I have blogged several times about the impact of alcohol on our performance and recovery. Most of our True Spirit WHOOP group members have noticed how alcohol has a deleterious effect on the body, lowering HRV, RHR, and subsequently recovery scores, while also reducing sleep quality. Recently, Whoop's Senior VP of Data Science & Research, Emily Capodilupo published a study in the science journal Frontiers on just how much every incremental drink consumed affects our physiology. This research is important because Whoop has analyzed how alcohol impacts HRV and Sleep, and how long alcohol consumption can impact your body, and not until now, have they investigated the relationship between the number of drinks you have and the timing of those drinks with next day metrics. Here are some of the important key points from Whoop's research: WHEN YOU DRINK AFFECTS YOUR RECOVERY Timing of when you have a drink plays an important role in how recovered you may feel the following day. Alcohol has a half life in the body of between 4 and 5 hours – meaning that it takes your body that amount of time to process out half of the alcohol in the bloodstream. Given the slow processing time, the longer before bed that you stop drinking, the more time you give your body to process the alcohol and reduce any negative repercussions to sleep. THE NUMBER OF DRINKS YOU HAVE IMPACTS YOUR RHR, HRV & RECOVERYIf you’re having drinks, bedtime isn’t the only important factor to consider. The amount you consume matters as well. Typically, your body’s liver is able to process about one standard drink per hour – so every additional drink accumulates alcohol in the body until your system is able to metabolize it. We know that your fitness is improved by how well you RECOVER from your training sessions, not necessarily from how hard you work during training sessions. This research shows that you can effectively cancel all the positive impacts of CrossFit with just a few drinks. If you're frustrated with your rate of fitness improvement or you're struggling with stubborn body composition, taking a critical look at your alcohol consumption might provide some insight into your wellness and fitness. If you're interested in learning more about Whoop's research and how you can improve your wellness, listen to the podcast embedded below. Here are the highlights: 3:06 – How recovery is captured
3:46 – The negative effects of alcohol on recovery 5:32 – Effects of every incremental drink on recovery 7:48 – Effects on men vs. women 10:14 – WHOOP member trends tracking alcohol 11:44 – Holiday drinking 14:54 – Alcohol consumption relative to bedtime – and why it matters 17:53 – Drinking hacks to optimize recovery 21:17 – The importance of water before bedtime Play the audio file below to listen to the entire podcast.
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