The following article by Selene Yeager appeared in Women’s Health Mag:

Alcohol in your system is detrimental to any kind of fitness activity (except maybe on the dance floor). Here’s how booze wreaks havoc on your regimen.

1. Slower Recovery
Hard workouts drain the glycogen stores (carbs stored in the liver and muscles) and leave your muscle tissue in need of repair. “Pouring alcohol into your system as soon as you finish stalls the recovery process,” says Tavis Piattoly, R.D. High levels of alcohol displace the carbs, leaving your stores still 50 percent lower than normal even eight hours later, according to one study. Sip or snack on a combo of muscle-repairing protein and carbs (think low-fat chocolate milk or peanut butter on whole-wheat crackers) before tipping back.

2. Packed-On Fat
When booze is on board, your body, besides having to deal with the surplus of calories, prioritizes metabolizing the alcohol over burning fat and carbs. Alcohol also breaks down amino acids and stores them as fat. “For some reason this process is most pronounced in the thighs and glutes,” says Piattoly. “Excessive alcohol consumption really chews up muscle in those areas.” It also increases levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), which further encourages fat storage, particularly in your midsection.

3. Disrupted Sleep
Boozing also blows your muscle recovery and performance by sapping your sleep. In a study of 93 men and women, researchers found that alcohol decreased sleep duration and increased wakefulness (particularly in the second half of the night), especially in women, whose sleep time was decreased by more than 30 minutes over the night. “Disrupting the sleep cycle can reduce your human growth hormone output—which builds muscle—by as much as 70 percent,” says Piattoly.

4. Depleted Water and Nutrients
Alcohol irritates the stomach lining, which can reduce your capacity to absorb nutrients (the reason you have an upset stomach after a few too many), says Brian R. Christie, Ph.D.—not to mention that alcohol makes you pee. For every gram of ethanol you suck down, you pump out 10 milliliters of urine (that’s about 9.5 ounces for two beers). As little as 2 percent dehydration hurts endurance performance. And by the way, you can’t rehydrate with a dehydrating drink (e.g., beer).

Here is an excellent video explaining how the medial arch of the foot works and then illustrating how that affects proper gait.

The arch of the foot is supported by muscles and ligaments and over time can start to fall as we age.  Some people have had flat feet their whole lives.  Most people will look to orthotics to support their flat feet or low arches, but a passive support like an orthotic arch does not go after the key problem: weak foot muscles and poor gait.  Strengthening these foot muscles can help to rebuild that arch without the aid of lazy footwear.  This may take a year or two to accomplish, but the benefits will last a lifetime.

The following videos show a few exercises for strengthening the medial arch of your foot:

The following video shows you the towel scrunching exercise to strengthen the general intrinsic muscles of the feet.  You might find it more challenging if instead of simply contracting and relaxing, you try to scrunch ALL of the towel into a ball

It is also important to strengthen some of your calf muscles.  The tibialis posterior and tibialis anterior muscles do the bulk of the work lifting your arch.  Strengthening them will help to support the arch.  As an added bonus, these exercises will also help with ankle stability issues.  This video shows how to strengthen the tibialis posterior muscle:

There are some good videos on strengthening the tibialis anterior muscle on this post.

Excellent video on barefoot running graphically showing heel strike patterns vs. forefoot strike patterns.

There is a bit of talk in the running world about ditching the running shoe entirely and getting back to basics.  The general premise is that running shoes with their well padded heels, while giving us a longer stride, also bypass the good biomechanics of running on the balls of our feet the way nature intended.  The running shoe makes us run with a heel strike which lands at a higher impact than landing with the balls of the feet.

Here is an article about one runner’s experience with trying barefoot running.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/running/nature-vs-nike-were-we-born-to-run-barefoot/article1634595/