Alcohol and College Athletic Performance

Research Team
Colin Foley,
Joel Tidman
Tristian Crockett
Melissa Davis
D.C. Cobler
Brianne Kilbourne
Joe Vess

04/24/2017

Table of Contents

CLINICAL SCENARIO 2
DEVELOPMENT OF CLINICAL QUESTION: 2
FOCUSED CLINICAL QUESTION: 2
KEYWORDS: 2
SUMMARY OF SEARCH METHODOLOGY 2-3
SEARCH STRATEGY: 3
SOURCES OF EVIDENCE SEARCHED: 3
BEST EVIDENCE REVIEWED: 3-4
CLINICAL BOTTOM LINE 4-5
IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE 5
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 5
REFERENCES: 5-6

CLINICAL SCENARIO
College student life is often associated with alcohol and drug use, and in many countries the
university population exhibits greater rates of hazardous drinking as compared with the general
population. Collegiate student athletes have been found to drink more and more often than their
non-athlete counterparts. Often college athletes participate in binge drinking after sporting
events. Binge drinking is defined as 5 or more drinks in an outing for males, or 4 or more drinks
in an outing for females.

Drinking alcohol in a celebratory fashion post athletic event is often considered an accepted part
of our culture.

Development of Clinical Question:

Examining the culture of collegiate drinking which increases for college athletes often as a post
sporting event celebration, we became curious regarding alcohol consumption and impact on
recovery time.

Focused Clinical Question:

How does Binge Drinking Affect College Athletes Recovery Time?

Keywords:
Ethanol, Alcohol, Athletic Performance, Collegiate Athlete, Alcohol Abuse, Sleep, Dehydration,
Muscle Damage, eBSCO

SUMMARY OF SEARCH METHODOLOGY

Exploring this topic we wanted professional help that would be the most beneficial. D.C. was our
content expert because he knows what happens to the body with a foreign substance interference.
The effects of alcohol on the body are very detrimental and can cause serious ramifications to the
recovery process. Melissa is another great avenue to expand our knowledge because she is
constantly around athletes. Melissa had to deal with the football team, that typically consumes
alcohol. Melissa experienced many football players being under the influence to the point where
it causes bodily harm. The additional help we acquired kept us on track and guided us to new
articles for our clinical question.

Search Strategy:
In the question development stage, we were not sure of what we wanted to research. Eventually,
we developed a PICOT formatted question: How Does Binge Drinking Affect College Athletes
Recovery Time? The PICOT format answers the following questions: population, intervention,
comparison, outcome, and time. The population is college athletes. Our intervention is binge
drinking. The comparison is recovery time of sober college athletes. Our outcome is how it
affects the athletes, and time is the binge drinking time period.

Sources of Evidence Searched:

PubMed Data Base
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) website (www.ncaa.org)
National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) website (www.nsca.com)
National Institute of Health (nih.gov)

Best Evidence Reviewed:

1. Mind, Body, and Sport: Substance Use and Abuse

Authors: Hainline, Bell, and Wilfert
This article briefly discusses the use of alcohol and drugs by college athletes. The article
presents results from a 2013 NCAA survey of over 20,000 college athletes from
Divisions I, II, and III colleges. The survey includes questions regarding alcohol and
drug abuse and impact on sports, academic, and social performance. The conclusion
covers education programs that exist and are in development for prevention of alcohol
and drug use in college students and several that are directly aimed for athletes.

2. Beyond Hangovers
NIH publication
This comprehensive publication cover alcohol consumption and impact on body systems
and parts including nervous system, liver, and even increased risk for certain types of
cancer. In presenting impact it cover short term issues and long term issues from
sustained heavy use of alcohol.

3. More than Just a Drink: Effects of Alcohol on Training and Competition

NCAA publication
This brief article describes how alcohol has an impact on body and function from initial
ingestion to side effects after 48 hours of consumption. From a nutritional standpoint, it
also describes how alcohol is often consumed with sugary drinks which are known as
empty calories, and this also has a negative effect for athletic performance. Heavy
drinking after competition and impact on sleep, glycogen synthesis, and muscle damage
are covered.

4. The Effects of Alcohol on Athletic Performance

NSCA article
This article discusses the negative impacts of alcohol consumption prior to athletic event,
after athletic events, and chronic effects with long standing abuse. Impact on sleep,
hormone levels are covered. Also, well covered in this article are concerns and statistics
of increased rate of sports injury when an athlete is using alcohol too closely before or
after sporting events.

5. Alcohol: Impact on Sports Performance and Recovery in Male Athletes

Author: Barnes, M
This lengthy but informative article was a presentation of a search and of studies
regarding alcohol use both before and after sporting events and impact for male athletes.
Much of the studies found concern the college athlete. The position stance of the
American College of Sports Medicine is presented in this article. It is interesting that
alcohol at one time was considered to be a ergogenic aid for athletes. Many of the studies
described were designed around a specific quantity of alcohol to be consumed prior to
performing a specific athletic activity. In several of these studies there no effect on the
athlete. This is because amount of alcohol and type of athletic activity can vary so
greatly. Also because alcohol breakdown and hence influence varies from individual to
individual. These studies do show impact alcohol has on many different body systems
including metabolic, immune, and endocrine.

6. Acute Alcohol Consumption Aggravates the Decline in Muscle Performance Following

Strenuous Eccentric Exercise
Authors: Barnes, M. Mundel, T. Stannard, S
This specific study examined 11 athletes each consuming a moderate amount of alcohol
based on bodyweight, and then performing 300 eccentric exercises of the quadriceps
muscles. The experiment was repeated without the alcohol and same exercise repeated.
For the exercise performance after alcohol use, there was noted loss of dynamic and static
strength.

CLINICAL BOTTOM LINE

How does Binge Drinking Affect College Athletes Recovery Time?
The easy answer is that binge drinking does negatively impact a college athletes recovery time.
From a more in depth perspective, consuming of alcoholic beverages post an athletic event
impacts hydration, restoration of electrolytes, glycogen storage, recovery of muscle strength.
Athletes especially in contact sports have micro muscle tears which do not heal and recover as
well after alcohol use. If this becomes an ongoing issue, the athlete is at greater risk for more
significant sports injury. Also, the immune system becomes imbalanced. Typically, after a
sporting event, the immune system takes on an Anti-inflammatory role to help the body heal, but
alcohol use prevents this. Blood flow to the muscle is compromised, and also several hormones
levels are changed which does not assist an athlete with recovery. Sleep and good nutrition are
4


also impacted. Therefore, binge drinking or even less than binge drinking have a negative effect
on the college athletes recovery time. Extended use of alcohol for a college athlete can put the
athlete at risk for sports injury, and prolonged alcohol abuse can place the student athlete at risk
for significant damage to several body systems and even early death.

Implications for Clinical Practice

The best practice for a college athlete is to avoid binge alcohol or alcohol consumption post
sporting event secondary to the negative effects. As described above, the negative effects have a
great impact on many body systems. However, the typical college athlete has limited knowledge
of any impact alcohol has after a few drinks and what they feel is a good nights sleep. Clearly,
more education and awareness is needed. Providing this education as an athletic trainer on the
field, or in the clinic is important. The Hainline, Bell, and Wilferts article covered education
programs that exist for college athletes regarding alcohol awareness and prevention and the
general concerns and dangers that exist related to alcohol use and abuse. We live in a culture
where the general rule of no alcohol 48 hours prior to a sporting event is generally accepted, but
in this culture alcohol consumption including binge drinking as a celebration after a sporting
event especially for sporting teams is a very accepted practice. We believe education needs to
continue to advance to help solve this issue for todays college athletes. In the Hainline, Bell,
and Wilferts article there was mention that education needs to include not only the athletes but
also coaches, and parents since they play an instrumental role also. They also covered a STEP
UP program, intended for bystanders; encouraging a bystander, whether a teammate, or coach to
step up when they see a another athlete engaging in dangerous situations.

Recommendations for Future Research

Several education programs exist regarding decreasing collegiate athletes use of alcohol and
drug use. Future studies comparing results for decreasing alcohol and drug use using the
different education programs to look at success could be very useful. Determining which
education programs have the most success would be helpful for future athletes.

REFERENCES:
Barnes MJ. Alcohol: Impact on Sports Performance and Recovery in Male Athletes. Sports
Medicine. 2014;44(7):909-919. doi:10.1007/s40279-014-0192-8.

Barnes MJ, Mndel T, Stannard SR. Acute alcohol consumption aggravates the decline in
muscle performance following strenuous eccentric exercise. Journal of Science and Medicine in
Sport. 2010;13(1):189-193. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2008.12.627.

Beyond hangovers: Understanding alcohol's impact on your health. PsycEXTRA Dataset.:20-22.

doi:10.1037/e659712010-001.

N. More than just a drink: effects of alcohol on training and competition. NCAA.org - The
Official Site of the NCAA.
5


http://www.ncaa.org/health-and-safety/nutrition-and-performance/more-just-drink-effects-alcoho
l-training-and-competition. Published October 11, 2011. Accessed April 23, 2017.

NSCA Coach and Claire Siekaniec MS, RD, CSSD. The Effects of Alcohol on Athletic
Performance. NSCA.
https://www.nsca.com/education/articles/nsca-coach/the-effects-of-alcohol-on-athletic-performa
nce/. Accessed April 23, 2017.

R. Mind, Body and Sport: Substance use and abuse. NCAA.org - The Official Site of the NCAA.
https://www.ncaa.org/health-and-safety/sport-science-institute/mind-body-and-sport-substance-u
se-and-abuse. Published February 27, 2017. Accessed April 23, 2017.