Is There a Link Between Physical Activity and Alcohol use?

Abstract

Physical activity (PA) is discussed as a protective factor as well as a risk factor for alcohol consumption. Therefore, this study aimed at exploring a potential relationship between these behaviors. In a population-based cross-sectional study of 15,474 people living in Austria physical activity, alcohol consumption and demographic variables were assessed. Regression analysis including age and gender revealed no significant relationship between PA and alcohol consumption for the total sample. More alcohol consumption was found in men with low PA-levels. Focusing on a part of the population who consumed alcohol the weekend before, men with high PA-levels reported more alcohol consumption in comparison to men with moderate PA-levels. This study does not support a common alcohol-physical activity relationship. Prevention programs to increase PA levels from low to moderate combined with a reduction of alcohol intake in men who regularly drink alcohol should be considered.

Prevalence of Mental Health Problems and Factors Associated with Psychological Distress in Mountain Exercisers: A Cross-Sectional Study in Austria

“…No differences in marital status were observed (29% vs. 29% partnership). The PA levels showed comparable percentages in the three categories inactive (present study: 12% vs. Austrian population 17%), minimally active (29% vs. 27%), and health-enhancing physically active (59% vs. 66%, Kopp et al, 2015). …”

“…Since younger age was related to higher scores in psychological distress, this should result in an even larger rate of mental health problems in the sample of mountain exercisers. However, this difference might be compensated by a different percentage of female population (46% vs. 54%, Kopp et al, 2015). It has been shown previously that women show higher rates of mental health problems (Wittchen et al, 2011).…”

“…When mountain exercisers were compared to the Austrian Health Survey (representative study for the Austrian population) in the significant covariates, mountain exercisers showed a younger age (median age group: 40 to 44 years vs. 45 to 49 years, Kopp et al, 2015). Since younger age was related to higher scores in psychological distress, this should result in an even larger rate of mental health problems in the sample of mountain exercisers.…”

“…Participants were asked to rate the frequency and duration of vigorous, moderate, and walking activity during the last 7 days as well as the sitting time per day. Even though there was some controversy about the validity of the IPAQ (Hallal and Victora, 2004; Lee et al, 2011), the IPAQ is widely used in national surveys (Guthold et al, 2008; Bauman et al, 2011; Kopp et al, 2015) and Craig et al (2003) concluded that the IPAQ showed acceptable validity values ( r = 0.8).…”

Behavioral and neuronal interactions between exercise and alcohol: Sex and genetic differences

“…There is a well-documented correlation between exercise intensity and alcohol consumption in both men and women, [5][6][7][8][9][10] likely due to the activation of the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward pathway. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Briefly, dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) project to the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key brain region involved in the processing of reward response.…”