Honestly how bad is alcohol on the body? (read description)

lol runner wrote:

Sounds like you're doing what every alcoholic has done since time immemorial, and that justify their awful habit.

I truly wish the best for you.

So funny.

That's it!

That's it!

That's it!

Thank you for the post, your key words

"Lots of pros drink..." triggered something

I heard during the London marathon,

Maurtens sports drink.

I must try it:)

Alcohol is not going to help your training. If your primary goal is health and fitness, don’t drink. The extra calories alone are reason enough not to drink alcohol.

However, people slack off in many ways. Stay up late (don’t sleep enough), sometimes eat crap they shouldn’t, half ass a workout, have a couple of drinks, etc. It’s good for your well being to have balance in life and to have fun. But the little things add up and can make a difference in your performance. You need to figure out the balance. Personally I wouldn’t drink every week, that’s for sure, and the easiest thing is to just not drink. It won’t make you a better runner.

If you run that much, one beer a night might actually help you. Your body desperately craves the carbs. The alcohol could relax you and aid recovery.

Tell you this as an over 40 guy....

You think you are invincible when you are in your 20's and can get away with lot of excess thanks to your running and the fact that you are young. As you get older it doesnt work like that anymore. Alcohol is one of those things that suddenly comes crashing down on you, both metaphorically and physically (after all is liquid sugar). You will inevitably slow down in your running, or give it up altogether, and then you will be suddenly challenged to go easier on what is effectively an addiction. So you might as well start now you still can...

Personally I feel zero need to drink anything more than one (1) beer once a week (if at all), i am still under 140 and my running is doing very much fine even though is is at age group level right now...

Forewarned is forearmed....

lol runner wrote:

skeptic sandy wrote:

We know it is bad for a sedentary, average fat American these studies all do.

What about for someone who is in early 20's, running 90-100 mpw with 2-3 workouts a week, who eats mainly raw and lots of fruits and vegetables, sleeps 8-9 hr a night, stays hydrated etc. Supping with milk thistle, getting lots of sunshine etc

Like does it really hurt a hardcore runner the same as a slob? Sure it's gotta be way less harmful. Lots of pros drink and race fast and have longevity

You added "running 90-100 mpw with 2-3 workouts a week" as if that is a marker of health. Also, milk thistle....okay, then.

Sounds like you're doing what every alcoholic has done since time immemorial, and that justify their awful habit.

I truly wish the best for you.

Alright, let's get off our high horse and be adults about this. Drinking booze and getting messed up was for sure fun, I def had some good times (blurry but fun.) I am not comparing my benders to a beer or 2 with a burger on fries on a friday night, but realistically, we have to be honest about what booze does, especially as an athlete. While our fitness as runners is much higher than the regular population, this in turns demands more care than our fellow peers. I was never a serious runner, but had some natural talent and was a well rounded athlete growing up. Ironically, wanting to run early on weekend mornings is what started pulling me away from the desire to booze. I was around 23-24, and just thought, I feel better and my workouts are muchh better without this. A few weeks shy of 31 now, and I can confidently say if I continued drinking on a regular basis the last 7-8 years, there's no way I'd progressed in my running and overall health the way I have. We're all different, with our own thresholds, but to a young aspiring runner, I'd def caution booze intake and keep it very limited and for special occasions.

If someone suggests that you shouldn’t drink alcohol, they are typically inviting being labeled as a part of the “moral or religious fringe”. However, if you are truly interested in an argument for why NOT to consume alcohol (aside from the alcohol abuse issue) you need look no further than its relationship to cancer. Alcohol increases the risk for a number of different types of cancer - pharynx, oesophgus, colorectum, liver, larynx and female breast cancer. It is also associated with pancreas and prostate cancer and melanoma. Each year ~100K cases of breast cancer are attributed to alcohol consumption (I bet you have not heard that from your doctor). Take a look at this report: Alcohol and Cancer. Testino et al. (2015). Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 39(11), 2261.

A healthy diet can absolutely offset some of the risk; however, humans are quite good at justifying anything and everything (i.e., if I exercise and eat right, what’s the harm of eating/drinking...?). Maybe the risk is minimal, or maybe you are just lucky (we’ve all heard the story of the guy that smokes, drinks… and lives to be 100+); however, if you have ever had cancer I suspect you might want to re-think the logic of consuming something that has clearly been shown to be a contributor to the disease. The bottom line is that there is NO safe level of alcohol consumption.

A lot of bad happens, for one the liver will be occupied with the alcohol instead of doing the good recovery stuff it was supposed to.

For me, I assume a bottle of wine = 20 hours loss of training/recovery.

Sometimes I take that cost though.

SprintTriathlon wrote:

A lot of bad happens, for one the liver will be occupied with the alcohol instead of doing the good recovery stuff it was supposed to.

For me, I assume a bottle of wine = 20 hours loss of training/recovery.

Sometimes I take that cost though.

*I do not mean I lose 20 hours of training, just 20 hours delay of recovery.

Precious Roy wrote:

The studies showing that moderate drinking is good for you are very suspect. .

I'm only following the science. I was told the science is settled and I am not a science denier.

I red- shirted my freshman year in college due to injury, wasn't anywhere near making the travel squad. Started drinking regularly sophomore year. Not only made the team, but was top 5. Only thing I did differently was wake up hung over on Sundays. Also, all my best races came exactly one week after being blind drunk and puking bile (right before heading out for 15-16 miles).

septic sandi wrote:

Precious Roy wrote:

The studies showing that moderate drinking is good for you are very suspect. .

I'm only following the science. I was told the science is settled and I am not a science denier.

As far as the science goes they these studies are fine but it's important to remember that they are mostly very narrowly designed to focus on whether a small amount of alcohol (1 or 2 drinks / day) is healthy. The narrowness of the design excludes--likely purposefully in alcohol industry-funded cases--a number of the serious health consequences coming from problem drinking such as alcoholism, fetal alcohol exposure and deaths from drunk driving. So I think the science says that a low to moderate amount of alcohol is probably of no consequence to slightly beneficially if you know you aren't prone to abusing it. I'm not sure how you can know that ahead of time, however.

More and more the medical research suggests that any consumption of alcohol at all is bad for you. Of course such a statement ignores how bad (more is worse), but current studies tend to show that what most of us consider quite minimal consumption, a few beers a week, is associated with negative outcomes. All this is statistical, speaking of entire populations, and of course there is some guy who drinks a lot and lives to 100 (my grandfather), but anecdote proves nothing.

Everyone who drinks wants to think that the way they drink is ok, and I personally have a beer occasionally, but I don't care to optimize my health, simply to avoid obviously damaging it severely. I couldn't live without a little vice (what would be the point?).

skeptic sandy wrote:

We know it is bad for a sedentary, average fat American these studies all do.

What about for someone who is in early 20's, running 90-100 mpw with 2-3 workouts a week, who eats mainly raw and lots of fruits and vegetables, sleeps 8-9 hr a night, stays hydrated etc. Supping with milk thistle, getting lots of sunshine etc

Like does it really hurt a hardcore runner the same as a slob? Sure it's gotta be way less harmful. Lots of pros drink and race fast and have longevity

The main issue is the brain damage. It makes you think that being a vegetarian, long haired hippie dippy and shopping at Whole Paycheck is somehow going to bring you nirvana. Milk thistle? What are you a human with canine teeth for tearing meat or a butterfly? Enjoy your kombucha you beatnik.

I wear a Garmin with an HR monitor that keeps a log of my resting heart rate. One thing that I've noticed is that on nights that I have a few drinks that my RHR spikes up a bit. If I get drunk, it really spikes up super high. Has anyone else noticed this? I'll share some personal numbers to give some clarity.

Morning after no drinks: 38-42 bpm

Morning after a few drinks: 46-50 bpm

Morning after excessive drinking: 65+ bpm

Perhaps this is a clue that my body does not appreciate the alcohol. Having said that, I mostly do not drink but will drink on special occasions (which pop up frequently enough).

Work hard, play hard, run harder.

BHViking wrote:

I wear a Garmin with an HR monitor that keeps a log of my resting heart rate. One thing that I've noticed is that on nights that I have a few drinks that my RHR spikes up a bit. If I get drunk, it really spikes up super high. Has anyone else noticed this? I'll share some personal numbers to give some clarity.

Morning after no drinks: 38-42 bpm

Morning after a few drinks: 46-50 bpm

Morning after excessive drinking: 65+ bpm

Perhaps this is a clue that my body does not appreciate the alcohol. Having said that, I mostly do not drink but will drink on special occasions (which pop up frequently enough).

I can confirm that this is true for me as well. I love taking measurements of things, so almost every day for about the last 3 years I measure my resting heart rate. EVERY - SINGLE - TIME that I have drunk alcohol within the last 24 hours it is higher. I don't see quite the same swing as you, but my numbers go from ~ 44 bpm to ~60 bpm with 5-8 drinks within 24 hours, or up to ~56 bpm if 1-4 drinks within 24 hours.

septic sandi wrote:

Precious Roy wrote:

The studies showing that moderate drinking is good for you are very suspect. .

I'm only following the science. I was told the science is settled and I am not a science denier.

Those 2 sentences are so full of rhetoric, I'm seriously questioning whether you're trolling.

Anyone who tells you that "the science is settled" about anything, especially physiology, is delusional or lying to you.

Pretzel Man wrote:

Work hard, play hard, run harder.

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