Three Reasons Why Alcohol and Swimming Do Not Mix

In an attempt to get ready for bathing suit season, I searched on line for information on how to tone and get fit. I suppose I signed up for some exercise e-mail notifications. One of the more recent e-mails I got was titled, “Three Reasons Why Alcohol and Swimming Do Not Mix.”

Well, now. Did I really need an e-mail for this tidbit of wisdom? More out of curiosity I opened it.

“Impaired mental functioning isn’t the only major risk. Alcohol also has specific physical affects that can compromise your swimming skills. Drinking alcohol:

1. Impairs your vision and depth perception.
2. Makes you move more slowly.
3. Makes it harder for you to stay warm in the water.

No matter how strong a swimmer you are, don’t bring alcohol into the mix. It’s simply not worth the risks.”

To be honest, out of all the reasons I can think of that alcohol and swimming don’t mix, saying warm didn’t come to mind.

The e-mail did cause me to think back to the days of my youth and exactly when I learned that swimming and alcohol don’t mix. In high school, I spent my summer days working for a combination of an amusement park with rides and water park with slides. It always made me laugh—they would sell beer and daiquiris at the water park, but not the amusement park. When I questioned this logic to the powers that be, they said that no one wanted guests drinking and then throwing up on the fast moving amusement rides. But no one seemed to be concerned with drunk people jumping in the water. I suppose that is why lifeguards were there. For me, it took all of one time of seeing a fat, drunk, redneck loudly protesting, flailing in three feet of water after falling out of an inner tube to show that alcohol and water don’t mix.