completely wrong. There is a good chance someone - you? - overdid the beers, the Champagne, the wine and the spirits. Consider the celebrations like Memorial Day weekend in the United States, the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in the United Kingdom and the Swannies putting one over the Mighty Melbourne Demons.

Four elements trainer drinks