Does Exercising Increase Or Decrease Your Alcohol Tolerance?

Scientists do not know everything about the relationship between alcohol tolerance and exercise, so you may wonder, does alcohol tolerance increase or decrease with exercise? In fact, exercise can increase your tolerance for the effects of alcohol, but it does not make you immune to the dangers of alcohol.

For example, people who drink heavily and exercise can still have high blood pressure. And the quality of your athletic performance can decrease according to the amount of alcohol you consume. So, if you believe that exercising means you can drink more, here are the reasons why that’s not true.

How Exercise Improves Alcohol Tolerance

There are a couple of key results of exercising that create a higher tolerance to alcohol’s effects. These results are, in fact, the main reasons why people start exercising in the first place.

Muscle Mass And Body Fat

Muscle mass and body fat are two classic motivations for exercise. The more you work out, the more muscle mass increases and body mass decreases. Once alcohol is digested, it tours your body through the bloodstream and enters into tissues such as muscle. But alcohol doesn’t like fat or bone.

The more fat you have, the more alcohol is pushed into your muscle tissue. By contrast, the more muscle mass you have, the more tissue alcohol has to penetrate for you to feel its effects. By decreasing your body fat and increasing your muscle mass through exercise, it can take longer for you to feel the effects of drinking alcoholic beverages.

Protein Synthesis

Protein synthesis describes how your body makes proteins. Exercise is famous for increasing protein synthesis, especially when connected to the right diet, and it is the key way in which exercise builds muscle mass.

As you increase physical activity and your muscle mass, your tolerance for alcohol increases as well.

Effects Of Alcohol Consumption On Athletic Performance

But tolerance for alcohol does not make you immune to intoxication, alcohol dependence, or its other effects. Below are some ways drinking alcohol can affect your fitness regimen and overall performance.

Poor Reaction Time

Alcohol can affect motor control and reaction time when you are drinking. This is commonly known.
But over time, heavy drinking causes these functions to weaken even the next day after drinking.

Reduced Muscle-Building

Heavy drinking will eventually impair your body’s ability for protein synthesis. Studies have shown that alcohol consumption after a workout, even when taken with protein, hampers protein synthesis that your body relies on for muscle building.

Treatment Programs For Alcohol Use Disorder

While physical activity is beneficial for overall health, it cannot prevent or cure alcohol use disorder. Some people may even use exercise as an excuse to justify drinking more alcohol. Fortunately, effective alcohol treatment programs are available to help people overcome addiction.

Treatment options include:

• medical detox programs to safely manage alcohol withdrawal symptoms
• dual diagnosis treatment for co-occurring mental health disorders
• case management
• cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
• 12-step recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
• inpatient rehabilitation programs
• outpatient therapy and counseling programs
• medication-assisted treatment to reduce cravings
• individual and group therapy sessions
• support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
• family therapy and education programs
• aftercare planning and relapse prevention services

Recovery from alcohol use disorder is possible with the right combination of professional treatment and ongoing support. If you or someone you know is facing alcohol addiction, reaching out for help is the first step toward getting healthy.

Written by the Addiction Resource Editorial Staff