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Alcohol warning
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Alcohol abuse in athletes and other sportspersons should be a cause for concern.
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ALCOHOL AND exercise should not mix, but they often do. Too often, the "spirit of victory" is alcohol. Celebrating a sports win by getting drunk is the norm these days for athletes and their fans.
Formula One's podium finishers douse one another with expensive champagne, and most cricketers can be found cradling a can of beer after a game. In fact, you'd think beer was a nutritious sports drink, judging by the enthusiasm with which athletes plug it!
Alcohol is everything that a sports drink ought not to be. It is a diuretic: it increases the volume of urine and dehydrates the tissues. Exercising muscles need more water than resting muscles; the worst thing you can do after a tiring game is to drink a beer.
Alcohol abuse in athletes is common and is rarely recognised. In fact, in developed countries, alcohol abuse among athletes is as common as in the general population. Most athletes consume alcohol to relax and some of them down a beer or so to loosen up before a game. On the surface, alcohol works well as an anti-anxiety drug. Among archers and shooters, low amounts of alcohol decrease hand tremors and improve balance and aim, but it slows reaction time and impairs eye-hand coordination. But even a moderate amount of alcohol impairs aim and balance.
Alcohol, in moderate amounts, decreases muscle power and sprinting performance. It lowers stamina and hastens the onset of fatigue during weight training.
Acute alcohol abuse on the day before a game usually means you are carrying a hangover to the playing field. The hangover makes it difficult to think, and it decreases the power and work capacity of muscles. Alcoholics usually have a nutrient-deficient diet, and chronic alcohol abuse causes nutritional deficiencies. An alcoholic has impaired digestion, assimilation and metabolism, and an increased turnover and excretion of nutrients that exacerbate the nutritional deficiency.
Chronic alcoholism damages muscles, including cardiac muscle. It also damages nerves, bones, the liver, stomach and the brain. In fact, decreased athletic performance is the least of an alcoholic's problems.
The good news is that you do not have to be a teetotaller to be an athlete. Avoid alcohol beyond a small beer for at least 48 hours before training or a game.
After exercise, drink lots of water and have something to eat before you pop open the beer.
RAJIV.M
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