A survey has revealed that most of the drinkers who exercise regularly do so to simply counter an alcohol binge.
 
Experts have warned that although exercise helps in burning extra calories and keeping the heart healthy, it does not counteract the effects of drinking too much like mouth cancer, stroke and increased risk of liver cancer.
 
The survey, carried out for the Government’s Know Your limits campaign, reveals that over 3.8 million adults in England may be using exercise to make up for a binge.
 
People who drink heavily have been observed to do even worse by believing that if they exercise double the recommended amount then they can easily counteract the ill-effects of drinking.
 
This status is compared with 10% of those people who exercised but did not regularly exceed NHS recommendations, which are around 3-4 units per day for men and 2-3 units per day for women.
 
Research has suggested that men who drink over 8 units a day and women who drink more than 6 units a day are more than five times as likely as non-drinkers to suffer from mouth cancer and over three times more likely to have a stroke.
 
Gillian Merron, public health minister said, "Everyone knows that regularly taking part in physical activity is important for maintaining good health, but the truth is, if you have a big night at the pub, you're not going to compensate with a workout the following day. Damage from regularly drinking too much can slowly creep up and you won't see it until it's too late."