If you’re a consistent workout fellow, then you might understand this situation better than others. If you miss a day of going to the gym due to unavoidable circumstances, the next day you feel like you have to exercise more to make up for the empty feeling of the day before. While it’s natural to think this way, if this feeling persists, it might make or break your relationship with exercising or your body goals in general.
Exercise is an important component of a healthy lifestyle. However, excessive and intensive exercise can lead to a state of physical exhaustion on a regular basis which may do more harm than good. According to the Mayo Clinic, running too far too often, lifting too much weight, or simply pushing yourself too far can lead to muscle strains and sprains, shin splints, and stress fractures.
Everything in this world has a positive and negative side. A coin has heads & tails and exercising has the good & the bad side. However, the good side is only limited to exercising with the eye of a hawk. Here are some “side effects” of exercising too much :
– Diet Becomes An Enemy
While this may not be true for everyone, it most certainly is for the majority. Why does one exercise excessively? Maybe to see results faster, boost their ego, social media attention, or simply do something they prefer. To reach their goals one has to be in a calorie deficit to see results in the future. The foods you eat in the deficit should be nutrient-dense, low-calorie, and high in volume. However, if you exercise beyond your limits, your body will start demanding more foods which you will be unwilling to provide to stay within your daily intake. This may trigger your brain and make you more prone to having cravings leading to some people getting discouraged and quitting exercising entirely.
– High-Stress Levels
The stress caused by intense, excessive exercise can negatively affect the hypothalamus-pituitary axis, possibly causing conditions such as hypothyroidism and a weakened immune system. When your body is stressed, it releases Cortisol and high levels of the hormone can increase your risk for a variety of health issues such as sleep disturbances, digestive issues, and weight gain (mainly in the abdominal area).
– Damage To The Joints
Too much exercise or exercising with the wrong technique can lead to physical complications in your body. In today’s world, people prefer going to the gym and using the treadmill for running as the lane outside might not be empty enough for running or the weather may not be feasible. Running on the treadmill without enough incline has been proven to cause knee problems in the future.
Since exercise is addictive, you’ll often see endurance athletes trying to push through and continue their chronic repetitive motion training no matter what, often to the continued detriment and breakdown of the body’s worn and tired joints.
– Exercise Becomes A Craving
A lot of cases have been reported wherein there are “exercising enthusiasts” who can’t think about anything else but the gym. Addiction, be it to liquor, drugs or exercise is equally disastrous. Once you get addicted to going to the gym, missing even one workout or not being able to lift the weight you lifted yesterday makes you upset or even depressed in severe cases. Comparing yourself with others becomes an “every nighttale tale” and you start feeling bad about yourself. There have been cases of people falling into depression due to not fulfilling their unrealistic goals like they wanted to feel better about themselves.
However, one should not be discouraged after reading about the consequences of exercising. They should keep in mind that excess of anything is bad. This also does not mean never go beyond your current capability, but rushing there is not the correct way. Pushing your body every day is also not sustainable. Listening to your body, understanding it in & out, and slowly amping up your routines will bring you retainable results.
