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Oh, alcohol, why must you be so cruel? You make me stumble around, scream out loud for
no reason, pee 10 times in an hour, and perform dares that I wouldn't even dare to think about
it when I'm sober. But at least you don't take away my gainz. Or... do you? How does
alcohol affect your fitness gains? Many of us have at least the "occasional"
drinking nights and sometimes the rare "extreme" drinking nights, but we hardly think about
how it might affect us fitness-wise. One way drinking affects us physiologically is by
dehydration. Since alcohol is a diuretic, the more you drink, the more you urinate,
the more you're dehydrated. In worse case scenarios, excessive drinking can lead to
severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Pair this with increased levels of a toxin
known as acetaldehyde from drinking, you're ripe with the recipe for a hangover. Not so
fun fact, acetaldehyde is also classified as a Group 1 carcinogen, the same group as
tobacco, asbestos, aaaand processed meat. And it's also the reason why many East Asian
ethnicities have alcohol flush reactions, aka "Asian Glow," due to a mutation of the
enzyme in charge of breaking down this toxin. Of course, with dehydration and a hangover,
you'll feel increases in fatigue, sluggishness, confusion, and your chances of going to the
gym plummets to a near zero. And if it needs to be spelled out, no gym equals no gainz.
In fact, your gainz might already be affected even if you don't exercise. Studies show that
low alcohol consumption, about 40 grams or so, or 1 drink, has really no effect on the
muscle growth promoting hormone testosterone. However, that starts changing as you continue
to drink more. 10 to 16 hours after consuming 3 drinks, shown to reduce testosterone levels
in your body by 23%. This drop does not come back to normal levels until 36 hours later.
That's a whole 1 and a half day you're spending with subpar muscle protein synthesis, and
the studies also show that the worse your hangovers feel, the lower your testosterone
drops. And even worse, alcohol has been connected to decreasing leucine oxidation, which is
also important for building muscle. Oh, and it doesn't stop there for your hormones.
Moderate amounts of alcohol has shown to also inhibit the hormone Leptin, which is responsible
for making you feel full. If you're trying to lose weight, good luck battling those cravings
for nachos after a long night of drinking. Speaking of losing weight or even just losing
bodyfat, alcohol will also affect how your body uses energy. Typically your body uses
glucose and fat as energy through the glycolytic and oxidative pathway. But once you introduce
alcohol, your body quickly shifts its focus from glucose and fat to breaking down alcohol
for energy instead. Alcohol itself contains roughly 7 calories per gram, which your body
breaks down into acetaldehyde and then into acetic acid and then finally a useable energy
source known acetyl CoA. While this process takes place, your body won't be utilizing
any other energy sources in your body, which means all the calories you consume while intoxicated
will be converted into stored fat and any chances of burning fat for the duration is
not going to happen. And most of all, alcohol lowers your quality
of sleep. After a night of drinking, studies show that when you go to bed, you do in fact
fall asleep quicker and into deeper sleep, but it's quickly disrupted and REM sleep,
the deepest of all the sleep stages, is overall reduced. When you're asleep, much of the mechanisms
for muscle synthesis and recovery takes place. Disrupt that, and you disrupt your muscle
growth. So if you have a fitness goal that you're
desperately trying to reach, alcohol consumption is perhaps one of your worst enemies. But
if you do choose to drink, drink moderately and choose healthier, low calorie choices.
Come check out this previous video that might help you do just that.
Please also come check out PictureFit on Patreon and like and subscribe. Thanks for watching.