Researchers in Texas have found a link between alcohol and exercise, in a study of almost 40,000 American adults.

Here’s the deal…

Researchers at the Cooper Institute in Texas looked at data from 38,000 healthy patients aged between 20 and 86 and found that active, physically fit men and women are more than twice as likely to be moderate or heavy drinkers as those who are out of shape.

The study divided participants into five fitness categories, adjusted by sex and age. After a treadmill test the least fit group was classified as ‘low fitness’, ‘moderate fitness’, and ‘high fitness’.

Alcohol consumption for members in the study was divided into three groups, light (three drinks or less per week), moderate (up to seven for women, 14 or men) and heavy (eight and above for women, 15+ for men).

According to the Drinks Business moderate and highly fit people were found to be significantly more likely to be heavier drinkers. “Highly fit men were 63% more likely to be moderate or heavy drinkers; for women, being highly fit more than doubled the chances of being a moderate or heavy drinker.”

Although the results clearly show that fitness and increased drinking go hand in hand, “most people probably don’t associate physical activity and alcohol intake as linked behaviors,” Kerem Shuval, executive director of epidemiology at the Cooper Institute, who led the new study, told The Irish Times.

Shuval speculated that the link may be a reflection of something called the ‘licensing effect’, where exercisers who feel they have done something ‘good’ (such as a run)  reward themselves with something ‘bad’, like several beers.

The Cooper Institute research team suggested that the relationship between exercise and alcohol consumption might also be an indication of the more addictive personalities of people who exercise more, noting that a lot more research was needed to identify this specific link…

In July 2021, two researchers at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia published a paper which shed additional light on the relationship between beer in particular and exercise.

Patrick B. Wilson, an associate professor in exercise science at Old Dominion, and Jaison Wynne, a PhD student in the Department of Human Movement Sciences at the university, conducted a systematic review of beer’s effects on exercise performance, recovery, and adaptation.

The researchers scoured relevant sports studies in noted health databases and came up with three specific findings which correlated somewhat with the more-broad-based and less beer-specific Cooper Clinic paper.

• Athletes are more likely to drink beer than non-athletes
• Moderate drinking the night before a competition won’t impair athletic performance
• Regular beer consumption doesn’t hinder athletes over weeks of exercise

###

Want more on alcohol and fitness?

There’s this…

THE LATEST FINDINGS ABOUT BEER AND EXERCISE