Too much of a good thing can be bad for you. Over-exercising can lead to physical injuries and even mental distress. Learn about these distressing effects.
Usually, health experts tell you that you need more exercise. It could be because your cholesterol or weight isn’t in healthy levels anymore. Or it could be because your sedentary lifestyle is making you more sluggish. But regular exercise is one thing, but it can turn to over-exercising or overtraining.
Over-exercising is defined as obsessing over physical activities despite physical harm or wanting to stop. It can be caused by several things such as exercise addiction or because you’re insecure about your body image. It can have a profoundly negative impact on your well-being.
The Impacts of Over Exercising
Over-exercising or overtraining can have a profound effect on your body, some of which can be very hard to manage. Regular exercise injuries such as pulled muscles and similar conditions can be occasionally helped by treatments such as the services of a reliable chiropractoror a visit to a hospital. However, over-exercising’s impact can cause a domino effect that exacerbates not only any pre-existing conditions but also the conditions caused by your overexercising. These negative impacts on your mind and body include the following:
- Poor performance
One of the earliest signs that you’re overtaxing your body through exercising is when you start performing poorly. That can be because of a variety of reasons. Your muscles may be too sore for you to do as many repetitions as you like, or maybe you’re not feeling as mentally motivated. You’ll most likely notice a decrease in your performance levels in endurance-based training focusing on your cardiovascular system.
- Fatigue
Over-exercising won’t just sap your physical strength; it can also attack your mental endurance. When you exercise too much, you but an immense burden on your body and mind. Your body may not feel up to par and feel more sluggish after prolonged exercise rather than energize you. Your mind may also feel slower, which can affect your reaction times and performance. That can lead to you exercising even more for an energy boost and jeopardizing your health.
- Heightened cardiovascular stress
Although an appropriate amount of exercise can be great for your cardiovascular health, putting too much stress on your heart for prolonged periods is going to impact your well-being negatively. The more often you over-exercise, the more stress your heart is put under. That can elevate your resting heart rate instead of decreasing it, which is the same thing obesity and other health problems do that exercise is supposed to prevent.
- Chronic injury
One of the worst effects of over-exercising is that you run the risk of injuring yourself. In a single year alone, almost 460,000 people in the United States were injured while they were exercising or utilizing exercise equipment. The more you exercise, the more chances that you get into a serious accident. Not to mention that over-exercising puts immense strain on your muscular and skeletal systems, which can lead to a serious and lingering injury.
- Fat retention
Regular exercise is vital in weight loss, but overtaxing your body can cause the opposite effect instead. Fat retention is a symptom of the later stages of over-exercise. Over-exercising can cause a dramatic increase in your body’s stress levels. That, in turn, causes your body to release more stress hormones like cortisol. This hormone can decrease the release of steroid-like substances that help your body build muscles. It’s also responsible for storing adipose tissue in your body, which can lead to weight gain. However, the weight gain caused by the increased cortisol levels may cause you to exercise even more, which won’t help with your health.
- Appetite change
Your body will try to resist your over-exercising efforts, and one way it will do so is by slowing down your metabolism. That means that your body will crave less food, leading to diminished appetite. Although this seems like the right way for you to lose weight, this will lead to weight gain. Because of the increased cortisol levels in your body, causing fat retention, your body won’t burn through what food you do consume.
- Affected recovery period
Your body needs time to recuperate between training sessions. Your muscles need time to rebuild, and your joints need a break to avoid developing aches. With regular exercise, your recovery period can be anything between a day or two. However, when you over-exercise, your body will need more and more time to get back to speed. The muscle soreness can take days to go away, and your joints may continue aching.
Exercise is one of the best things you can do for your body, but like everything else, too much of it isn’t right for you. No matter what the cause for your overtraining, whether its professional pressure or body image problems, seek a healthier alternative to help protect your body from the ravages of over-exercising.