Are you Overtraining or Under-Recovering?
Are you “overtraining” or under recovering? Very few people actually over train, those that do are normally elite athletes. So the more likely problem for most people is under recovery.
What you may not realise is that exercise is actually a stress, it is a positive type of stress but it still puts a strain on the body and it is one your body has to recover from in order to get better results in the gym. Other types of stress include pursuing career goals, building relationships, balancing finances, and a lot of other daily activities for human survival can all bump up levels of stress.
Now what effect can this actually have on the body and mind, well high levels of stress cause the body to release high levels of cortisol. Cortisol is one of the stress hormone used to cope with temporary stressful situations. You may have heard of the fight or flight response. This is all well and good when the stress is temporary but can be a problem when a person is stressed for a long period of time. This effectively puts the body in a chronic state of alarm which keeps the adrenal glands pumping out cortisol.
Too much cortisol is harmful and can lead to:
- Poor blood sugar management and insulin resistance
- Increased fat storage around the lower abdomen
- Depression, sleep disruption, and carbohydrate craving
- Decreased thyroid hormone output and a reduced metabolism
- Altered sex hormone activity
- Muscle wastage
If this is chronic, production of stress hormones can slow and the development of ongoing fatigue could occur. This type of fatigue is central, or neuromuscular. The body has been revving too high for too long and it’s shutting down.
What you can do to help?
Now, removing all stressors from life might sound appealing, but it isn’t a positive thing. Exercise, work and relationships are all necessary for a healthy balanced life. So rather than eliminating stress, balancing stressful activities with relaxing and energizing activities is the key.
Activities such as:
- Meditation
- Tai chi
- Spa treatments
- Meaningful relationships/discussions
- Sauna
- Relaxing hobbies
- Reading
- Listening to Music
- Warm baths
Performed for 30 minutes a day can help balance out stressful daily lives. This should be easy to implement as its 30 minutes of relaxing enjoyable activities. If you say you don’t have time…. watch less television.
Nutrition wise eating real food in its unprocessed form will give your body the nutrients it needs. Consuming whole foods along with herbs and spices can help to moderate inflammation, assisting in recovery.
Sleep is another great way of balancing out your daily life. Most people need 7-9 hours of unbroken sleep a night to perform at their best. If you struggle to get adequate sleep, look out for our blog coming up on sleep.