OK, the excuse is that it’s Christmas and you have ‘the cocktail flu’: there’s the headache; the dry mouth; queasiness. After all, alcohol is a toxin (if you look up the dictionary definition of a toxin, trust me, you’ll never drink a drop again!).
It’s funny how an exercise session can seem like a great idea after a night on the booze!
I’ve heard it said more than a few times that many people believe you can “sweat out a hangover”. It is possible to lose a very tiny amount of your alcohol intake through sweat, urine and your breath, but I’m not sure that I have seen any evidence that it significantly reduces the damage that alcohol can do to your body and your energy levels.
One of the longer-term impacts that alcohol “over-indulgence” has on fitness is that it affects the muscles that are most important when practising resistance training (the fast-twitch fibres).
And one of the most common effects of alcohol consumption is the craving for food that it promotes – and usually not healthy food (speed dial Papa John’s anyone?). In fact fatty foods can cause blood pressure to rise and this can’t be a safe way to start strenuous exercise!
Jokes aside, there’s a few things to note if you choose to train while you have a hangover:
First, you could make your hangover worse. You will already be dehydrated from the alcohol intake and the exercise is very likely to intensify it. Hydrate, Hydrate… HYDRATE!
In addition, while you’re enduring your own personal hangover you may be feeling a little unsteady (not just in your stomach) but also in your head. This can affect your coordination and balance so you need to be very careful that you don’t fall over/trip/sprain joints.
Hangovers also have a strong tendency to occupy the mind and impair judgement so it can make using equipment such as skipping ropes or weights risky.
It also should be fairly obvious that exercising with a hangover is stressing an already ‘stressed’ body that is trying to fight the alcohol in the system. Strenuous exercise on top of this can add unhelpful pressure to a delicate state!
BUT you CAN do SOMETHING:
Exercise with Care
You needn’t use a heavy night’s drinking as an excuse to avoid exercise the next day BUT, if you want to stick to your exercise schedule through thick and thin, then as your PT I would ensure that it is a very “lite” version of your usual workout with some low intensity cardio and that it doesn’t go ahead unless some precautions are followed.
And here’s why:
It is essential not to exercise when still drunk. You must wait until you’re sober and in the meantime ensure that you take on board a lot of water to mitigate the dehydrating effects of excess alcohol. And continue to drink water during and after exercising.
If you’re hungry or planning to exercise before a meal eg breakfast, avoid foods which take a long time to digest and make it a good old banana instead, for example.
It sometimes can be acceptable to “treat yourself” to a bit of exercise if the hangover is not too “heavy”. In fact, it may actually be good for you and help you reduce your suffering by kick-starting all of the body’s normal, healthy and positive reactions to exercise. It’s bound to relax muscles, get the blood flowing and increase feelings of wellbeing.
A good walk or a gentle jog, yoga or pilates-type strength/stretch session might be better than throwing around the KGs for 24hrs
You might even find that the endorphins that you’ll release while you’re exercising will soon sort out your head!
But they won’t be a cure for the hangover! That, you will have to suffer through – I hope it was worth it!
Research and Acknowledgements
https://www.menshealth.com/uk/fitness/a31092928/exercise-hangover/
https://www.verywellfit.com/should-i-exercise-with-a-hangover-1231205
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/fitness/strength-training/a703344/hangover-workout/
befitnessandpt.co.uk 