Alcohol, Marijuana, and Athletic Performance
Alcohol and Athletic Performance
Consuming 5 or more alcohol drinks in one night can affect brain and body activities for up to 3
days.
Two consecutive nights of drinking 5 or more drinks can affect brain and body activities for up
to 5 days.
Muscle Development and Recovery
Alcohol use cancels out gains from your workout. Consuming alcohol after workout, practice, or
game can cancel out any physiological gains from those activities. Alcohol use diminishes
protein synthesis, which impedes muscle growth.
Alcohol causes dehydration and slows down the body's ability to heal sore muscles and
injuries.
Alcohol use prevents muscle recovery by impacting the production of human growth hormone
while you sleep. Human growth hormone is a necessary part of the muscle-building and repair
process. Alcohol can decrease the secretion of human growth hormone by 70%.
Alcohol use disrupts the water balance in your muscle cells, which harms their ability to produce
adenosine triphosphate, which is your muscles' source of energy.
Nutrition and Endurance
Alcohol use requires increased conditioning to maintain weight. Alcohol holds very little
nutritional value; it's calories are not converted to glycogen - a form of stored carbohydrates and therefore are not a good source of energy during exercise.The body treats alcohol as fat,
converting alcohol sugars into fatty acids.
Alcohol use inhibits absorption of vital nutrients such as thiamin (Vitamin B1), vitamin B13,
folic acid, and zinc. All of these nutrients are necessary for athletic performance; for example,
thiamin plays a large role in how the body metabolizes carbohydrates.
Brain and Memory
Alcohol use affects your ability to learn new information, such as plays and strategies. Alcohol
compromises the hippocampus, the part of the brain vital to the formation of memories.
Memory formation is a complex process that requires a good night's sleep. If you drink after a
day of learning new information, you may not be able to retain as much information as you could
if you did not drink.
Alcohol affects your sleep cycle for up to two nights after drinking.
Marijuana and Athletic Performance
Heart, Lungs, and Performance
Marijuana is known to increase heart rate while decreasing cardiac stroke volume, resulting in
diminished peak performance.
Marijuana use can cause a condition called tachycardia - excessively rapid heartbeat; often
defined as one above 100 beats per minute in an adult (also called tachyrythmia).
Smoking any substance is harmful to your lungs and can reduce the effectiveness of the body’s
ability to absorb the required amount of oxygen needed for optimum sports performance.
Marijuana use can result in reduced sport performance through slowed reaction time, problems
with motor coordination, hand-eye coordination, and perceptual accuracy. These effects can last
for 24-36 hours after smoking.
Marijuana reduces maximal exercise capacity resulting in increased fatigability.
Marijuana use can inhibit sweating and the body's ability to regulate its temperature.
Appetite and Nutrition
Marijuana use can affect appetite and food cravings and potentially undermine body mass and
nutrition.
Brain and Memory
Marijuana impairs concentration; time appears to move more slowly.
Marijuana causes short and long-term memory loss, affecting one's ability to learn and retain
new information such as plays or strategies
Marijuana use increases the time needed to learn new information.
Marijuana can cause difficulty in thinking and problem-solving, skills necessary for thinking
quickly during a game.
Myth vs. Facts
There is a myth that smoking marijuana the night before a game will increase performance by
relaxing the player and helping them sleep. In reality, marijuana use often causes increased
anxiety, panic, nervousness, and restlessness. Marijuana use also negatively impacts sleep
quality. The truth is that marijuana has no performance-enhancing potential. Skill impairment
due to marijuana use may last up to 24 to 36 hours after usage, affecting one's performance at the
game the next day.
Wentworth Laptop Program: The Center for Wellness and Disability Services
Wellness Education, Counseling Services, Disability Services
ESPN – Drugs and Sports: Special Section
Monday, September 6
Marijuana
Editor's note: This is the second of an eight-week series of articles examining the effects
of commonly abused substances on athletic performance and overall health. Dr. Gary Wadler, a
New York University School of Medicine professor and lead author of the book "Drugs and the
Athlete", has also won the International Olympic Committee President's Prize for his work in the
area of performance-enhancing drugs in competitive sports. He joined us to address the issue of
marijuana and sports performance.
What is marijuana and how does it affect the body?
Marijuana is an illegal drug produced from the dried leaves, stems, seeds and/or flowers of the
hemp plant, cannabis sativa, that is usually smoked by the user. There are many slang terms for
marijuana, including, pot, grass, weed and Mary Jane. "All forms of marijuana, including the
stronger sensemilla and hashish varieties, are mind-altering (psychoactive) drugs," says Wadler.
"They all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana
that effects changes in the brain of the user." Marijuana's effects depend on the strength or
potency of the THC, which is only one of more than 400 chemicals present in marijuana. Highly
fat-soluble, THC and other related chemicals rapidly enter the brain and fat stores of the body.
DISTURBING TRENDS
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): Among high school seniors
surveyed in 1998, marijuana use had increased by about 56% since 1991. The proportion of
those seniors who believed regular use of marijuana was harmful in 1998 had dropped by about
26 percent since 1991.
Within minutes of inhalation of marijuana smoke, blood levels are achieved, with peak
physiologic and subjective effects occurring in 20 to 30 minutes and subjective effects lasting
two to four hours. Increasing in potency over the years, marijuana is, by far, the most widely
used illicit substance in the United States.
What are the effects of marijuana on performance?
Impairs skills requiring eye-hand coordination and a fast reaction time;
Reduces motor coordination, tracking ability and perceptual accuracy;
Impairs concentration, and time appears to move more slowly;
Skill impairment may last up to 24 to 36 hours after usage;
Reduces maximal exercise capacity resulting in increased fatiguability;
Marijuana has no performance-enhancing potential;
Because marijuana is stored in the body fat, its effects may be long-lasting. "It has been shown
that performance skills can be impaired for as long as 24 hours after marijuana usage," says
Wadler, "which casts doubt on the commonly held belief that the social use of marijuana the
evening prior to an athletic event will not affect performance."
What are the short-term adverse health effects of marijuana?
Memory and learning problems;
Difficulty concentrating;
Perception distortions involving vision, sound, touch and time;
Thinking and problem-solving difficulties;
Increased heart rate and drop in blood pressure;
Sudden feelings of anxiety, including panic attacks, and paranoia;
Runny nose, sore throat, wheezing;
What are the long-term adverse health effects of marijuana?
"Because marijuana users often inhale the unfiltered smoke deeply and then hold it in their lungs
as long as possible, chronic marijuana use may play a role in the development of chronic
respiratory problems," says Wadler. Animal studies have suggested that THC may adversely
affect the immune system. Additionally, long-term use has been associated with motivational
problems including apathy, impaired judgment, loss of ambition and an inability to carry out
long-term plans.
Can marijuana be addictive?
Chronic marijuana use has been associated with the development of tolerance in which the user
may have a tendency to increase the amount of marijuana used. "Physical and psychological
dependence in frequent users is associated with signs and symptoms of withdrawal upon
discontinuation," according to Wadler. "These signs and symptoms begin about 10 hours after
discontinuation and peak at 48 hours and include anxiety, insomnia, sweating, loss of appetite
and craving for THC." According to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA), almost 196,000 people entering drug treatment programs
reported marijuana as their primary drug of abuse, indicating that they needed help to stop using
the drug.
Is marijuana included in drug testing in sports?
There is not a uniform policy regarding drug testing in either professional or amateur sports.
"Though not explicitly banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)", says Wadler, "a
working group of the IOC has been formed to review and make recommendations about the use
of marijuana in Olympic sports." It is banned by the NCAA and various national governing
bodies. Because of its high solubility in body fat, marijuana can be detected for as long as two to
four weeks by current drug testing methods.