Weekend Warriors Beware

Watch Out For Too Much Weekend Fun

Even if you maintain a reasonably healthy diet throughout the week and hit the gym for regular workouts, a weekend that includes a bit of binge drinking and a few cigarettes could be doing some serious damage to your health. Getting out and having a good time are crucial to melting away the stress that has built up over the course of a long week at work and school, but you?ve got to take the necessary steps to ensure that your lust for life doesn?t result in you suffering permanent health problems.

Certain alcohol, when consumed in moderation, can have positive health benefits, but if you are knocking back a dozen or so cocktails at parties on Friday night you are most certainly doing yourself more harm than good. Where having one or two glasses of red wine per night can result in a healthier heart and a decreased chance for type 2 diabetes, regular instances of binge drinking actually increase your chances for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke. If you are going to drink, try to stick to just a couple alcoholic beverages per night instead of saving them all up for one evening.

Another downside to the booze ? it is loaded with calories. A single serving, which is probably substantially smaller than the cup you would drink from at parties, of your favorite wine or brew can easily weigh in at 100-150 calories. If you?re a mixed drink guy, the booze in your cocktail (normal serving) is probably about a hundred calories, plus whatever mixer you are using. If you throw back a half a dozen alcoholic beverages in an evening, that could be about a thousand or more empty calories added to your intake for the day ? that could be precisely the reason you are having such a difficult time seeing your abs, despite all of the hard work that you put in at the gym.

You can still hit the bars parties on the weekend and have a good time, just exercise a bit of caution and control while you are doing so. Instead of pounding down one adult beverage after another, take your time with each drink and split up your cocktails with non-alcoholic beverages like water, iced tea or diet soda. An extra bonus to this approach ? no hangovers, even if you hit the hay at the same time that your roommate passes out, you?ll be a lot more bright eyed, well rested and capable of functioning physically and mentally come morning.

Be Careful Smokers

Keep it calm out there

Smokers, on the other hand, can?t even say that their vice has any benefit ? even in moderation. The latest research published in a recent report from the Surgeon General, smoking just one cigarette can have consequences.

Most people are aware of the risks of long term smoking, which include certain cancers, heart disease and emphysema to name a few. What a lot of people aren?t aware of is that inhaling cigarette smoke, either first or second hand, can have an immediate effect on blood vessel lining that can increase the chances of clots. The change that takes place in the blood vessels can increase the chance of heart attack and affect a diabetic?s ability to control their blood sugar.

If you only smoke when you?ve had a few drinks, curbing your binge drinking might be enough to let you forget the smokes as well. If you?ve still got concerns of being able to avoid the temptation for lighting up once you?ve reached the party, look for another habit that might keep you occupied in a similar fashion.

Easing up on the booze and forgetting the smokes can help you not only look and feel (and smell) better in the morning but possibly keep you looking and feeling better well into future.