During exercise it is important not to spend too many hours in training, in addition to being harmful, we can develop overtraining syndrome, read on and find out what it’s like to be able to prevent it!
We all know that exercise is a fundamental pillar of good health, the truth is that we have to maintain balance, because, like everything in this life, it is important not to get carried away by the extremes. Regular practice of any sport is the key to well-being.
“My strength is that I’m more balanced and calm than most cyclists. “- Miguel Indurain-
It is indisputable that exercise brings endless benefits to our health, both physical and mental. Psychologically, it helps reduce depression and anxiety, promotes adaptive stress management, increases self-esteem and improves social relationships. On a physical level, it helps us prevent obesity and cardiovascular problems.
The problem arises when we spend a considerable amount of hours on exercise, when we significantly increase the workload during training, and when we reduce the inter-session recovery period, which affects not only our athletic performance, but also our health.
In addition, a state of saturation characterized by certain symptoms, such as physical or mental fatigue, moodiness, apathy or the presence of certain sleep disorders, this condition may even become chronic, leading to overtraining syndrome. The body is so saturated that it can’t recover from effort.
Well, the decrease in athletic performance can lead the individual to enter a harmful cycle, it turns out that the person can associate the decrease in his physical capacity with the lack of exercise or effort and therefore will choose to increase the training load, aggravating the consequences of this syndrome.
Overtraining syndrome manifests itself in both physiological and psychological changes and inappropriate symptoms. In general, the person has fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, loss of body weight, headache, muscle aches, frequent infections, digestive problems and even amenorrhea with osteoporosis.
Depression, anxiety, decreased self-esteem, apathy, constant mental fatigue, disinterest, decreased concentration and emotional instability may occur in the psychological field; performance changes can also occur, resulting in less strength, endurance, speed, and coordination.
As you can imagine, the person affected by this syndrome will make more technical mistakes, so it will be harder for you to achieve the proposed goals, but not only that. Physiologically, your heart rate and blood pressure increase, as do your oxygen intake.
“If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win. “Carl Lewis.
At this point, interrupting practice is not enough. Therefore, the most important thing is to detect overtraining syndrome as soon as possible, to reverse the situation it is essential to adjust several factors: the time of dedication, the load of training and the recovery time between sessions.
On the other hand, it is also important to increase the time spent on varied and playful exercises, in this way the well-being of the athlete is promoted, in addition it is essential to improve motivation and self-confidence.
How much more do you dream, the further you go?. – Michael Phelps-
Finally, it is important to learn to effectively regulate the associated emotional discomfort, as well as to recover healthy lifestyles, with which to relax and eat healthily, which should be the priorities.
Images courtesy of Joshua Jordan and Marc Rafanell Lopez.