Working out after a drink: Good idea or bad idea?

You always thought alcohol helps you zone out and relax, allowing you to concentrate better, right? Based on that assumption then, wouldn’t it be great to hit the treadmill, or your aerobics regime, or your yoga sessions, after gulping down a few pegs? Well, not really! This argument falls flat on it’s face, in front of the dangerous repercussions of exercising after drinking. Read on to know a few interesting facts about drinking and exercising.

1. Slow Reflexes: We are all completely aware about how alcohol anesthetizes us mildly and makes us slower. It affects our sense of timing and coordination, which is why it isn’t really a great idea to hit the gym after drinking. For that matter, any form of exercise is highly avoidable after you’ve consumed alcohol, because with your reflexes being slow, you might end up trying some extremely difficult postures, or lift weights that you wouldn’t have dared lifting, while sober. So first and foremost is the danger of accidents that you might expose yourself to, if you touch weights in a state of inebriation.
2. Balancing your imbalances: Alcohol also negatively affects your balance and your head-hand and eye-hand coordination. The result? You could be looking at one thing and end up doing something totally different. This is the very reason people are advised against driving after drinking, as they are not in the right state to maneuver vehicles and often, end up injuring themselves and others. The situation is similar here as well; exercising after consuming alcohol, can cause serious injuries. Imagine bending your body in the wrong manner while doing a yoga asana, or jumping on the wrong foot while doing aerobics, or worse still- trying to lift weights that are way too heavy,while in the gym. All these can land you in the hospital, very easily.
3. Challenging your capacity: Every fitness regimen requires one common thing: exercising per one’s capacity. We all follow that when sober; but when you have had a few drinks, your strength and stamina reduces tremendously, and needless to say, your risk taking capacity, increases exponentially; and this leads to you attempting exercises, which are way beyond your regular competence. This is a sure shot way to irreversible damage to your body and health. Plus, you will easily burn out if you exercise after having alcohol. If this is kept up for long, then you may seriously damage your muscles and bones as well.Also remember, your body will take double the time to recover from a bout of drunken exercise.
4. So much pain, all in vain: Consuming alcohol regularly makes you gain weight easily, is a universal truth we all believe in. The simple reason behind this is that alcohol breaks down the amino acids in the body into fat cells, which are majorly accumulated in the thigh and belly region. When you choose to exercise while having alcohol in your system, you will not burn your fats easily; even as you put in all your efforts to sweat it out, the end result will be far below expectations.
5. Dehydrating all hopes: Research proves that alcohol increases your urination rate to a very high level. Every gram of ethanol, which is present in every type of alcohol, makes you release 10 milliliters of urine. Coupled with this more frequent urination cycle, you also tend to sweat more, while exercising under the influence of alcohol. This, in no way helps you burn more calories; in fact, it only manages to dehydrate your system further and faster.
6. Sleep Interventions: Research also proves that alcohol affects the sleep capacities of people. After a few drinks, one tends to doze off easily, but will wake up often, thus interrupting the person’s sound sleep pattern. If you make matters worse by exercising after a drinking session, you will have a much tougher time getting any sleep due to added pressure on your muscles.

So, no prizes for guessing that drinking and then exercising, is one of the worst options you could ever go in for. It is pointless to push yourself to work out after you’ve enjoyed a few drinks with your friends. Take a day off; do not try to pen in everything into your schedule all at the same time, and end up spoiling your daily regimen while also putting yourself at the risk of injury. So be smart, stay off the drink and stay fit!