In the past I’ve written about studies that linked increased physical activity to increased beer consumption.

Now a new study finds that the connection between the two is even more precise. Those who drink more do so on days when they exercise more.

The findings state that “after controlling for age, gender, and seasonal and social calendar influences, daily deviations in PA [physical activity] were significantly associated with daily total alcohol use.”

In other words, physically active people reward themselves with beer more often on days when they have an intense workout – but they don’t on days when they aren’t working out.

The study noted that further work needs to be done to establish causality. But common sense and personal experience would seem to suggest that beer runners know when they’ve earned their beer, and when they haven’t.

 “It’s that on days when people are more active they tend to drink more than on days they are less active,” David E. Conroy, who led the study, told Canadian Running. “This finding was uniform across study participants of all levels of physical activity and ages.”

It’s almost as if they people in this study were checking the DRAFT Beer Allowance calculator before indulging.