NEW ZEALAND: Vodka and exercise - the 60-hour hangover

New Zealand researchers have been mixing drinks at the gym in the name of science. Their experiment? To find out just how much impact post-match consumption of alcohol has on recovery from exercise.

New Zealand has a strong culture of competitive sport and also a tradition of alcohol consumption after a game. But until now, no-one has researched the impact of that drinking on recovery times.

Massey University exercise physiologist Dr Steve Stannard says he became interested in the issue after organising a conference on sport and alcohol several years ago. And while the results might not be surprising, Stannard notes that nobody had investigated the issue before.

Stannard's student Matt Barnes conducted the research with 12 male athletes. They performed strenuous resistance training on one leg and then drank either orange juice or alcohol mixed with orange juice, returning for more training 36 hours and 60 hours later.

The amount of alcohol was not inconsiderable - roughly six or seven standard drinks - but at the lower levels of what research indicates many sports people will consume after a game. Barnes found that loss of performance was nearly doubled in test subjects when they had consumed alcohol.

"Normally you would expect to see weakness or loss in performance after strenuous exercise but the alcohol really exacerbated that," he says. "This shows that if you drink even moderate levels of alcohol after you use your muscles strenuously you are impairing your ability to recover and I would say if you are serious about your sport, you shouldn't be drinking alcohol in the post-match or recovery period."

He also found the negative effect of alcohol was still evident 60 hours later. Stannard says further research is likely: "We want to look at not just muscle performance but take a whole body approach - why is recovery affected?"

* John Gerritsen is editor of NZ Education Review

john.gerritsen@uw-news.com