There is plenty being spoken about the health benefits of getting a good night sleep and we agree that if you sleep well it has a multitude of positive flow on effects on how we feel. Exercise is sometimes a means to providing an improvement to the quality of our sleep but excessive exercise can lead to general fatigue which can erode the desired overall health benefit. This article is a follow-on to our last blog on exercise addiction.
In this article we will refer to fatigue as a level of exhaustion or tiredness. One definition of fatigue is extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion illness. Whether you should continue to exercise when you feel fatigued depends on the severity and cause.
Some of the negative effects of exercising when fatigued are:
- Lack of recovery time can increase risk of injury and becoming unwell
- Doing too much when you aren’t medically well can prolong recovery from illness
- Specific muscle fatigue in a certain muscle area from repetitive exercise increases the likelihood of musculoskeletal injury due to lack of variation in exercise program
Simple advice for when you feel fatigued is to consider your exercise routine as a cause relative to recent illness or an endurance exercise event. If you determine that your fatigue is not caused by anything but your regular exercise program then a reduction in exercise load is advised. If there is no obvious physical cause, consider whether stress or mental well-being might be a contributor and similarly consider the amount of quality sleep. Inadequate nutrition and energy intake can also lead to symptoms of excessive fatigue. Once you identify a cause then you are in a better position to work out what to do with your exercise routine.
Excessive amounts of exercise without adequate rest / recovery time is not recommended for healthy living nor for athletic or sports performance. Its worth a few minutes of thought.
Click the links to read our last two blogs in the series on the benefits of exercise on depression and when exercising can become a problem.