Does exercise make you happy? It can also make you extremely tired

Speaking of the most popular fitness activities online recently, weightlifting and running may have to be put on the back burner. Just browse the Internet and you will find that the post-00s generation has started practicing Tai Chi and Ba Duan Jin.

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As the temperature gradually rises, the arrival of spring has many people ready to start implementing their fitness plans that have been "hibernating" for several months. Whether it is following the trend to stretch your body with a set of "ancient fitness" or regular running and training, it is easier than "marking", but when you really start to move, it is completely different from what you thought.

I put on my most expensive professional fitness clothes, put on headphones, played my carefully selected sports playlist, moved my joints to warm up... The atmosphere of exercise was set here, and I planned to run a few kilometers. However, after running for just five minutes, I suddenly felt exhausted. I thought I would be fine after a day of rest, but this time I felt uncomfortable for several weeks.

This condition occurs because the amount of exercise you do for a period of time exceeds your recovery capacity, making your body a little "unable to bear it". To sum it up in a professional term, you have " overtraining syndrome ". Therefore, when exercising, we have to pay attention to the intensity of exercise and changes in the body at any time, but often, our attention is mostly based on our own "feelings" . Little do we know that this health blind spot may cause great harm to our own bodies. So, what exactly is "overtraining syndrome"?

01 The body’s cry for help

You may not know

There has always been a strange phenomenon among professional athletes: sometimes, even though they have been training hard and not slacking off, their performance is getting worse and worse. Moreover, athletes sometimes feel abnormal muscle soreness and long-term fatigue after exercise, and the situation does not get better after a few days of rest. They may even start to suffer from insomnia, anorexia, and anxiety. By measuring a series of indicators, researchers have found that this is "overtraining syndrome" caused by excessive short-term exercise.

As people pay more and more attention to sports and fitness, this phenomenon of overtraining is becoming more and more common, even occurring among many beginners.

The discomfort caused by overtraining is not just a simple "tiredness", this tiredness has already affected the body. Overtraining can lead to reduced sympathetic nerve input or excessive parasympathetic nerve stimulation, which can reduce heart rate variability (HRV). These changes may be related to depression.

Not only that, the resting heart rate and maximum oxygen uptake after exercise will also be affected and changed. A large amount of overtraining will also affect the work of the endocrine system, thereby affecting the levels of cortisol and total testosterone concentrations, causing uncomfortable reactions to the body and even emotions.

Exercise is supposed to be a way to make people happy and boost hormones. If it causes depression, it is not worth it. To avoid "overtraining syndrome", you should first take a good rest and ensure recovery after training. More importantly, you should develop a step-by-step training plan and pay attention to your physical condition during training to ensure that your body's indicators are not "overloaded".

However, it is difficult to subjectively perceive when exercise has been "overdone", but in fact our body indicators have long been "calling for help" . During exercise, there are many body signals that are difficult for us to perceive that are constantly changing, and they are like the body's "barometer", conveying the current state of the body.

02 Exercise also requires methods and techniques

Gradual progress is the key to effective exercise

Exercise is not a one-time show of strength, but a state of "balance". Some people can't run after 1 km, while others can run 5 km without any problems. However, for the former, they may have over-exercised.

Physical indicators can better reflect the intensity of exercise. Generally speaking, the intensity of exercise can be referred to the maximum heart rate . Subtract the current age from 220 to estimate the current maximum heart rate. The target heart rate for moderate-intensity exercise is generally 50%-70% of the maximum heart rate, and for vigorous exercise it is 70%-85%.

If you are just recovering from a serious illness and want to do some recovery exercises, or you are just starting to exercise, it is best to proceed step by step. At this time, it is easy to reach the heart rate index of strenuous exercise after running a few times, which is considered "high-intensity" exercise for you.

In addition to paying attention to heart rate during exercise, resting heart rate, blood oxygen and other physical indicators can also reflect our health status in daily life. For example, when you have a fever, your heart rate will increase by about 10 beats per minute for every degree Celsius increase in body temperature. In addition, many diseases will also affect the body's blood oxygen saturation. Sometimes we feel that we have "revived to full blood", but the blood oxygen saturation is still lower than normal. In this case, rash exercise may lead to additional risks.

03 Exercise according to your ability

Scientific fitness is very important

1. Avoid excessively long and high-intensity training of the same project, especially high-intensity training of a single muscle or a single muscle group. Cross-training of multiple projects is recommended.

2. Strengthen adaptive training, including training time, intensity, heat resistance, etc.

3. Warm-up exercises should be done before exercise, such as marching in place, cross-stepping, jumping jacks, etc. The warm-up exercises should last for 5-10 minutes to prepare the heart, lungs and muscles.

4. Pay attention to the combination of work and rest. Get enough rest before doing high-intensity training. Try to avoid training when you are unwell, have a cold, have a fever, or are tired.

5. Avoid high-intensity training in direct sunlight or during hot and humid summer noons. Choose the cooler early morning to help the body dissipate heat.

6. Before, during and after training, you should replenish enough water and electrolytes, especially sodium and potassium ions, to combat dehydration and maintain fluid balance.

Spring has become a time for many people to start exercising and resume exercise. However, the changing temperature, high incidence of influenza, and the body that has not fully recovered are all limiting the effectiveness of exercise. At this special moment, exercise and training cannot be based on passion alone. If the body has not been fully "awakened", exercise may have negative effects if you are not careful. To avoid "overtraining syndrome", we need to have a better understanding of various indicators of the body and also need to make better adjustments to our training plans.