Sports drink: booze and the body in training

If you know me well, you know I like a drink. One of my favorites is an ice-cold beer after a hard-played soccer match. It slakes the thirst like nothing else and there’s a quick little hit as the booze enters the depleted bloodstream.

I remember one of my high school coaches talking about the positive effects of beer after exercise—this was the early 90s, remember. Though he was clear about it being “a” beer, singular. My tendency has always been to tack on a few more, at least.

The harmful effects of excessive drinking on the body are well documented—cirrhosis, high blood pressure, risk of mouth and throat cancers, and on and on. Those are major health concerns for sure. But if I’m being honest, they haven’t slowed my drinking much over the years.

What then are the immediate impacts of alcohol on the body in training? Obviously, playing soccer, or any other sport, while intoxicated is next to impossible. But even if I’ve only had a few drinks the night before, my game is much reduced. If it’s a full-blown hangover, I might as well be drunk out there.

And yet lot of the literature on the issue is surprisingly inconclusive. For example, a 2010 study by two doctors in Australia titled “Alcohol, Athletic Performance, and Recovery” found a range of deleterious effects of alcohol on the body, from dehydration to muscle cramping to sleep loss. But when it comes to actual impact on performance, both aerobic and anaerobic, the hard evidence wasn’t there. To quote the study: “the notion that alcohol consumption affects performance has not received enough consistent validation to advance beyond being anecdotal.”

Be that as it may, there’s no way booze hasn’t taken away from my soccer game, along with my general physical and mental wellbeing.

For starters, there’s the weight gain. On this point, the science is clear. Alcohol has a lot of calories, about 7 per gram, and the high sugar content means the calories are converted to fat by the body, as opposed to energy.

Not only does alcohol pack on the pounds, it keeps the body from absorbing performance-enhancing nutrients from food, including thiamine, folic acid, and zinc. I really feel the drop in endurance that comes with this nutrient loss.     

Beyond the physical effects, booze messes with my mind. Even if I’ve only had a couple drinks the night before, my confidence on the field takes a hit. It’s that voice inside my head telling me to stay away from the ball. Conversely, when there’s no alcohol in my system, my head is clear, my spirit is light, and I’m hungry for the goal.

I’ve always been a streaky player, scoring goals in bunches and then going games without so much as a shot on net. I wonder to what extent alcohol is a factor. Hitting the wagon for 134 days, the full duration of The Second Half, should help answer that question. I think it will teach me a lot of other things about my mind and body as well.