Wouldn’t you think that being fit would mean eating right and taking care of yourself? Apparently not! It seems that extreme behavior, like exercising a lot, applies to other behaviors, such as drinking…A LOT! 
Researchers don’t know why fit people would do this, but they have a few theories. Perhaps people who engage in extreme behaviors do this in all areas of their lives. Possibly the good feeling that comes from exercising is the reason they drink, to recreate the “runner’s high”. Maybe, they exercise to burn off the calories imbibed and reverse the negative effects of binge drinking. Surprisingly, “drinking is associated with a 10.1 percentage point increase in the probability of exercising vigorously,” the authors write. More specifically, “heavy drinkers exercise about 10 more minutes per week than current moderate drinkers and about 20 more minutes per week than current abstainers.”
The research on this topic pointed out that binge drinking kills brain cells, affecting memory and decision-making processes. The rats in this study exercised for two weeks before being allowed to drink as much alcohol as they wanted. They proceeded to binge drink as much as the rats who had not exercised, but they didn’t kill as many brain cells as the non-exercisers. It appears that exercising provides some neural protection against binge drinking! This isn’t encouragment to binge drink and accompany it with exercise. Binge drinking isn’t good for you and is dangerous for many reasons. This surprising information means that being fit isn’t necessarily linked with healthy living. Hair alcohol abuse tests can provide information on how much drinking a person engages in and regardless of how much you exercise, it’s not a good thing to drink too much.
Written by www.labtestingnow.com