Drinking beer in your spare time or when hanging out with friends is perfect. But what about having a beer after a workout? For example, after playing futsal at night, you and your friends want to hang out and drink beer. Is drinking beer after exercise harmful or beneficial for the body? Find the full answer below.
What happens to the body when you exercise?
When you exercise, your body excretes many important vitamins and carbohydrates. Fluids and electrolytes will also come out through sweat when your body is in the cooling phase.
That is why isotonic drinks or coconut water and fresh fruits are good to consume after you exercise. These foods and drinks are rich in sugar, electrolytes, and nutrients that are lost after you exercise.
Is it true that drinking beer after exercise is good for your health?
Beer also has a good content. Beer contains carbohydrates, sugar, and electrolytes (though very little). These contents are indeed needed by the body after strenuous physical activity such as sports.
However, that does not mean drinking beer after exercise is a wise choice to meet your nutritional needs after exercise. The reason is, the content of useful beer is only a little.
There are even more risks to drinking beer after a workout than the benefits. Therefore, it is better to avoid drinking beer after exercise.
The dangers of drinking beer after exercise
Beer contains alcohol in a fairly high concentration. The alcohol contained in it can trigger dehydration. This is because alcohol is a diuretic, aka encourages the kidneys to excrete urine from the body.
In fact, when you exercise you have lost a lot of fluids through sweat. So after exercise you should actually increase your fluid intake instead of drinking beer which will make you lose more fluids due to frequent urination.
In addition to triggering dehydration, drinking beer after exercise can also make your efforts to lose weight in vain. You see, to lose weight you need to reduce calories in the body. One of them is through sports. The problem is, one large pint ( pint ) of beer contains 180 calories. So, if you drink beer after exercise, the calories in your body will increase again.
You who are looking to build muscle should also refrain, do not drink beer after exercise. This is because alcohol (especially in large amounts) can inhibit the process of protein synthesis. In a study published in the journal PLoS ONE, it is known that drinking beer after exercise can reduce protein synthesis significantly, namely up to 37 percent.
Protein synthesis occurs when the body uses protein to repair and strengthen muscle tissues. Disruption of this process means that your muscles can’t recover and eventually won’t get stronger.
Therefore, you should avoid alcoholic beverages after you are physically active. The best drink after exercise is water. In addition to water, you can also replace electrolytes or sugar lost during exercise by drinking coconut water or isotonic drinks.