Drinking & Diving

[Wing_nut]

I have a question in regards to the consumption of alcohol after diving. I don’t drink much (a few times a year) and never get drunk but when I go down south to dive I like to have a few drinks after dinner. Since I don’t drink all that often it hits me a little. Is this a bad practice? I know that you should not be hung over for a dive but I am not sure if evening having a few drinks is bad.

 

[DepartureDiver]

Of course everything is bad for you, but then all the fun is taken out of life. So, if your dives have been mild during the day and you did your slow ascent rates and safety stops, I don't see a reason to not drink in the evening. Here is my reservation though. The next day you may not feel hung over and the alcohol will be out of your system, but the alcohol could still have left your body in a dehydrated state. This is a no-no for diving and DCS issues. So I would say only one drink and absolutley no more than two chased with plenty of water that evening and the next morning. The fact that the alcohol "affects" you more since you are mostly a nondrinker could be a blessing in disguise since it will prevent you from drinking much.

 

[fmw625]

Wing_nut, I don't drink much either. Sometimes I do like a burbon and coke. I do have a rule that I try to stick to though. No drinking 24 hrs before or after a dive. May be an extream, but it works for me.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello wing nut:

The effect of beverage alcohol as you describe it is on the central nervous system (i.e., the brain). This does not directly affect DCS pathophysiology.

Where we worry is when ethanol affects the kidneys and results in a loss in fluids (water) from the body. This loss directly plays a negative role in dive physiology and promotes the formation of gas bubbles and leads to an increase risk of DCS.

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[drbill]

I have a general rule that I follow 96.5% of the time- if I'm diving in the morning, no alcohol. My body is old enough to need all the help it can get. It also makes me a cheap date for whatever "sugar momma diver" wants to use and abuse me.

Seriously, it is rare I will drink anything the night before a day of diving (other than lots of water). I will occasionally have a glass of wine though. And on a rare occasion I will drink a bottle of American sake. That drink never seems to affect me (although my friend Xiaoyan tells me I'd better not dive after drinking the sake she is bringing next week from Tokyo).

Dr. Bill

 

[lostinspace]

Personally I try to limit the amount I drink (ie no more than 1 beer/night) when diving because otherwise with the nitrogen loading as well my sleep patterns are screwed and I get a crap night's sleep, which is never good for a morning dive.

 

[Dr Deco]

Alcohol is certainly well known to interfere with sleep patterns.

 

[boomx5]

Alcohol is certainly well known to interfere with sleep patterns.

I found this interesting about what alcohol does to the body.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/hangover.htm