Dietary habits to prevent respiratory infections due to exercise

Other than injuries, contracting a respiratory infection affects and usually sabotages an athlete's training regimen. 

Poof! Gone are your months of training and fitness gains just two weeks before the race.

Moreover, air pollution in several Indian cities (emphasis on Delhi) further increases the risk of respiratory infections when an athlete inhales the pollutants during workouts.

Most runners have suffered exercise induced respiratory infections during a training cycle, especially while peaking in training. Many catch the bug immediately after finishing a race. These infections disrupt training cycles and if there isn't enough time to recover before a race, then even race performance is affected.

There is a J shaped relationship between exercise duration and intensity on one hand and the risk of infection on the other (Risk of Upper Respiratory Tract Infection in Athletes: An Epidemiologic and Immunologic Perspective by David. C. Nieman, DrPH, FACSM)

Several intense workout sessions per week or high weekly mileage can multiply the risk of an infection. 

At 96 kms of running per week you can double the risk of an infection as compared to 32 kms of running per week (Nieman DC, Johanssen LM, Lee JW, Arabatzis K. Infectious episodes in runners before and after the Los Angeles Marathon. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 1990;30:316-328). 

Therefore an athlete training for an ultramarathon or a marathon will be at a greater risk for respiratory infection than an athlete who is training for a 5 km, 10 km or 21.1 km race since the training intensity is higher.

Several authors have written that prolonged cardio leads to temporary but significant reduction in immunity and host defense, thereby opening a window during which a virus becomes active and stronger.

In addition to the stress of exercise, an athlete should also consider the quality of air since there is a positive relation between pollution, exercise and respiratory infections. Exercising in polluted air increases the chances of respiratory infections.

To reduce the incidence of respiratory infections, one simple way is to reduce the intensity of exercise, but that is impossible when an athlete is training for a race and has to stick to a rigorous schedule. 

But maintaining a proper and scientific diet is one of the more manageable methods to reduce the risk of respiratory infections which are arising from exercise intensity and/or exercising in polluted air. 

There are many studies on different food and supplements which can help in reducing respiratory infections. So what are the dietary precautions that you can take to reduce the risk of such respiratory infections and continue with your intense regimen?

Carbohydrates (before-during-after):

Maintaining appropriate carbohydrate levels before, during and after exercise has been shown to reduce the incidence of respiratory infections.

Training on low levels of carbs can increase the magnitude of exercise-induced immune alterations, such as higher plasma and salivary cortisol levels, decreased glutamine levels, higher number of circulating immune cells and an enhanced cytokine response.

Before exercise- maintain a high carbo intake at all times (in numbers this would be 12.0 gms carbs/kg body weight/day).

During exercise- Consuming a beverage delivering at least 6% carbs (one liter/hr) during a minimum 1 hour long cardio session of high intensity will help maintain blood glucose levels. This 6% is usually found in sports drinks like Gatorade.

Post exercise- Ingestion of small amounts of carbs slowly over a span of a few hours will help in regaining normal blood glucose levels (in numbers this would be 1.2 gms of carbs/kg body weight immediately post-exercise).

The underlying rationale is that adequate carbohydrate availability and stable blood glucose concentration may limit stress hormone responses (cortisol), provide glucose as energy substrate for immune cells and help to maintain immunity.

Protein (at all times):

Maintaining a protein rich diet repairs tissue damage from exercise, helps reovery and improves bodily functions by supplying necessary amino acids, and thereby reducing respiratory infections.

A good amount of protein intake for an athlete would be 1.5 gms of protein per kg of body weight.

Glutamine supplementation orally (before or during or after):

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in human muscle and plasma and during exercise it is severely depleted which leads to suppression of the immune system, thereby increasing the risk of respiratory infections.

A scoop of Glutamine supplement pre-workout can help maintain the glutamine levels during the workout and even better would be another scoop post an intense workout to restore the glutamine levels in the body.

BCAA- Branch Chain Amino Acid supplementation orally:

BCAA i.e. Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine are known to reduce muscle breakdown, help in recovery and prevent immunodepression after intense exercise sessions.

BCAA tablets, powder and serum are available at most nutrition/pharma shops.

Creatine supplementation orally:

There some studies which indicate that oral creatine supplementation can support the immune system. Creatine increases muscular performance for short-duration high-intensity exercises and is a staple for many people who do weight training.

Creatine is mostly sold as a powder or liquid for oral supplementation in the form of Creatine Monohydrate. Supplementation usually leads to water retention but nothing noteworthy unless you're a supermodel or semi-naked instagram user.

Creatine Monohydrate powder is available at  most nutrition/pharma shops.

Vitamin C supplementation orally before races:

In a study it has been shown that athletes who had supplemented daily with 600 mg vitamin C significantly reduced their risk of respiratory infections after participation in an ultramarathon. (Peters E.M., Goetzsche J.M., Grobbelaar B., Noakes T.D. Vitamin C supplementation reduces the incidence of postrace symptoms of upper-respiratory-tract infection in ultramarathon runners. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1993;57:170–174.)

Probiotics (Yogurt/Probiotic capsules):

Probiotic bacteria occur naturally in fermented food products and can be bought at stores in the form of drinks such as Yakult or as a food (yogurt).

There are even capsules such as Enterogermina which can be bought at a pharmacy.

I've researched 'curd' but there are no studies to show its effectiveness even though it does have a lot of healthy and useful bacteria. My hunch is that it must be similar in effect as yogurt.

Probiotics can improve an athlete’s efficiency by maintaining healthy gastrointestinal tract function, reducing susceptibility to illnesses such as acute infectious diarrhea and its associated symptoms, enhancing host resistance to upper respiratory tract infections and improved immune function (Salarkia et al. (2013) Effects of probiotic yogurt on performance, respiratory and digestive systems of young adult female endurance swimmers: a randomized controlled trial)

Calorie restriction:

There are only two ways to lose weight- eat less than maintenance levels to create a calorie deficit or exercise enough to create a calorie deficit.

However, the key is to avoid sudden weight loss since it affects the immune system and most importantly never increase training and reduce calorie intake simultaneously since this will doubly effect your immune system.

CHEAP AND EASY PROTEIN SHAKE FOR RUNNERS

Protein is essential for maintaining basic bodily functions and for repairing your body after workouts. 

Many runners do not focus enough on their protein intake since unlike bodybuilders (they believe that) their goal is not to build muscles. Their primary focus is on carbohydrates and this approach backfires since the repair and healing powers of protein is absent in their diet. Protein and muscles are essential for sustaining and improving running performance (and also to stop yourself from looking like a chicken noodle).

Richard Kreider, Ph.D., one of the ISSN study's authors and head of the Exercise and Nutrition Laboratory at Baylor University says that, "after an intense bout of exercise, your immune system is weakened for about four to five hours". "Protein stimulates white blood cells, which helps shield against upper-respiratory problems." Military research studies show that Marines who ingested high amounts of protein had fewer medical visits than those with lower protein intake.

As per Runner’s World, “the USDA's Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram (or 0.36 grams per pound) of body weight. But that's not enough for athletes, according to the ISSN, which says endurance athletes like runners need 1.0 to 1.6 grams per kilogram a day (or .45 to .72 grams per pound). That translates into 75 to 120 grams of protein daily for a 165-pound runner.”

Protein shakes are an easy way to maintain your protein intake. Unfortunately, the prices of good quality protein powder supplements are obnoxious to say the least. A 5kg supply will cost almost Rs. 10,000/. Moreover, even after having the protein shake, you’ll still need to consume regular food since the shake will not provide enough calories and other nutrients and it will leave you hungry.

All powders are expensive

For the last few years my breakfast has been 3-4 boiled eggs and a glass of milk. A few months ago I had reached my boiling point since the "bite an egg and then take a sip of the sugarless milk" approach had become too insipid and also because it takes about 10 minutes to finish this meal and I don’t have that kind of time before leaving for work. So a quick and simple (and disgusting for some!) recipe which I use after my running session in order to serve the dual purpose of getting in my protein intake plus quick breakfast is The Egg Banana Milkshake.

Ingredients:

1.         3 Boiled Eggs

2.         About 400 ml skimmed milk

3.         2 Bananas

Put the above in a blender and make a shake. It tastes almost like a banana milk shake but with a hint of salt because of the eggs. It’s not tasteful like a banana milk shake for obvious reasons. It’s more like your wife’s cooking- even if you don’t like it, you know it’s good for you to just shovel it all down without complaining.

Do not add raw eggs due to the viruses present in uncooked eggs and moreover cooked (boiled) protein is more bio-available to our bodies than raw.

Protein content is as follows:

18-20 gms of protein from the boiled eggs (3.5 gms in the egg white and 3 gms in the yolk)

12 gms of protein from the skimmed milk.

2 gms from the bananas

So total about 32 gms of protein.

About two glasses of shake will be produced from the aforesaid ingredients and the calorie content will be about 650 calories- so it serves a dual purpose as breakfast plus protein shake.

Try this concoction. You won’t need to snack in between breakfast and lunch, plus the eggs will supply a whole lot of other nutrients. Don’t worry about the cholesterol from the eggs since they contain some much needed good fats.

P.S.- This shake is also a good cure for hangovers, since eggs contain large amounts of cysteine. Cysteine is a substance that breaks down the hangover-causing toxin acetaldehyde in the liver's depleted glutathione. Therefore, eggs, plus potassium from bananas, and hydration plus vitamins from milk can together potentially help mop up the left-over toxins.

TomTom Spark Cardio GPS Watch - Test and Review

Recently, the guys at TomTom asked me to test and review the Tomtom Spark GPS watch and I gladly agreed. The GPS unit which was provided to me has been returned to the company.

               

I'm not unfamiliar with TomTom GPS watches since I bought a TomTom Multisport watch in June 2015 and I've been using that for most of my workouts with the exception of a few workouts on my humongous, orange, old and faithful Garmin 310XT. Multisport is the generation prior to the launch of Spark range by TomTom.

The unit which was provided to me for the test was all black in colour and the first aspect that I noticed is how much sleeker, smaller and tasteful the new design looks. On comparing it with my Multisport unit it is apparent that the Spark unit has become smaller and sleeker majorly because of the reduction in the size of the strap but some of it is also attributable to design changes. I'm a big fan of simple and clean designs and the unit in all black is quite appeasing to look at. 

Good looking much?!

It can easily be worn to work as a regular watch since the main interface on the unit shows a big and clear time display and with the new activity tracking feature that has been added to the Spark, the unit becomes quite useful when not being used for running/cycling/swimming. In activity tracking feature, the unit measures steps, distance, heart rate and calories.

Spark has an in-built optical heart rate (HR) sensor and this removes the hassle of wearing a HR chest strap. You needn't worry about the accuracy of the in-built HR sensor since the technology has evolved enough over time to provide you an accurate HR measurement. In fact, as compared to my Multisport, the new Spark HR sensor is far more accurate. The Multisport has a habit of recording faulty readings for short and fast intervals but I did not face this issue with the Spark. Possible reasons for this enhanced accuracy could be the change in watch design and the new collaboration by TomTom with LifeQ instead of the previous partner Mio for the optical HR sensor. My Multisport has a Mio optical HR sensor and as per my analysis it is not as accurate as the LifeQ sensor in the Spark.

I’ve never been fond of HR chest strap monitors because, (i) they’re hard to connect; (ii) you need to wet the HR strap; (iii) the strap keeps slipping while racing; (iv) the strap wears down easily over time and loses elasticity; (iv) it is quite unhygienic if you don’t wash it after every use; (iv) your watch tries to connect with other HR straps in your vicinity; (v) chafing;  and (vi) purchasing a replacement strap is expensive. Consequently, I’m more than happy for the new in-built HR technology that is now available in the market.

The wrist strap/band of the Spark unit has not just been made smaller but it has also been redesigned to fit better and not come loose like the Multisport. The Spark has dual prongs where the straps connects with itself and this makes the unit fit much better and also stay that way during a workout. The Multisport strap has a habit of coming undone during workouts but this does not occur while using the Spark. Also what I noticed is that the material of the strap on the Spark is more flexible and seems more durable than the Multisport

Spark can be used for running, cycling, swimming, step counting, treadmill running and indoor cycling (when paired with a sensor). I didn’t use it for swimming so I’ll reserve my comments on that, but it is quite easy to use while activity tracking, running and cycling but the treadmill usage is a little complex since the accelerometer in the unit does not work as accurately as you’d wish it to work. However, when a treadmill run finishes then the KM (kilometre) reading can be adjusted manually (as per the distance shown on the treadmill) to get a more or less accurate spread of HR vis-a-vis total workout time but the per KM pace will not be accurate. For a treadmill run in which you’ve manually changed the distance, when you upload the data to the Tomtom app or Strava app, the duration of the run and the HR during the run will be accurately shown but the per KM pace may not be accurate.

To measure speed, cadence and distance for indoor cycling you’ll need to buy a cadence and speed sensor. I haven’t bought the cadence and speed sensor yet, so I use the HR sensor to gauge the effort for my indoor cycling workout. I pedal for my desired timeframe on my Kurt Kinetic trainer at a particular HR and use the unit for HR based training. So if don’t want to run a 5k at 5:30 pace (for which I know that my HR will average 140 bpm), I’ll simply cycle indoors for about 30 minutes and ensure that the HR sensor in the unit stays at 140 bpm.

One of the foremost reasons why I had shifted last year from Garmin to TomTom was because TomTom had launched direct Bluetooth transfer from the watch to Android phones. This makes life pretty easy and immediately after finishing a workout; I can send my data to my phone via Bluetooth. Moreover, since I’ve synced my TomTom account with Strava, the data from TomTom automatically gets updated to Strava. You can sync it to other apps too like Endomondo, Runkeeper etc.

During the Bluetooth transfer from the unit to the phone, one issue that I’ve seen people regularly face and for which I’ve been asked for suggestions is that on some occasions the unit simply does not connect to the TomTom app on Android phones and therefore the workout cannot be transferred. I’ve also faced this issue initially and at such times I would reboot my phone and the transfer would start. It’s then that I realised that instead of rebooting, the solution lay in simply closing the TomTom app on the phone and then reopening it to allow the transfer to start. This works and do note that this is not an issue with the watch, rather it’s an issue in the phone. So next time when you face this issue, simply close the TomTom app in your phone’s app manager and then open the TomTom app again. If this does not work then every time when you finish a workout, switch on the Bluetooth in the phone and then open the TomTom app; then in your watch go to "Phone" option and turn the phone sync option off and then on. This works for me invariably if the first method doesn't. Another method is to again pair the watch with the TomTom app. I hope that TomTom rectifies this issue very soon.

I won’t comment on the battery life since the unit which was provided to me had seen quite a rigorous and harsh time with previous testers and users and therefore its battery was compromised. However even in this state it was tracking workouts for upto 4-5 hours (provided night mode and vibration alert wasn’t turned on). My old Multisport provides around 6 hours of workout time (without night mode and vibration alert) and I’ve seen it run upto 10 hours or so with the HR sensor turned off. So for longer runs and races, switching off the HR sensor and vibration alert is a feasible solution for extended battery life. With the HR sensor turned off, you’ll get the GPS data fully but no HR data. This seems like a valid compromise for an extended battery life!

Let us look at the competition - in the Garmin range, if you look at the features and pricing then the Spark Cardio unit can be compared with the Garmin Forerunner (FR) 235. Spark can do almost everything that a Garmin FR 235 can do at almost half the price and look way more elegant while doing it since as I said earlier, the unit in black colour is appeasing enough to perform double duty as an office watch cum activity tracker. Moreover, what I really like is how solidly built the watch feels and looks as compared to the Garmin FR 235. The Garmin FR 235 weighs like a feather but it seemed as if it wouldn’t withstand a lot of punishment.

For a little more money, there is also a music version of the watch which can store upto 500 songs and the music can be played via a Bluetooth headset. Also if black is not your color then go for one of the more vibrant colors and/or buy interchangeable straps.

Feel free to post any questions regarding the unit. Cheers.

Substituting pains

Sometimes, no, many a times, I wonder why we run? I try to find reasons here and there; I draw silly analogies; sometimes I strike gold.

A long time ago when my beard and hair was all black and not politely called Salt N' Pepper, I dated a girl for a very short period and she was a cutter. I'm stressing on the short period since I didn't drive her to cutting - I was a good boy. By cutting, I don't mean that she was a wood cutter or a lumberjack. She used to cut herself - self harm. Most of her scars were on her limbs.

I had forgotten about her scars but recently I've noticed many runners at events and at group runs, who have quite a collection of these cuts. Some are even deep and wide, which means that there was repeated cutting of the same spot to prolong the satisfaction and relief from cutting. Yes, a cutter can derive relief and satisfaction from cutting since in the simplest of psychological explanations -  it replaces an existing pain deep within with a new one. The cutter can control and relish the pain and forget the one rooted inside him.

Cutting is ok, I guess. Your body, your choice, your beauty, go full graffiti. As long as you don't kill me or yourself, use your body how you want. Go you!

There is a tribe in Papua New Guinea called the Kanigara, which creates a crocodile pattern on the skin through scarring as a right of passage.

Kanigara tribal

Coming back to running, what I find wonderful and bewildering (in a good way) is to see that these runners limbs' around me only have scars from the past. I think they've found a new substitute for the cutting. The pain from running is the antidote to the pain within.

Mental calluses

Go for a run, endure the workout; wake up and repeat. Accumulate tiredness over the days, then rest for a day and commence again. Over and over, again and again, the cycle continues.

Physical changes will appear and are easy to notice. Body fat melts, more veins appears, some gauntness, a little muscle here and there with a visible permanence of fatigue.

What about the mind during all this? It must be changing too if we are willing it day in, day out to instruct the limbs to move faster, slower, climb a hill, stop, repeat, drink water, race, receive the pain, ignore pain, focus, eat etc. 

There must be a lot of emotional callus in this process. Ever growing, ever hardening and layering up to ensure that the workouts continue but forever invisible unlike the calluses on our feet and hands.

During a run, I can imagine the mind executing its own separate workout which is connected to the physical workout, yet unconnected since the mind is working hard only to send instructions to the limbs. It is not a part of the physicality and momentum of the limbs; it is the creator and owner of both.

The effort is perceivable in the limbs and other organs but the mind is also steadily getting tired. It is also working out. All the instructions and all those thoughts, travelling at light speed through the nerves in order to reach the limbs and then travelling back with news of pain and ecstacy.

The brain can’t idle. It is and has to be hyperactive so that it can supplement the “will” to finish a workout and coordinate the limbs and other organs.

Even at race pace the limbs are moving like a snail, since their master is managing an orchestra of millions of neural musicians in a span of milliseconds. Working, overworking, stressing and beautifully managing all the thoughts which create the physical momentum. The mind thoughtfully caresses and convinces the limbs to carry on but also shows its wrath when the limbs slow down and attempt to disobey it. Sometimes it loses the battle with the limbs but usually it ensures that the goal is achieved. It must be tough work and every workout must be making the mind stronger and more callused.

I've recently experienced how these mental calluses accumulate and help over time. A few days ago, three of us ran our personal best with a lot less training and worse physical fitness than last year for the same race.

The calluses in the mind allowed us to ignore the pain. 

Our minds have become cruel over time, but only for the good.

Importance of Testosterone in running

Yesterday, 33 year old, two time Olympian and American half marathon record holder (59:43), Ryan Hall announced his retirement from professional running. He did this just a few weeks before the U.S. Olympic Trials. The criticality of the decision makes it certain that the man has given it some serious thought.

Injuries and low testosterone levels have been outlined by him as the reason for announcing his retirement.

Injuries are easy to understand and diagnose but the same cannot be said about testosterone. Men nowadays have way less testosterone as compared to our forefathers. Poor diet, bad products (food and lifestyle products), stress (mostly work and money related), lack of exercise (or too much of it, as I will explain below) etc. are some of the main reasons for this.

Testosterone plays an important role throughout the body in men (and women too). It affects the brain, bone and muscle mass, fat distribution, the vascular system, energy levels, genital tissues, and sexual functioning. The opposite of testosterone is estrogen. Women are predominant in estrogen and men in testosterone. Too much of estrogen, and someone will wife you.

A drop in testosterone levels can contribute to, diminished erectile quality, changes in mood, reduced intellectual and cognitive function, fatigue, depression and anger, decrease in muscle mass and strength, decreased body hair, skin alterations, decreased bone mass/mineral density and increase in abdominal fat mass. Basically, with low testosterone you will become the old lady next door.

Endurance exercise like distance running, cycling and swimming have been shown to reduce testosterone levels in a male body significantly.

So a lower base level of testosterone which is common in men nowadays, coupled with testosterone losses from endurance exercise sounds like a recipe for disaster for amateur athletes who train hard but it seems won’t get hard. Moreover, training will suffer due to low testosterone levels since energy levels will be low, mood swings will be present and fatigue will be holding you back. There will be higher chances of a burnout and bad race timings.

Research has shown that chronic exposure to prolonged endurance training can result in disturbances within the reproductive physiological and endocrinological systems of humans (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2675257) and this is probably why men’s testosterone levels are lowered by endurance training.

In another study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1899423), over 6 months of training, the men increased weekly running mileage to an average of 56 km/week. The result was that total testosterone and free androgen index levels decreased significantly.

Endurance exercise has been said to develop “exercise-hypogonadal male condition". Specifically, men with this condition exhibit basal (resting-state) free and total testosterone levels that are significantly and persistently reduced. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16268050)

Interval training on the other hand has been shown to increase testosterone (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23310924). In this study, interval exercise session was repeated periods of 90-sec treadmill running at 100-110% maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and 90-sec active recovery at 40% VO2max for 42-47 min. The steady state exercise session consisted of a continuous 45-min run at 60-65% VO2max (like an easy 8-10km run). The study suggested that interval sessions might produce a higher turnover of free testosterone than the slow long endurance run.

Such reduction in testosterone is not limited to just running. In this study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8861670) even endurance swimming was producing the same low levels of testosterone. Cycling also leads to a same “unhappy ending”.

Moreover, after the age of 30 in men, the levels of testosterone decrease by approximately 1% per year. Your bank balance may be going up but something else which is as vital is going down.

Flo Rida was right when he sang that

For athletes who race ultras and Ironman or who have a high weekly mileage (cycling or running), it is important to protect your “family jewels”, your “Mc Nuggets”, your….oh you get the point. The ladies and races need us and we must oblige.

Some ways to naturally increase your testosterone levels or at least maintain them are given below. I have already read the scientific papers on these, so I won’t bore you with those since you already have enough on your plate and will have more (literally). Rest assured that the methods below are not only simple but also are the easiest:

FOOD

Make the following a part of your diet:

a.               Cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower

b.               Pomegranate

c.               Garlic

d.               Meat (provides Zinc which is essential for testosterone production)

e.                Eggs

f.                Omega 3 Fatty Acids (present in Eggs, meat and mustard oil are easy sources)

g.               Vitamin D (go stand in the sun for some time. Fair & Lovely is for douchebags)

h.               Bananas

i.         Fat (good fat like Desi Ghee, olive oil, mustard oil)
j.         Black lentil

STRENGTH TRAINING

The most important non-food source of testosterone is strength training and within strength training, the best exercises are compound exercises like Squats, Deadlifts, Pull ups and Bench Press.

Moreover, if you are performing strength training and endurance training in the same session then the order of exercise should be endurance exercise followed by strength training. This study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25028991) has shown that testosterone increases more if endurance training is followed by strength training.

CHEMICAL AVOIDANCE

Avoid Shampoos, Body Wash, Hair Gels etc. as much as possible. 

Stick to regular soap mostly and use shampoos, body wash and other similar products only when necessary. 

Look for the following names on the product label since these ingredients cause a reduction in testosterone:

a.                Parabens- methylparaben, butylparaben and any other word ending with paraben.

b.               Sulfates- Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate etc.

c.                Organic alcohols- Propylene Glycol, Polyethylene Glycol etc.

ALCOHOL

This one actually hurt while writing. Everyone likes alcohol. The Beer Mile should be an Olympic Sport. 

Who doesn’t like alcohol? Your parents, but only when you drink it.

Alcohol is anyway linked to low testosterone levels. So moderation in alcohol intake is the key. Now the real bad news is the Hops in beer. You see, before the German Beer Purity Law was introduced in the 16th century (not sure), hops were not used for making beer. Other herbs were used and these herbs made the beer tonic like and good. The beer of olden times would make you feel like Thor and you’d be ready to bring the hammer down and nail it….all of it.

The erstwhile herbs in beer increased energy and aggressiveness in men. Then some asshole found out that women were dozing off too much in fields of hops while harvesting and they discovered that the extremely high estrogen content in hops was the cause. So, the Church decided to replace the good herbs in beer with hops by passing the German Beer Purity Law, in order to control men. Any beer maker contravening this law was severely punished.

This study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11134162) found out that the women who pick up hops by hand, experience disturbances in their menstrual cycles due to the extremely high estrogenic activity in the hops. The results of the study indicate that the endocrine properties of hops and hop products are due to the very high estrogenic activity of 8-prenylnaringenin and concern must be expressed about the unrestricted use of hops in herbal preparations for women.

Now, the modern beer has hops as an ingredient and this makes your beer super rich in estrogen. Estrogen is the opposite of testosterone. Do the math.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

As far as the post race beer is concerned, there is more bad news. A study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8800389) was conducted to see the combined effect of alcohol and physical exercises on testosterone. As per this study, physical stress immediately before alcohol administration prolonged the depressant effect of alcohol on testosterone secretion.