Have you worked out today? What did you do - Yoga, Crossfit, Pilates, Cardio or Resistance training. In today's modern days every third person in the internet is a fitness influencer. The popularity of gyming and workout is increasing day by day, so is the chance of overexercising. Overexercise should not be taken as a joke. It's adverse effect may be fatal. Mainly beginners or the person with low knowledge and experience are more vulnerable to it.
We at Lifestyle are here to guide you in your fitness journey taking care of your health and well-being.
#. Signs and symptoms of over exercising
These are the potential signs that our body shows when we knowingly or unknowingly indulge in it :-
- Joint pain, stiffness and discomfort
- Reduction in appetite
- Getting sick more often
- Excess weakness and fatigue
- Sudden dip in performance
- Decline in motivation of workout
- Reduction in muscle mass and increase in body fat
- You become depressed and more irritable
#. Side effects of over exercising
1) Cardiovascular Problems
Exercising too much puts undue pressure in our Cardiovascular system which may lead to heart damage, heart rhythm disorder, enlarged artery etc.
Other extreme endurance exercises for prolonged period of time puts extreme demand on our of heart. So, in order to fulfill it our heart remodels itself. It becomes bigger in size, the muscle of walls thickenes and scarring occurs in the heart tissues. This allows it to pump more blood per beat. This is the heart's adaptive measure.
This makes us more vulnerable to cardiovascular problem like heart attack and stroke. So, the person who over exercise has a higher chance of heart related problems then who do it moderately.
2) Suppresses Immune system
A healthy amount of exercise do boost immune system but when overdone can do opposite of it.
The truth is that after each intense exercise there is an 72 hour open window of impaired immunity. This means viruses, bacterias and other pathogens can easily attack and infect our body making us Sick.
3) Higher risk of injury
This is not very uncommon these days. Over exercising for long period of time makes us fatigued. Due to excess fatigue we become unable to maintain proper form during workout which leads us to injury.
Over exercising also degrades the quality of our connective tissues like tendons and ligaments which further increase the chance of serious injury. It also increases muscle soreness which may lead to muscle tear and also our bones become more likely to fracture due to osteoporosis.
4) Female athlete triad
Female athlete triad occurs in female over exercise for long period of time. It occurs by the combination of over exercising and calorie restriction.
It includes loss of mensuration, osteoporosis or loss of bone mineral and eating disorders.
5) Sleeplessness and Insomnia
Many of us thinks that over training means over tiredness which leads to more sleep. But this is not true all the time.
Over exercise can over stimulate our sympathetic nervous system which handles our fight and flight response. So, due to over production of stress hormones like adrenaline, norepinephrine, cortisol etc. leads us to sleeplessness.
This will make us hard to fall asleep and get quality sleep. In this case our body will not be able to recover properly and will stay fatigued all day long. Thus, decreasing our productivity.
6) Hormonal Imbalance
Overexercising damages the hormonal balance in our body. In male, it decreases the level of testosterone in their body which leads to tiredness, decrease in libido and sex drive. It also increases the level of cortisol in our body and keep it high all the time.
Whereas in female it interferes with the level of sex hormones and also causes irregular menstruation cycle and can even stop it temporarily or permanently.
#. How much is too much exercise?
Well, it depends from person to person. As every person is different so is the amount of right exercise for them.
According to some research, adults should get 5 to 6 hours of moderate exercise per week. In this period of time they should work all major muscle group - chest, abs, arms, shoulder, back and legs. Apart from it some cardio is fine but straining yourself is'nt.
Adding more to it might be too much exercise but it largely depends upon an individual.
#. Ways to prevent and recover from Overtraining
- Take a break for sometime from your workout
- Practice meditation and relax yourself
- Focus on your overall nutrition
- Take proper sleep
- Decrease the intensity of workout
- Listen to your body
- Avoid any physical or mental stress
Good work bro
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