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Exercise and Alcohol: What You Need to Know

  • Yasmin Coles
  • January 17, 2011

It is easy to assume that exercising will help your body get into a great condition.  Exercising does not only help burn calories, it will also do great things to your body.   This is true — exercise brings lots of benefits, and we should all do it.  There is no excuse not to exercise.

However, it is interesting to address certain assumptions about exercise.  People may not associate exercise with alcohol, and some may assume that exercising will make you stay away from drinking.  As much as exercise is such a good thing, studies have so far shown an odd relationship between exercise and alcohol: exercising can make you drink more.  Or at least, vice-versa.

So how can a good thing be associated with a supposed bad thing?  First, it is important to look at the scientific backings of these theories.  Evidently, earlier studies showed that greater exercise meant lesser tendency to drink.  The study conducted by University of Houston’s J. J. Leigh Leasure, associate professor at the Department of Psychology, cited an earlier study which underlined how animals given with the same access to exercise and alcohol demonstrated a lesser tendency to drink.  However, the study by Leasure’s team, as presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego in 2010, showed that the exercising rats in the experiment were more enthusiastic to drink as compared to the sedentary rats.

In another study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion called “Do Alcohol Consumers Exercise More?”which summarized a huge national survey on human subjects, the result showed that the more people drink, the more they tend to exercise.  Furthermore, heavy drinkers showed a healthier physical lifestyle because they exercise more and harder.

So what do these studies mean and what do they show?  In the academic context, examining these results require examining the methodology.  Basically, there are two main factors at work here: the former study used an empirical method which used rats as subjects, whereas the latter is merely a survey.  Although the results cannot be challenged, the analysis is not necessarily conclusive.  This is to say that even though supported by research data, these are not enough to conclude that drinkers exercise more, nor do drinkers have a greater inclination to become more physically active.

Of course, there are studies cited that aim to explain why the assumptions can be valid.  Associations in brain activity between exercising and drinking have been found in the mesocorticolimbic neural circuitry which is activated when it comes to rewards.  In this case, both activities are rewarding, especially as people feel that exercising can bring forth health benefits whereas drinking is a form of pleasure.

Exercise and Alcohol: What You Need to KnowInterestingly, the effects of both activities are the opposite.  Exercising creates a positive impact to neural activities because it increases oxygen supply and blood circulation.  Binge drinking can kill brain cells.  In this case, does the combination of activities neutralizes a person’s tendency to be, uh, stupid?

We have again subject the rats to answer such query.  In a study by Leasure’s group, it showed that the amount of brain cells killed caused by binge drinking are fewer when they exercised for two weeks.  It is theorized that exercise causes a form of “neuroprotection”thus preventing too much brain cell damage.

Based on these studies, it can be gathered that drinking is not necessarily harmful but it does open the door for potential brain cell deaths.  Brain cell deaths are guaranteed when binge drinking.  Exercise is good, and if you’re a drinker, you may feel more motivated to exercise longer and harder.  Exercise can also prevent any further damage to your brain cells, especially when you drink too much.  So what can we learn from these?  Exercise more, drink in moderation or even better, drink less.

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