Drumsurn Midnight GAA programme Alcohol & Drug awareness workshop

Drumsurn GAC Midnight GAA programme is nearing an end and on Friday night past (18th Feb) an Alcohol & Drug awareness workshop was held in the club hall by professional tutor Martin Connelly. The night drew great interest with 36 young people turning up, all of which are active on the sporting field. The presentation Martin ran through highlighted areas such as:

Alcohol and Exercise

"If you have alcohol 24 hours before exercising you are more likely to develop muscle cramps."

"After exercising the body needs to be rehydrated. It's not helpful to drink alcohol as it will just continue to dehydrate the body further."

What difference can a couple of drinks make?
What may surprise you is the number of ways the proverbial couple of drinks can affect your performance. If you take your sport seriously, and like to do the best you can for yourself or your team, it's worth knowing the facts and what you can do to drink sensibly.
Endurance

The blood sugar your body needs for energy is produced by the liver releasing glucose into the blood stream. Alcohol reduces your body's ability to produce this sugar, so you have less energy and less endurance capacity.

Remember - "if you were drinking the night before, when the time comes to really dig deep, there mightn't be anything there."

It is also important to remember that drinking before or during exercise can lead to injuries. Alcohol in the body can slow down the healing process leading to an increased recovery time from an injury.

Reaction Times

The relaxant properties of alcohol can flow on into your sport even well after you've finished drinking. Alcohol affects the central nervous system and slows down the information processing ability of the brain. This in turn affects your reactions, co-ordination, accuracy and balance - all the things most important for staying on top in any sport.