Exercising keeps us fit, active, flexible, and also safe from being ravaged by cardiovascular diseases. We benefit from exercise, but it has also a dark side – the disadvantages of excessive exercise that affect thousands of people every day.
Exercise has rescued obese individuals from an inactive lifestyle. There are so many ways to exercise – swimming, cardio, aerobics, jogging, walking, etc. But some people get addicted and end up overdoing it. Too much of even a good thing is harmful. Listed below are some of the negative effects of over-exercising.
9 Negative Effects Of Over Exercising
1. Joint problems
Joint problems are one of the negative effects of over-exercising. Overtraining with weights, that are too heavy, many times a week can contribute to risk factors like causing inflammation of the joints and other joint diseases.
2. Fatigue And Sleeplessness
Yes, over-exercising can cause disrupted sleep because your muscles have overworked and you become restless, hyperexcitability and your heavy routine don’t allow your body to revive causing chronic fatigue syndrome.
3. Eating Disorder
Doing excessive exercise for the desire to lose weight can suffer from bulimia, which is a serious eating disorder. People in this condition binge eat and then take steps to avoid weight gain such as purging. Another serious eating disorder called Anorexia might happen where people are characterized by obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat or lose appetite.
4. Weakened Bones
Excessive exercisers might be haunted by conditions such as arthritis and osteoporosis in later life. Cortisol is a steroid hormone responsible for stress. It is produced by the adrenal glands. If we overdo exercise, the cortisol interference with bone-building is likely to happen and when cortisol is in the bloodstream then more bone tissues are broken than deposited. When addicts put their bodies under more pressure, they put themselves under higher risks of fractures and breakage.
5. Affect Mental Health
Studies show that ‘Overtraining Syndrome’ i.e. those who over-train their body shows the same biochemical makers as that of clinical depression. Emission of serotonin and tryptophan are altered by both disorders and they tend to show lowered motivation, insomnia, and irritability.
6. Missing Periods In Women
Intense training and quick weight loss can affect the menstruation cycle by elevating the metabolism. It can also lead to serious conditions such as Amenorrhea (absence of periods), which is very common among athletes.
7. Abnormal Heart Rates
European Heart Journal 2013 suggests that overdoing the fat burning exercises can lead to poor cardio health. It results in a condition called Arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythms), making them prone to sudden cardiac attacks.
8. Affect Our Immune System
Too much intense exercise can reduce the immune system function. Under Intense physical stress, the body produces certain stress hormones like Cortisol and Adrenaline, which raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Thus, it suppresses our immune system. So, we should take enough rest days to allow our body to revive its immune functioning.
9. Kidney Problems
If during your excessive workout period, you notice your urine to be dark or reddish. It can be an indication of a medical condition called rhabdomyolysis, where substances from damaged muscles leak into the blood causing kidney problems.
How to know if we are overdoing our exercises?
Any combination of the following may suggest that you might be overdoing or at least that your body needs rest and recovery time.
- Decreased performance while working out
- If you are feeling that you are physically and mentally exhausted.
- Loss of appetite
- Irritability
- Check your heart beats regularly, if it comes out to be abnormal then give yourself some time for relaxation
- Occasional backaches or body pain.
Once you start feeling better, then you can again reintroduce your body to work out the world slowly with general activities like jogging or cycling which requires gentle intensity before getting back to heavy kinds of stuff.
