Many athletes tend to underestimate the way in which alcohol use, even a few drinks, can nullify your hard work by erasing the effects of your workouts, reducing your endurance and compromising your mental game. The structure of the athletic season sometimes lends itself to small windows of opportunity to “party” that can contribute to nights of heavy binge drinking or over-indulgence, ending in situations of regret, blackouts, legal problems, and sometimes team and university sanctions. As an athlete, you know that achieving optimal performance involves practicing hard, hitting the weight room and being on top of your game both mentally and physically. Alcohol effects your sleep cycle by disrupting the sequence and duration of normal sleep, reducing your brain’s ability to retain information. For example, the REM stage of sleep is compromised after a night of drinking, which is vital to memory. The sleep deprivation also suppresses normal hormonal levels decreasing oxygen availability and consumption decreasing endurance