Alcohol And Its Impact on Workouts Through Muscle Inflammation
While socializing over drinks is enjoyable, excessive alcohol intake can disrupt your sleep, leading to muscle inflammation that can affect your workout performance, explains Samuel Chan, PT, DPT, ATC, CSCS, a physical therapist at Bespoke Treatment in New York City. Here’s how alcohol interacts with muscle inflammation.
Alcohol’s Influence on Sleep
Sleep is crucial for recovering from daily mental and physical exhaustion. Alcohol can hinder sleep quality and duration, affecting body regeneration, memory, energy levels, and muscle development according to a 2015 study. Lack of proper sleep is linked to stress, fatigue, mood disorders, heart disease, diabetes, and musculoskeletal issues.
“We often think alcohol aids sleep, but it disrupts REM and deep sleep essential for recovery,” Dr. Chan explains, highlighting how alcohol metabolism impacts sleep quality and systemic inflammation.
Alcohol’s Role in Muscle Inflammation and Performance
Apart from sleep disturbance, alcohol consumption may cause soreness, tenderness, swelling, and increased pain, signs of inflammation. Dr. Chan notes that acute alcohol intake decreases motor skills, balance, reaction time, and can impair performance, raising injury risk.
Alcohol can interfere with lactate metabolism, affecting aerobic activities by increasing lactate levels, leading to fatigue and reduced muscle performance, Dr. Chan adds.
“If you train with higher inflammation levels, you may experience fatigue, reduced output, muscle stiffness, and lethargy,” Dr. Chan cautions, advising against ignoring these signs that indicate overtraining or inadequate recovery.
Strategies to Manage Inflammation
To enjoy alcohol occasionally while optimizing workout performance, moderation is key. Dr. Chan suggests staying hydrated, allowing time between drinks and bedtime for alcohol metabolism, and prioritizing quality sleep for healing and tissue repair.
Recovery tools like massage guns, foam rollers, and compression boots can aid in managing inflammation by enhancing circulation and relaxing the nervous system.
Ultimately, being mindful of alcohol consumption before intense workouts can reduce inflammation and boost performance.
Featured Image by NickyPe via Pixabay
