Exercise affects alcohol intake, studies reveal

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Completing a gym session or week-long exercise regime can easily spark a yearning for a reward, and new research from Pennsylvania State University confirms this theory, Medical Daily reports. The study, which was published in the journal Health Psychology, examined 150 men and women aged 18 to 75 and analyzed their health and behavior to determine if there was indeed a relationship between alcohol consumption after exercise. The participants filled out a thorough questionnaire outlining their lifestyles and then downloaded a smartphone app that recorded daily drinking and exercise habits. The data collected via the app was sent to the researchers for 21 consecutive days over the span of three different seasons.

Results had shown that no matter what time of year, participants who reported that they exercised more than their regular routine, they consumed more alcohol than on days when they did not exercise as much. Researchers claim that the results show an in-depth evaluation of the relationship between exercise and alcohol consumption.

The researchers concluded that "People drank more than usual on the same days that they engaged in more physical activity than usual."

The New York Times reports that researchers conducted another study, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, wherein they studied the effects of exercise and alcohol in lab rodents. Results showed that both exercise and alcohol both increased the activity in parts of the brain where reward processing occurred. However, while that section of the brain may respond similarly to exercise and alcohol, the reward processing for exercise differs from that of alcohol, and researchers point out that while the rodents would engage in both running and ethanol sipping, the neurological high that they get from both activities are actually more pervasive than one activity alone.

According to the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, study authors David E. Conroy, Nilam Ram, Aaron L. Pincus, Donna L. Coffman, Amy E. Lorek, Amanda L. Rebar, and Michael J. Roche wrote, "After controlling for age, sex, and seasonal and social calendar influences, daily deviations in physical activity were significantly associated with daily total alcohol use."

J. Leigh Leasure, an associate professor at the University of Houston, director of the school’s behavioral neuroscience lab and the lead author of the new review explained that it is possible that this same neurological high is experienced by humans as well. Exercise can give a natural high, and people might unconsciously either want to reward themselves with a drink or extend or amplify those feelings through alcohol.

POPSugar reports that another reason may be because people might want to socialize outside the gym and grab a reward together. Nonetheless, these study results are nothing to worry about but Dr. Leasure said, "It’s good to be aware."