4 Ways Alcohol Hurts Your Fitness Goals

Exercise and Alcohol: How It Hurts Your Workouts

Drink less, sleep better, workout better! Credit: dichohecho

3. Disrupted Sleep. Boozing also blows your muscle recovery and performance by sapping your sleep. In a study of 93 men and women, researchers found that alcohol decreased sleep duration and increased wakefulness (particularly in the second half of the night), especially in women, whose sleep time was decreased by more than 30 minutes over the night. “Disrupting the sleep cycle can reduce your human growth hormone output—which builds muscle—by as much as 70 percent,” says Piattoly.