Negative effects of exercise on the body
There are certain people who absolutely benefit from
exercise and need to engage in it. However, exercising can have serious side
effects that daily affect thousands of individuals.
There are certain people who absolutely benefit from exercise
and need to engage in it.
Exercise has prevented cardiovascular disease from ravaging
men and women, rescued fat people from a sedentary lifestyle, and allowed
athletes to train their bodies to perform above and beyond the capacity of
normal.
The top 10 reasons why exercise is harmful for you can be
summed up as the dark side of exercise, which includes dangerous drawbacks that
thousands of individuals experience every day.
1.
Exercising Is Driven
Endorphins, hormones released by the pituitary gland to
block pain, lessen anxiety, and foster sensations of euphoria, are produced by
the body as a result of regular exercise. Because endorphins and the narcotic
morphine share a molecular similarity, compulsive exercise has the potential to
become psychologically addictive for many people. Regular exercisers who are
particularly dedicated to their sport, such as bodybuilders, triathletes,
cyclists, or marathon runners, may experience despair, tension, or anxiety if
their routine is suddenly reduced or stopped, or even if they skip one single
workout.
Strong" desire to exercise can lead to overtraining,
skipping family commitments and other events out of a strong "need"
to exercise, and worrying that fitness would suffer or weight will increase if
exercise is missed on a given day. Exercise becomes a chore or a means to feel
stuck in a rut instead of a method to enjoy nature's beauty or spend time with
friends.
The Solution:
A minimum of one day each week should be set out for rest or
unstructured activity (such as playing a new sport). If exercising ever starts
to feel like a job, switch to something new and exciting unless you are being
paid for your physical performance. Lastly, try different activities like
cooking, wine tasting, listening to music, reading new books, attending social
gatherings, and having sex to keep your mind stimulated. If you do discover
that you have a problem with exercise addiction, you might want to think about
using cognitive behavioral therapy, neurofeedback, or in more serious
situations, medication, to overcome the problem. Your body and your
relationships aren't worth losing to exercise addiction.
2.
Exercise Is Bad for Your Heart
In one study, British researchers looked at 12 athletes who
had competed in 178 marathons, 65 ultramarathons, and 4 Ironman triathlons over
the course of 43 years of constant training. The athletes had an average age of
57. Compared to none of the age-matched "non-exercising" controls,
half of the athletes exhibited heart tissue fibrosis, or scarring. In addition,
years of rigorous exercise or lifelong endurance training can wear down your
heart muscles, making you more susceptible to a disease called
"ventricular arrhythmia" in which your heart beats erratically.
This has essentially ended the careers of some professional
endurance athletes who participate in the type of training required for this
problem to emerge. It is most likely caused by injury to the right chamber of
the heart, which can alter normal heart rate and rhythm.
The Solution:
Avoid engaging in excessive activity, especially sessions
that combine high intensity and high volume. If you do find yourself in this
circumstance, say during the lead-up to an Ironman triathlon, make sure to warm
up properly before each workout, cool down properly afterward, and include at
least one day of complete rest. Avoid participating in endurance competitions
like an Ironman triathlon or ultramarathon more than once a year, if at all
possible.
3.
Exercise Is Linked to Disorders of Body Perception
Body dysmorphic disorder is a psychiatric condition in which
you have excessive anxiety about a perceived physical flaw, such as
underdeveloped arm or leg muscles or an unattractive waistline. This may lead
to strenuous, frequently solitary exercise to "correct the fault."
This kind of behavior usually starts in youth or early adulthood but can last
your entire life as you try to get or keep the "ideal figure."
You can try to hammer away at your perceived flaws by
engaging in bodybuilding, marathon running, cycling, or any other exercise that
repeatedly recruits the same muscles, even at the expense of your joints or
general health. Lack of time to work out and take care of what you think is a
serious bodily condition can lead to melancholy, social anxiety, and even
social phobia, which is the entire avoidance of being in public, especially in
situations where your body might be exposed.
Your tendency to engage in excessive and addictive exercise
in an effort to regulate or lose weight, or occasionally to grow muscle or
"sculpt" a body part, may be justified by your belief that you are a
serious athlete who can never work too hard or too long at your activity.
The Solution:
Recognize your tendency to be your own worst critic and
learn to accept yourself as you are. There is no need to feel embarrassed
because, unless you're an actor or model, most people aren't that interested in
the way your body looks. At some time, maybe when you're 60, 70, or 80 years
old, trying to get the ideal figure will always fail. While maintaining a
decent appearance is admirable, avoid becoming fixated on it unless it is
essential to your financial well-being.
4.
Regular exercise affects families
In 2010, The Wall Street Journal published the story "A
Workout Ate My Marriage," which discussed how couples have increased
conflict as one partner becomes fixated on an exercise goal, such as dramatic
weight loss or an Ironman triathlon, at the expense of time with loved ones. A
spouse or family member may find it challenging to convince an over-exerciser
to spend more time with them because the exercise objective can sometimes be
explained as "noble."
The Solution:
Try at least to involve your family in exercise if your
goals call for "extreme" exercise. Get a jogging stroller and a
bicycle trailer, join a gym that offers free daycare so you and your spouse can
work out together, and train indoors with your children at home so your spouse
can go out and relax.
5.
Exercise May Increase Diabetes Risk.
In my book "Holistic Fueling For Ironman
Triathletes," I talk about how endurance athletes frequently hang out in
coffee shops and bakeries where they consume scones, large "healthy"
muffins, baked goods, bagels, and artisan breads on a daily basis. After a
"long training day," they return to pastas, lasagnas, spaghetti, pizzas,
and other carb-heavy dishes later in the evening.
And during these meals, people often consume energy chews,
energy gels, energy beverages, and bars that are loaded with sugar. These
persistently elevated blood sugar levels not only result in sugar addiction and
damage to blood vessels and nerves, but they also significantly raise the risk
of Type II diabetes because the insulin receptors on cell surfaces eventually
become less sensitive to elevated insulin levels trying to push all the extra
sugar into the muscles.
The Solution:
Eliminate your dependency on sugar. Even if your exercise
levels are reduced, stick with a low-carb diet for two weeks. In many cases,
you must first overcome your addiction to exercise before overcoming your
addiction to sugar. If you are addicted to exercise, switching to a lower
carbohydrate diet might be nearly impossible. This might necessitate something
as extreme as a protracted trip to a location where you can only eat healthily
and where you also don't have access to your bike, gym, swimsuit, goggles, and
running shoes.
6.
Exercise Can Make Diets Underperform
It is extremely difficult to make these dietary changes
while you are involved in intense exercise routines, whether you are trying to
manage an autoimmune disease or cancer, lose weight, or teach your body to eat
less, consume fewer calories, or switch to a low-carbohydrate diet, as
mentioned earlier. People frequently give up on healthy lifestyle changes
because of this: they become motivated to alter their daily routines, eat
better, and exercise more, but this is countered by intense exercise volume
that triggers food cravings that make it difficult to adjust to a healthy diet.
Eventually, this discourages the person, and they give up completely.
The Solution:
Within my "REV Diet" book, the first phase
(Reboot) includes detailed recommendations for decreasing calories and
detoxifying the body, but a critical element of that period is restricting
activity drastically while the body learns to burn more fats, use less sugar as
a fuel, and get used to the nutritional changes. Yoga is a great option for
exercise at this time because it doesn't burn many calories and won't interfere
with your diet.
7.
Regular exercise causes inflammation
Endurance exercise can increase oxygen utilization to a level
that is between 10 and 20 times higher than it would be at rest. This increased
oxygen consumption also leads to a rise in the amount of free radicals produced
during muscle contractions, which are caused by the oxygen's use to convert
energy into ATP. Although consistent exercise can strengthen the antioxidant
free radical defense system and reduce the amount of free radicals produced,
intense and high volume exercise can overwhelm these defenses and result in
significant free radical damage. This increased free radical generation causes
oxidative damage to muscles and other tissues.
Free radical-induced oxidative stress harms cellular
proteins, membranes, and genes and results in a persistent, systemic
inflammatory condition. Cancer, heart disease, strokes, MS, Alzheimer's,
Parkinson's, early aging, and practically any other crippling, degenerative
disorder you can think of are all linked to chronic inflammation.
The Solution:
By eating a full spectrum antioxidant, you can undoubtedly
put a band-aid on the issue, but there is a limit to how much you can consume
of dark leafy greens, nuts, and berries before you feel full. You have to
eventually quit working out so much to protect your body from the harm caused
by free radicals. Try to limit this sort of training because aerobic endurance
exercise is the main cause of free radical damage.
Everything else involves short, intense bursts or high -
intensity interval, which is covered in my article "Why You're Wasting
Your Time With Long, Slow Aerobic Workouts," which explains how interval
exercise can lower blood sugar, increase hormonal response to exercise, lower
insulin levels, and increase fat burning. Even in an Ironman build-up, I
suggest avoiding doing anything more than 1 long bike, 1 long swim, and 1 long
run each week.
8.
Exercise Increases Stress
Your kidneys are topped by two thumb-sized glands called the
adrenal glands. They create chemicals like DHEA, cortisol, and norepinephrine
that enable your body to react and adapt to physical or mental stress. The
adrenal glands may start to feel exhausted and the hormones they produce may
run low, leading to serious imbalances that may result in problems like
estrogen dominance in women or low testosterone in men. If the frequency and
intensity of the stress become too high, the adrenal glands may also start to
feel exhausted.
The end effect is a worn-out, chronically weary person who,
regardless of how much exercise they get, has disturbed sleep, a low libido,
tired-looking eyes, a set and strained jawline, and a "thin fat"
physique appearance. Any resemblance? I basically summed up 90% of all marathon
runners and Ironman triathletes.
The Solution:
You can recover fully from adrenal exhaustion by avoiding
caffeine and other central nervous system stimulants, incorporating
stress-relieving and cortisol-stabilizing substances like maca root powder, and
supplementing with phosphatidylserine. You can also overcome adrenal exhaustion
by incorporating the other fixes I've mentioned, such as reducing exercise and
increasing focus on recovery.
9.
Exercise causes joint injury.
Yesterday, when my boys and I were playing on the trail, a
man sprinted by us with a scowl on his face. His right knee brace, the exercise
strap on his left IT band, and the compression sleeve on his elbow might have
contributed to his negative attitude. He was limping along the route while
trying to run despite his body collapsing beneath him. Exercise is addictive,
therefore you'll frequently observe endurance athletes striving to push through
and keep up with their chronic repetitive motion training in spite of
everything, sometimes to the prolonged disadvantage and disintegration of the
body's worn-out and exhausted joints.
For the three years I worked with a sports medicine doctor,
most endurance athletes who came in were attempting to figure out how they
could still complete their triathlon or marathon while having shoulder
tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, or IT band friction syndrome. Despite being
unpleasant, they would nonetheless carry out their event. While braces, bands,
sleeves, and cortisol injections can absolutely be "patched together"
to finish your event, your joints may wind up losing years as a result. Put on
that brace and go outdoors to run through the pain if you like the idea of
having knee and hip replacements and not being able to play in the backyard
with your grandchildren without experiencing gritting pain. Otherwise, simply
halt.
The Solution:
Run on a range of surfaces and terrains and avoid exercising
exclusively in one plane of motion (running, cycling, and swimming are
frequently only "front-to-back" exercises). As an alternative, go for
side-to-side motions like tennis, basketball, or soccer and try to target a
variety of musculature with your training patterns. Recognize when you're only
exercising through pain because you have to, and switch things up by reading a
book or finding another activity.
10.
Exercise Increases Aging
But severe skin wrinkling—which is greatly accelerated by
the free radical damage discussed earlier in this article—is not the only
factor in how worn-down and old people who exercise too much seem. The number
of times your heart can beat, the number of times your back can bend, and the
number of times your cartilage can absorb shock is all finite, and once you've
used up your allotted amount, your body starts to break down. You have the
ideal conditions for a prematurely aged and debilitated body when you add in a
fibrotic heart, worn adrenal glands, and persistent, systemic inflammation.
The Solution:
In my discussion with Arthur de Vany, we talk about why a weight-training
regimen that combines sprint interval training and short, intense sessions is
generally preferable for the elderly person. Goals like completing an Ironman
triathlon or a marathon can still be accomplished without causing your body to
age excessively when this type of protocol is combined with very little
consistent endurance training.
The top ten health risks of exercising are so listed below.
Please don't misunderstand me; I firmly believe that one of the best things you
can do for your body and your brain is to engage in regular, healthful physical
activity throughout your lifetime. But if you spend your whole life exercising
repetitively, without discrimination, like a rat on a wheel, that is a very
other story, and if you find yourself in that situation, you should definitely
reevaluate your priorities.
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