{"id":4182,"date":"2024-02-15T11:38:26","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T16:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/?p=4182"},"modified":"2024-02-15T11:38:26","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T16:38:26","slug":"how-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-affects-your-fitness-and-health-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/02\/how-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-affects-your-fitness-and-health-goals.html","title":{"rendered":"How Taking a Break From Alcohol Affects Your Fitness and Health Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_4191\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4191\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4191\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2024\/02\/alcohol-affects-health-fitness-credit-shutterstock.jpg\" alt=\"alcohol\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4191\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Every year, many Americans take part in Dry January, where they refrain from consuming alcohol for 31 days. For some, their primary motivation is curiosity. They exercise regularly and eat healthy but also have a glass of wine with dinner. Would skipping a nightly sip affect how you feel or boost your fitness during or after Dry January?<\/p>\n<p>Experts explain how alcohol affects our fitness and health and whether one month of abstinence could move the needle on our fitness efforts. They all agree that it depends on how much and frequently you drank before. Some say you may see small gains in performance, while others say the boost in your overall health outweighs the boost you\u2019ll see in your fitness. If you\u2019ve been hitting the gym but haven\u2019t seen any gains, alcohol could be to blame. People who exercise more\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/34431829\/\">tend to drink more<\/a>, according to a study by the Cooper Institute in Dallas published in 2022.<em>\u00a0<\/em>However, exercise doesn\u2019t cancel out the effects of alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>Stella Volpe, department head of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech, says, \u201cAlcohol cancels out the effects of exercise.\u201d Alcohol travels through your bloodstream to every organ and tissue in your body, causing dehydration and slowing your body\u2019s ability to heal itself. It also impairs protein synthesis and reduces insulin, which stimulates muscle growth, Volpe says. Ingesting alcohol immediately after training or competition can reduce the rate of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/24533082\/\">muscle protein synthesis<\/a>, or how we build muscle mass, by 37 percent, research shows. So you may want to skip that postrace beer.\u00a0She added, \u201cOr at least wait an hour and be sure you are also hydrating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VAlE-UESTOA?si=QTFACwe68LdnulLJ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Chris Travers, an exercise physiologist with the Cleveland Clinic, notes that alcohol has been shown to decrease the secretion of human growth hormone, which can suppress the growth and repair of muscles. If someone drops the alcohol and concentrates on good nutrition and exercise, they could lose up to 5 pounds in one month, says Dr. Brian Shapiro, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic. \u201cWhen people drop a few pounds, they often see their exercise performance improve,\u201d he adds. Weight loss is one of the most noticeable results of going dry, particularly if you were drinking heavily, he says.<\/p>\n<p>Quality sleep is key to the recovery the body needs to reap the benefits of your workout efforts. A University of Sussex study published in 2019 found that 71% of those who embarked on Dry January\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sussex.ac.uk\/news\/all?id=47131\">reported better sleep<\/a>, while 67 percent said they were more energetic.\u00a0Although alcohol helps you\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5821259\/\">fall asleep faster<\/a>, it impairs the quality of your sleep. Alcohol is a diuretic, which means consumption before bed will likely cause you to wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.<\/p>\n<p>Staying asleep and achieving the restorative depth of sleep the body needs are more beneficial than falling asleep quickly. A one-month break from alcohol can lead to improvements in insulin resistance, blood pressure and body weight, according to studies from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Your liver, which filters toxins like alcohol from the blood, will also thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every year, many Americans take part in Dry January, where they refrain from consuming alcohol for 31 days. For some, their primary motivation is curiosity. They exercise regularly and eat healthy but also have a glass of wine with dinner. Would skipping a nightly sip affect how you feel or boost your fitness during or&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":4191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[173,40],"tags":[92,42,453],"class_list":["post-4182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diet-habits","category-physical-health","tag-adult-health","tag-alcohol","tag-fitness"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Taking a Break From Alcohol Affects Your Fitness and Health Goals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every year, many Americans take part in Dry January, where they refrain from consuming alcohol for 31 days. For some, their primary motivation is curiosity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/02\/how-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-affects-your-fitness-and-health-goals.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Taking a Break From Alcohol Affects Your Fitness and Health Goals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every year, many Americans take part in Dry January, where they refrain from consuming alcohol for 31 days. For some, their primary motivation is curiosity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/02\/how-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-affects-your-fitness-and-health-goals.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daily Cup of Wellness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-15T16:38:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2024\/02\/alcohol-affects-health-fitness-credit-shutterstock.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren McKeithen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Taking a Break From Alcohol Affects Your Fitness and Health Goals","description":"Every year, many Americans take part in Dry January, where they refrain from consuming alcohol for 31 days. For some, their primary motivation is curiosity.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/02\/how-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-affects-your-fitness-and-health-goals.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Taking a Break From Alcohol Affects Your Fitness and Health Goals","og_description":"Every year, many Americans take part in Dry January, where they refrain from consuming alcohol for 31 days. For some, their primary motivation is curiosity.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/02\/how-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-affects-your-fitness-and-health-goals.html","og_site_name":"Daily Cup of Wellness","article_published_time":"2024-02-15T16:38:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2024\/02\/alcohol-affects-health-fitness-credit-shutterstock.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lauren McKeithen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/02\/how-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-affects-your-fitness-and-health-goals.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/02\/how-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-affects-your-fitness-and-health-goals.html","name":"How Taking a Break From Alcohol Affects Your Fitness and Health Goals","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/02\/how-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-affects-your-fitness-and-health-goals.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/02\/how-taking-a-break-from-alcohol-affects-your-fitness-and-health-goals.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2024\/02\/alcohol-affects-health-fitness-credit-shutterstock.jpg","datePublished":"2024-02-15T16:38:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-15T16:38:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/#\/schema\/person\/67183b7ec4ffc995620174c78f9cc68a"},"description":"Every year, many Americans take part in Dry January, where they refrain from consuming alcohol for 31 days. 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