Regular exercise is associated with many health benefits which can improve your overall health when included in your routine. According to The American Heart Association (AHA) recommendation, adults should engage in at least 2.30 hours per week with activities spread throughout the week, for optimal overall health and well-being. Therefore, maintaining regular exercise often lead to increased productivity, reduced stress, improved sleep, greater heart health, and enhanced immune system support. However, with all these benefits; going beyond moderation and extending to the extreme in your exercise hoping to magnify the benefits, could jeopardize your health and bring to you a serious setback on health-related issues. Hence, these are the potential dangers of over-exercising.
- Insomnia
- Chronic fatigue
- Irregular menstrual cycle for women (amenorrhea)
- Decreased performance
- Increased risk of injury
- Insomnia: Although feeling relaxed and a good night sleep can be associated to a moderate exercise. However, pushing pass your limit could have negative effect on your stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine hence, the arousal of these hormones may leave you tossing on your bed and find it difficult to fall asleep.
- Chronic Fatigue: Overtraining can lead to chronic fatigue, characterized by persistent exhaustion, feeling of being constantly tired. This happens when you stress your muscles too much beyond the limit which causes your body to release stress hormones which over time accumulate to form persistent tiredness. However, understanding your limitations and taking couples of days off to ensure sufficient rest often help the body to recover.
- Irregular Menstrual Cycle For Women (amenorrhea): Hormone imbalances may occur in your body as a result of overtraining. This gives birth to low appetite and hence, result to low energy-availability; since you eat less than required. Although increased exercise should boost your appetite but too much of intense workout do the opposite. Therefore, Low-energy availability over a long period of time can lead to delayed periods, low bone density and even low testosterone level in men.
- Decreased Performance: When you consistently overtrain at the gym and your muscles become tense, that gives room for a chronic tiredness which have negative impact on your overall performance as it may disrupt your daily routine. Sufficient rest is a crucial part of exercise and the more exercise you do the more rest your body needs for full recovery. Therefore, over-exercising requires more resting time which can affect your other activities and the lingering pain in your muscles as result of overtraining can also reduce your performance at work and even at home while handling house chores.
- Increased Risk of Injury: Pushing beyond your limit can expose you to a serious risk of injury especially when training by yourself. Overworking your muscles and joints without proper rest can lead to injuries such as strains, sprains, stress fractures, and tendinitis.
It’s essential to ensure a balance between exercise and rest. Listening to your body and incorporating moderation in your training can do you a lot of good than neglecting them. If you suspect that you may be over-exercising or experiencing negative consequences, it’s advisable to consult with a healthcare professional or a qualified fitness expert for guidance.