Drinking alcohol has many short- and long-term negative affects on athletes. The impact of alcohol consumption touches everything from basic performance levels to physiological baselines. Athletes who take their sports seriously would do well to stay away from drinking altogether. If you think you may have a drinking problem, talk to your doctor about the best way to get help.
Dehydration
The effect most obvious to athletes after drinking is dehydration. This influences multiple factors on the field or in training and competition. While hydration is important for everyone, athletes have an additional need for water that creates an even greater deficiency from drinking. Appropriate hydration is necessary to avoid muscle cramps and maintain stamina.
Performance
Alcohol slows your reaction time, even after you've consumed it and sobered up. This affects responses to both external stimuli from the game or other players and internal stimuli, such as attempts to run, throw, pass or perform other necessary actions. Hand-eye coordination may decrease for several days.
Muscle Recovery
Drinking decreases an athlete's muscle recovery. Alcohol interferes with the body's breakdown of lactic acid, a necessary part of recovering after training that may leave you sore for longer than otherwise. Alcohol also diminishes the muscle's ability to synthesize and regenerate protein, the cornerstone of repairing microtrauma after training.
Hormones
Regular and binge drinking cause changes in your testosterone level. For male athletes, this can lead to a decrease in focus, aggression and power. In female athletes, the lack of testosterone may be replaced by a surge in estradiol, which can cause breast cancer.
Injury
Injuries are more likely to happen to athletes who drink than those who don't. A study by the Blackrock Clinic in Dublin, Ireland, found that the incidence of injury for athletes who drink is 54.8 percent compared to an incidence of injury for non-drinking athletes of 23.5 percent. Reduced motor coordination is likely to play a part in this vastly different rate.
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