Leisure centres across the country run by SLM under the Everyone Active brand are linking up with the government’s Know Your Limits campaign to help raise awareness of the impact of drinking alcohol on their members’ health, wellbeing and exercise performance.
The leisure centres will be participating in a national campaign to help gym goers and leisure centre users become more aware of the number of units in various alcoholic drinks, the health impacts of exceeding guideline consumption limits and how they can make simple changes to their lifestyle.
Neil King, commercial Director at Sports and Leisure Management Ltd said: “At SLM our aim is to help our members with all aspects of their health and wellbeing. Alcohol impacts on the body in several ways and affects your ability to exercise effectively. It also contains more calories than many people think and adds to your fatigue levels. Stick to the daily alcohol limits and you’re more likely to look and feel in better shape.”
Here are just some of the ways that alcohol can have an impact on your health and fitness:
· Alcohol can reduce the body's ability to absorb vitamins and minerals, which can be essential for converting food to energy.
· If you sustain an injury while exercising, and have alcohol the night before or shortly after being injured, your recovery time is likely to increase.
· If a beer drinker consumes ten pints a week, they could be taking on more than 88,000 extra calories each year, the equivalent to more than 440 doughnuts.
All Everyone Active staff will be answering members’ questions on alcohol and directing them to other sources of information such as the www.nhs.uk/units/fitness website. ‘Drink diaries’ will also be available to members so they can keep track of how many units of alcohol they drink over the course of a week.
There are easy steps that can be taken to cut back on alcohol and see the true benefits for your health and fitness:
• Alcohol affects the body’s ability to create energy, slowing down reaction times and reducing endurance. Try sticking to the recommended limits (2-3 units for women and 3-4 for men) and you could find exercising easier.
• Exercise is a great way to de-stress, so if you find yourself reaching for the bottle after a hectic day, why not go for a workout instead?
• If you are counting calories remember to include alcoholic drinks in the total. For a list of the calorie content of common alcoholic drinks go to www.nhs.uk/units/fitness
• Drinking alcohol after exercising will continue to dehydrate your body further and can also impair muscle growth so go for water instead.
• Cut out alcohol in the 24 hours before exercising and you will reduce your chances of getting muscle cramps.
The partnership was facilitated by the Fitness Industry Association, which represents the interests of some 2,500 private and public members involved in the health and fitness industry.