East Asian men are often seen knocking back a drink or two after a intense run or workout. But does that post-run beer or cocktail help or hurt muscle recovery?  Muscles are always recovering after exercise and it is normal to feel soreness.  The question here is how does alcohol affect that?  We wanted to figure out how alcohol affects muscle strength and how you feel pain after running down a hill, a type of exercise that can really fatigue your muscles.

        Alcohol is often part of the post-workout routine because it can help you relax.  We already know that muscle recovery and feeling pain are different things.  Muscle recovery is how well your muscles bounce back from exercise and feeling pain is more about how you experience that soreness.  Let's dive into what happens when you mix alcohol with muscle recovery.

        East Asian men were chosen for the study. The drinkers were given the same amount of alcohol.  The drinkers had to run downhill.  Running downhill creates a lot of muscle fatigue. This is a special type of exercise which is also often used by athletes.  This could be like a downhill ski.  What did the study find?  The men who had a drink or two after running downhill did not have a slower muscle recovery.  This goes against what many people think, but it seems the beer or cocktail doesn't get in the way of muscles getting back to normal.

        However, the men who drank experienced pain for a longer period of time.  Pain is a complex thing and alcohol may affect how you feel it.  If you are used to pain you will feel it differently than if you are not.  What does this tell us?  Alcohol might make you feel more relaxed, but it could make you feel like you are hurting more.  If you drink after a workout, you might just be trading one good feeling for another.  It is important to note that the study only looked at the short term.  We don't know what happens if you drink a lot or do this often.  So, while a post-workout drink might not harm your muscle recovery, it might make you feel more pain.  This is different from what many people think about the effects of alcohol.

        Alcohol consumption can be in here two types  it is not harmful, but it can create a different experience. The recovery of your muscles might be unaffected, but the perception of pain might be altered.  This is something to keep in mind the next time you reach for a drink after a workout.

Booze and Workouts: What Happens to Your Muscles?

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