Exercise is good, right? Moving our bodies can be transformative for our mental health and physical wellbeing. But, according to Google trend data, the search term, “am I over-exercising” has received a 9,900% uplift in the past month alone. So, it seems you actually can have too much of a good thing.
With wearable fitness trackers and TikTok workouts all spurring us on to be “harder, better, faster, stronger” it’s no surprise that we may be overdoing it on the old fitness front. In many cases, we may be actively doing our best to ensure we’re incorporating a healthy routine into our lifestyle, while actually putting more pressure on ourselves than necessary.
“One of the most dangerous things about over-exercising is that most people don’t realise they are doing it,” acknowledges hormonal health expert Mike Kocsis at Balance My Hormones. ‘In fact, most people who over-exercise believe they are partaking in healthy habits. Those who over-exercise also often tend to monitor their calorie intake. This combination is a sure-fire way to throw your hormones out of whack,” he notes. “At first, over-exercising doesn’t seem like a problem, but it can creep up on your body,” agrees Dr Abir Alafifi, GP (functional medicine & aesthetics) at Zen Healthcare Clinic Dubai Branch. “That’s why it’s so important to recognise the signs your body gives you when it’s reaching its limits,” she adds.
5 signs you’re overexercising…
A healthy amount of exercise can bring with it countless benefits for your mind and body, but if you don’t allow your body the time it needs to recover it can go into recovery mode. Below are some of the signs you might need to slow down the pace…
Weight gain
It may sound counterintuitive, but overdoing it in the gym can lead to you gaining weight. “Oddly enough, despite all the hard work, your performance might actually drop or plateau,” says Dr Abir. “That’s because your body isn’t getting enough time — or the right fuel — to recover and rebuild properly. The metabolism can become low, which can slow down or stop you from losing any more weight,” she adds.
Hormonally, this can be due to increased cortisol levels. “Cortisol is the stress hormone that initiates the fight-or-flight response,” explains Mike. “Repeated high-intensity workouts or prolonged exercise increases the body’s production of cortisol. Persistently high cortisol hinders the thyroid’s workings, reducing levels of T3 and paving the way to stubborn weight gain, thinning hair, and brain fog,” he says.
Disrupted sleep
Exercise can help you sleep. Too much though, and you may find it has the opposite effect. “You might notice that your sleep takes a hit, and you will either struggle to fall asleep or wake up a lot during the night, which can be linked to elevated stress hormones like cortisol staying too high for too long,” says Dr Abir.
“Excessive cortisol has a detrimental impact on sleep hygiene,” Mike concurs. “The stress hormone will ensure that a person takes longer to fall asleep, wakes up frequently throughout the night, and decreases the amount of REM sleep obtained. As a result, the body will not be able to recover from any exercise,” he says.
Irregular or absent periods
If your periods are all over the place, excess exercise could be responsible. “If women are training in excess, hold low body fat and in a calorie deficit, the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis (a crucial part of the endocrine system that regulates reproduction and sexual development) is hindered,” says Mike. “As a result, a person may experience irregular or even absent periods. This is often referred to as exercise-induced amenorrhea,” he explains.