Sports against the effects of alcohol. Both activities share a biological mechanism. Exercising could therefore reduce the harms of drinking.
Some cure evil with evil. Others play sports. There are many remedies in the aftermath of cooking, most of them ineffective. Paradoxically, physical activity could counter the deleterious effects of alcohol, at least in the long term. This is the surprising result of a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Performed in Great Britain, it shows that exercising 150 minutes per week is an interesting alternative.
Premature mortality
Between 1994 and 2006, the alcohol consumption and physical activity of 36,000 Britons were carefully monitored. One in ten people have described themselves as abstinent, as many have reported alcohol ingestions beyond national guidelines.
They are established at 14 units per week for a woman, 21 for a man. Beyond this threshold, the risk of premature death is greatly increased. The occurrence of cardiovascular disease, cancer or stroke is also very likely.
But drinkers who exercise regularly are less exposed than others to these risks. It is enough for that to respect the recommendations of the World Health Organization: 150 minutes per week.
Among participants who regularly drink alcohol, those who did have their risk of premature death return to normal levels. Only the highest consumptions did not benefit to the same extent.
The same biological mechanism
A piece of advice that remains difficult to apply: in this group of Britons alone, a quarter of the volunteers did not engage in any physical activity. And six in ten fail to meet the recommended threshold. And yet, in the eyes of the authors, respecting it has a real interest. “Our results provide further evidence in favor of physical activity as a means of promoting healthy behaviors in the population, even in the presence of other risky behaviors,” they say.
And for good reason: alcohol and physical activity share the same biological mechanism. Except that they act in opposite directions. Now we have to find the perfect balance between the two. Alcoholic sports games, such as beer pong, would they be a solution?
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