On the weekends people hit the gym hard, working out more on those days than during the week. It’s also when they hit the bottle harder, too. A new study finds people drink more alcohol on days when they work out more.
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I did 20 squats today. Let's toast!
Researchers asked 150 people, between ages 18 to 89, to record their physical activity and alcohol use in a Smartphone app each day for a 21-day period.
They did this three times, giving researchers data from a total of 63 days.
The researchers learned people—from the most physically active to the least—drank more alcohol more on days they exercised more.
I was surprised that there was no different between more and less active people.
A 2009 survey found people who drink alcohol are more physically active. The new study focused on the other way around — we drink more when we exercise. It didn't go into why exercise is linked to alcohol consumption, or how much we're boozing when we work out.
But we shall speculate that people might be rewarding themselves for a good workout by having a few drinks. Or, they might have depleted their willpower at the gym and they’re less able to say "no" to a cocktail.
It is interesting … people tend to exercise more Thursday through Sunday and they tend to drink more Thursday through Sunday. Just be careful not to conclude that one leads to another.
Another factor from the study: People are weekend warriors when it comes to exercising and drinking.
The social weekend is alive and well. We’ve all seen in college students that drinking goes up, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Whether you are a young adult, a midlife adult, or an older adult, these effects hold up.
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