Overtraining Syndrome Or When Playing Too Much Sport Is Dangerous
We are all clear that practicing sports is a fundamental pillar to enjoy good health. The point is that we must maintain a balance, since as in everything in life, it is important not to get carried away to extremes. A regular practice of any sport is the key to achieving well-being.
Thus, when we exercise, it is important that we do not dedicate an excessive number of hours to training, since in addition to being harmful we can develop overtraining syndrome. Read on and find out what it is to prevent it!
What is overtraining syndrome?
There is no doubt that exercising gives us an innumerable list of benefits for our health, both physically and mentally. On the psychological side, it helps reduce depression and anxiety, favors adaptive coping with stress, increases self-esteem and improves social relationships. On the physical level, it helps us prevent obesity and cardiovascular disorders.
The problem is when we dedicate a considerable amount of hours to their practice, when we significantly increase the workload during workouts and when we reduce the recovery times between sessions. This not only damages our athletic performance, but also our health.
A state of saturation may also appear characterized by some symptoms such as physical or mental fatigue, bad mood, apathy or the presence of some sleep disorders. This state can even become chronic, leading to overtraining syndrome. In this way, the body is so saturated that it is unable to recover from the effort made.
Now, the decrease in sports performance can cause the individual to plunge into a harmful spiral, since they will associate the decrease in their physical capacity with the lack of exercise or effort and will choose to increase the training load, aggravating the consequences of this syndrome.
What are the symptoms of overtraining syndrome?
The overtraining syndrome manifests itself both through physiological and psychological disturbances and through maladaptive symptoms. At a general level, the person who suffers from it has fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, decreased body weight, headache, muscle aches, frequent infections, digestive disorders and even amenorrhea accompanied by osteoporosis.
At a psychological level, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, apathy, constant mental fatigue, disinterest, decreased concentration and emotional instability can appear. You can also see changes in performance, which are manifested by less strength, endurance, speed and coordination.
As you can imagine, the person affected by this syndrome will have more technical errors. And consequently, you will experience greater difficulty in reaching the proposed goals. But not only this, at a physiological level your heart rate and blood pressure will increase, as well as your oxygen consumption.
What can be done when overtraining syndrome appears?
At this point, just stopping training is not enough, so the most important thing is to detect overtraining syndrome as soon as possible. To be able to reverse it, it is vital to adjust several factors: the dedication time, the training load and the recovery time between sessions.
On the other hand, it is also relevant to increase the time spent doing varied and entertaining exercises. In this way, the enjoyment and relaxation of the athlete will be promoted. In addition, it is essential to improve motivation and the feeling of self-confidence.
Finally, it is important to learn to effectively regulate the associated emotional distress, as well as to restore healthy lifestyle habits in which rest and healthy eating are priorities.
Images courtesy of Joshua Jordan and Marc Rafanell López.
