Aerobic Exercise Reverses Some Damage Linked To High Alcohol Consumption

Scientists at the University of Colorado report that aerobic exercise, such as walking, running, and riding a bike, can reverse alcohol-related damage to the white matter of the brain.

What Is White Matter?

A little explanation of brain anatomy may be helpful in understanding the scientists' findings. The brain consists of neurons, some of which are "gray matter," and a slightly larger number of which are "white matter."

The gray matter is, as its name suggests, gray due to the presence of gray nuclei in each cell. These neurons are the part of the brain that does thinking, feeling, seeing, and remembering. 

The white matterof the brain is the part of the brain that conducts messages from the gray matter to the rest of the body. Unlike the gray matter, the neurons in the white matter are attached to long, extended fibers known as axons. These axons create a neural network in the brain for conducting information to and from the rest of the body to the cerebral cortex, and for 

Exercise Helps Heavy Drinkers Control Alcohol Intake

The researchers at the University of Colorado noted that scientists have known for a long time that heavy drinkers who don't exercise have more difficulty controlling their impulses to drink, and heavy drinkers who get aerobic exercise have less difficulty controlling their impulses to drink. What scientists had not known before this study was the reason why.

The UC Boulder researchers recruited 60 people with drinking problems and gave them pencil-and-paper quizzes to determine the amount they drank, how much control they had over what they drank, and the amount of aerobic exercise they got on a regular basis. Then the scientists had the participants in the study submit to brain scans with a procedure known as fractional anisotropy. The scan measured white matter in the fornix, the anterior and superior corona radiata, the external capsule, and the longitudianl fasciculus. 

Exercise Also Protects Parts of the Brain from Alcohol-Related Damage

As expected, the answers participants gave to questions about drinking and exercise showed that alcoholics who get more exericse also have more control over their drinking. And the brain scans showed that the study participants who got regular exercise also had more white matter in the external capsule (the white matter on the sides of the brain) and the superior longitudinal fasciculus (which relays information to working memory, and from the brain to the eyes and muscles for eye-hand coordination).

How To Use Exercise To Help Preserve Brain Power If You Have A Drinking Problem

The implication of the University of Colorado research is that exercise helps reverse the downward spiral of brain damage. When problem drinkers get out and get exercise, their brains preserve the neurons that make exercise more enjoyable, increasing the connections needed for eye-hand coordination, and helping the brain regulate body temperature, appetite, and heartbeat, which in turn reduces depression.

Laboratory studies with animals show that exercise also increases the brain's production of the reward chemical dopamine. This is the chemical that makes drinking feel good, and that rewards gambling, sex, recreational drug use, and consumption of sugar. The release of dopamine through aerobic exercise helps the neurons in the gray matter of the brain pass messages to each other more readily, "clearing the brain," without the problems induced by other "rewarding" activities.

Would Weight Lifting Work Just as Well?

Not everyone who works out, of course, likes aerobic exercise. Some people prefer to build muscle with resistance exercise--which is not the same thing as weightlifting, but which includes weightlifting. If you aren't getting aerobic exercise and you have a drinking problem, however, weight lifting is not likely to do a lot of good for creating new muscle.

The reason for this is that alcohol is a powerful inducer of an enzyme called aromatase.

In women, aromatase interferes with the metabolism of estrogen, predisposing women to fractures and bone injuries. It's a good idea to get alcohol consumption under control first before trying to put on muscle through weight lifting.

The Benefits of Exercise Can Be Undone by Smoking

It's also a good idea to stop smoking. Many people who live with alcohol abuse disorders also live with nicotine addiction. People who can't stop drinking often can't stop smoking, either. It's a well-established observation among brain researchers that nicotine use reduces the perfusion, or blood flow, of the brain's frontal lobes, the parts of the brain involved in reasoning, planning, problem-solving, short-term memory, and emotional control. These are not the parts of the brain that are helped by exercise, but they too are needed to stick to resolutions about controlling drinking.

It's really hard to control both drinking and smoking.

And if you can perform the astonishing feats of discipline needed to control your drinking, your smoking, and your weight, you will be well down the road to recovery.